Location also Corsencone On Roy's map of 1755 it is Crossin Con. It's slso the name of the hill.
Horse Tax 1797-98 John Spence, Corsencons (sic) , 5 horses.
Robert Guthrie
By Walter Baxter on Geograph, showing Corsencon Hill and the River Nith October 2010
1851 census Corsencone John Spence 58 farmer 0f 200 acres, wife Margaret (McKnight) 3 servants
1861 census Corson Conn John Spence 68 farmer of 350 acres wife Margaret nieces Marion McKnight dairy maid and Joanna Monteith house servant and grandson Alexander Spence shepherd
1885 Valuation Rolls Owner - The Most Noble the Marquis of Bute John Patrick Crichton Stuart, tenant William Sloan.
Scotlands Places 1855/57 quotes the authorities for spelling of Barney Hill (close to both farms) as John Spence senior of Corsoncone, and John Spence junior at Nethertown.
The British Newspaper Archive yielded little for Corsencone farm except numerous entries in the Blackface Sheep sales, although no farmers name is given. Corsencone Hill features in the diamond jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria, when a beacon was lit on its top. The mist however, was so thick that it couldn't be seen. Another reference to extreme weather conditions is in this clipping from the Oxford University and City Herald of 1808.
No doubt the residents of Consencone farm were very relieved when the cloud shifted!
Scotlands Places for Corsoncone farm describes it as situated on the southern declivity of Corson Cone Hill, the property of the Marquis of Bute. Spout burn is so called because it passes through a spout at the farm house where the water is used for domestic purposes.
Corson Cone hill is named for it's slightly truncated cone shape. It has multiple burns flowing from it, one named Duncan's Burn, from a Duncan who coming home inebriated was sure the devil had hold of his leg!
Another interestingly named place is Gowkthorn Well. It is a spring on the east side of Corson Cone, so called because a thorn bush, which once grew beside it frightened benighted strangers. A gowk is an old name for a cuckoo (or foolish person!).
