Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock, a stream of fair size in the Cunninghame district of Ayrshire. It is formed by two streams that rise on the S border of Eaglesham parish in the county of Renfrew. The one to the W is known in Renfrewshire as Greenfield Burn, and in its Ayrshire part as Fenwick Water. That to the W issues from Loch Goin or Blackwoodhill Dam, and is known at first as Loch Burn; after receiving Birk Burn it is known as Dunton Water, and then as Craufurdland Water. Both flow in a general south-westerly direction, the former for 10 miles and the latter for 8¼ miles, chiefly through Fenwick and Kilmarnock parishes till they unite at Dean Castle, 1 mile NE of the town of Kilmarnock. The united stream known as Kilmarnock Water has then a course of 2 miles till it falls into Irvine Water 3 furlongs W of Riccarton. In the 17th century Pont speaks of it as the Mernock, and Franck in his Northern Memoirs as the Marr, while an old rhyme calls it the Carth-

The Water of Carth rins by the Dean
That ance was Lord Boyd's lodgin.

A curious sudden freshet that took place on the stream in 1852, is noticed in the article on the burgh of Kilmarnock.—Ord. Sur., sh. 22, 1865.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a stream of fair size"   (ADL Feature Type: "streams")
Administrative units: Ayrshire ScoCnty
Place: Kilmarnock

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