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Ordnance Survey - Ayr county, OS Name Books - Ayr county - Volume 21 - Parish of Dalmellington, OS1/3/21

Continued entries/extra info

[Page] 72
Dalmellington Parish -- Sheet 46 - 16

Extract from Patterson's History of Ayrshire;-
"The castle belonging to Dame Helen, from whom the burgh
" is said to have derived its name, stood a few hundred yards above
" Dalmellington, on a green knoll, surrounded by a fosse. **
"The Castle evidently had been a small one, and perhaps circular. With
"respect to its age, there is some reason to believe that it was amongst the
"oldest in Scotland. 'One of the oldest houses in the village', says the
"New Statistical Account, 'from having been built of the materials
"of the castle, is called the Castle House; and one of its door lintels
" bore, thirty years ago, the date 1003' - This would carry the building
"back fifty four years before the accession of Malcolm Canmore, when no
"castle existed. There must be some mistake we should think, on the part
"of the writer in the Statistical Account. When in Dalmellington the
"Castle House was pointed out to us, and on the lintel of one of the
"doors, an antique looking stone, we could trace the figures, though
" greatly defaced, '1115' - thus bringing the date of the castle down more
"than a century. This would agree perfectly with what is called by Chalmers
"the Scoto-Saxon period of our history, when so many grants of land were
"bestowed upon foreigners - when castles began to be built, the feudal system to usurp the patriarchal."

Ordnance Survey - Ayr county, OS Name Books - Ayr county - Volume 21 - Parish of Dalmellington, OS1/3/21

This volume contains information on place names found in the parish of Dalmellington.

Ordnance Survey - Ayr county

Ordnance Survey was established in the 18th century to create maps, surveys and associated records for the entirety of Great Britain. These records are arranged by county. This entry has been created to enable searching for Ordnance Survey records for the county of Ayr, which is in the south west of Scotland. The boundaries of the county were altered by the Boundary Commissioners in 1891.

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