Cessnock Water

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Cessnock, a small river of the NE of Kyle district, Ayrshire. It rises on Auchmannoch Muir, at 980 feet above sea-level, near the Lanarkshire boundary, and 1 mile SW of Distinkhorn Hill; and running 5 miles south-westward through Sorn and Mauchline parishes, to within a mile of Mauchline town, goes thence about 9 miles north-north-westward, partly through Mauchline parish, partly along the boundary between Galston on the right and Craigie and Riccarton on the left; and falls into Irvine Water at a point 2¾ miles E by S of Kilmarnock. Its winding course is varied and picturesque, and its waters afford good trout fishing, but are not open to the public. On its banks dwelt the lassie with sparkling roguish een of Burns's song. Cessnock Castle, an ancient tower, the property of the Duke of Portland, stands in the parish and 1³/₈ mile SE of the town of Galston.—Ord. Sur., shs. 22,14,1865-63.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer