#stinchar

The Southern Uplands are mostly made up of a brittle grey sandstone that has been eroded away to make rounded hill tops. The stone can be seen exposed in river beds, on hill top cairns and drystone dykes.

In contrast to the amazingly diverse geology found in the Ballantrae complex the hills to the south of the Stinchar Valley are made up of tough sedimentary rock formed about 440 million years ago. Fine particles settled on the bottom of a deep ocean in thin layers that were sometimes covered by thick layers of sediment deposited by underwater avalanches triggered by earthquakes. The ocean closed as two continents collided, uniting lands that we now call Scotland and England. As the ocean floor was forced under the Scottish continent some of it was scraped off, folded and stacked vertically together to form the Southern Uplands.

A weird type of animal life called graptolites lived in the ocean. When they died, they sank down to the layers of sludgy mud and were preserved as fossils that look like ancient writing scratched into the rock. The graptolites evolved into different shapes and geologists studying the rocks noticed that different fossils could be used to identify different periods of geological time.

Over 100 years ago Charles Lapworth spent many years studying graptolite fossils and devised a theory that explained how the Southern Uplands were created. Although his ideas took time to be accepted his conclusions about the order of events that formed the rocks are still undisputed.

The name of the village of Barr in the Stinchar Valley is likely to be derived from the Gaelic bàrr  meaning ‘a top of anything’ and in place-names in Galloway and Carrick is usually applied to relatively low hills. It is one of the most common topographical place-name elements in south-west Scotland with at least 250 places in Galloway and Carrick incorporating the word. Although now applied to the village it would presumably have originated as a single place-name Am Bàrr, ‘the top’, applied to some local hill.

In this case the low hill named is probably lies between at the confluence of the River Stinchar and the Water of Gregg. This hill had the farms of Nether Barr and Upper Barr on its north facing slope and appears to have been known at one time as Barrhill. A 1696 description of the Stinchar Valley states that there are “pleasant haughs [level ground adjacent to rivers] upon one side or the other till you come to Barrehill upon the southwest of which stands the Kirk of Barre …. which is a new erection for the convenience of the old parish of Daillie and Girvan and dwellers of the remote corners on the borders of Galloway”. The newly formed parish was named Barr and had a church constructed in 1653 using materials reclaimed from the old chapel at Kirkdominae.

Dinvin Motte, near Pinmore and the Stinchar Valley, is a distinctive hill with a flat-topped conical mound at the centre surrounded by a series of defensive ditches and banks that identifies it as a medieval moated homestead.

Very little is known about Dinvin Motte and it may have served many different purposes but was probably built by powerful Anglo-Norman noble who had been granted the land by a Scottish King. On the mound would have been a timber castle surrounded by a tall palisade with a gated entrance. It was a place that could be defended from attack in the 12th century. The structure is in a commanding location and would have been a powerhouse from which local communities were controlled as well as being a display of wealth and status.  The earthwork is impressively well preserved and from the top there are extensive views of the Ayrshire coast, Arran, Girvan, and Byne Hill.

For many years the scale of the defences led scholars to believe that the site was of much earlier date. This analysis was reinforced by the place name Dinvin, with the Gaelic element Dùn identifying it as an ancient fort. The second element of the place name may refer to the mythological Irish hunter and warrior Fionn mac Cuthmail or Finn MacCool and his clan. His exploits were legendary amongst the Gaelic-speaking peoples of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man and many landmarks are named after him and places where legends about him are located. Dinvin may have been the focus of a local tale where Finn MacCool played a central character.

In a less exciting interpretation Dinvin may simply be White Fort, derived from the Gaelic Dùn Fionn.

PLACE in the Biosphere is taking a closer look at place names in the Stinchar Valley to discover the possible meanings and what they tell us about people in the past - see further analysis here; 

https://www.gsabiosphere.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Stinchar-Valley-Place-Names-V2.pdf

Two Pins is used by locals to describe the combined settlements of Pinwherry and Pinmore who work together as one community in the Stinchar Valley. The content of six interpretation panels has being reviewed by a place name expert to ensure that the information presented is academically sound.

In the surrounding area PIN is a common place name element for farms particularly in the upper valleys and is derived from the Gaelic peighinn meaning penny.  In place names it refers to a unit of land, based on yield rather than area, although it appears to have been adopted as a term for a reasonably substantial holding rather than identifying any precise valuation.

Pinmore is derived from the Gaelic a’ Pheighinn Mhòr, the big pennyland. It was the name of a tower house at the confluence of the Water of Assel and the River Stinchar but when the railway and station opened in 1877 it was christened Pinmore and became the centre of a new settlement.

The second element of Pinwherry is harder to define and may be Peighinn a’ Choire, ‘pennyland of the cauldron’ and probably refers to a hollow or pool where the Duisk River meets the River Stinchar. Nearby stands the ruin of the Pinwherry tower house in the centre of the loosely clustered village. Other possible meanings for Pinwherry include pennyland of the wooded dell or it may refer to the Irish personal name Ciothruadh, now anglicised and transformed into Jerome making it Jerome’s pennyland.

Other farms with pennyland place names in the area include:

Pinbain, Pinminnoch, Pinmacher, Pinclanty, Pinhannet, Pinvalley, Pinmullan and Letterpin.

Peighinn place names are also common on the islands of Mull and Skye and indicates a connection between Carrick and the Hebrides.

Much of the grassland in Ayrshire can be classified as agriculturally improved grassland, meaning it has been significantly modified through farming practices such as fertiliser application, drainage and pesticide application.

The Stinchar Valley has a range of different types of grassland which are dependent upon the underlying geology. Places like the north side of Knockdolian Hill where there are thin soils over outcrops of limestone or serpentine result in base rich or calcareous grassland that supports a very high diversity of flowering plants.

Semi-natural or unimproved neutral grasslands are grasslands that have had little agricultural improvement and are usually managed as pastured or hay meadows. Places like Feoch Meadows near Barrhill are grazed by traditional whitebred shorthorn cattle to encourage a species rich sward with a large number of flowers in the summer months.  Ten varieties of orchid, including the fragrant orchid pictured, have been recorded in the meadows which are also a great place to see grasshoppers, bees and butterflies.

Feoch Meadows is a Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve find out more here; https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserve/feoch-meadows/