Valerie's Grandaughter

Early morning in Brisbane City the suns rays are low and glinting everywhere

I made these notes years ago when in Sydney then "lost" them and have rediscovered them when looking for something else:

In 1707 the Caldwell estate in Renfrew Scotland (Lugton-Neilston area) was still owned by the Mure family and I found a few statistics - 5,486 acres.

Farms on the property
Caldwell
Caldwellside
Holehouse
Caldwell Law
Dunsmore
Old Barn
Corseburn
Highgate
Lochend (tenant John Caldwell - the only farm occupied by a Caldwell)
Newton Mearns
Shillhilll
Capebrig

Tom

The Great Siberian Circus visiting Coffs Harbour can be an inspiration in co-operation

This is likely to be a continuing ramble. Many surnames are easy to pick or an explanation can be given that is reasonably satisfactory and acceptable. I think that the commonly accepted meaning for Caldwell has to be taken "as read" until a better proof or reasoning can be found.

I will firstly quote at length from "A Dictionary of British Surnames" by PH Reaney, second edition 1961 as reprinted in 1983 [Routledge & Kegan Paul plc] ISBN 0 7100 8106 5

"Caldwell, Calwell, Cauldwell, Caudwell, Caudell, Caudle, Cawdell, Caddell, Cadel, Cadwell, Cardwell, Coldwell, Couldwell, Chadwell, Cholwell: Adam de Caldewella 1195 P (Db); Richard de Coldewell 1379 PTY; Richard Cauldwell 1381 PTY; JohnCawdewelle 1524 SRSf. 'Cold spring or stream', OE ceald, wielle, surviving as Caldwell (Wrwicks, NRYorks), Caldwall (Worcs), Cauldwell (Beds, Derby, Notts), Caudle Green (Glos), Caudle Ditch and Caudle Fen (Cambs), Cadewell 1417, Cadle 1591, Chadwell (Essex, Herts, Leics, Wilts), Chardwell (Essex) and Chardle Ditch (Cambs), Kadewelle 13th, Cadwel 14th. For Forms, cf. CALDECOT. v also CADWALL, CADWELL.

In Scotland Caldwell and Coldwell, formerly pronounced Carwall, are from Caldwell (Renfrewshire)."

This is the commonly accepted reasoning and we must accept it for now.

I wish to put up a number of alternatives but before I do this I make the observation that there are a great number of places in England (none apparently in Wales) from where the surname may have been derived and yet the "English" branch of Caldwell seems to be far less numerous than that from Scotland. Furthermore many "English" Caldwell's are in fact Scots families who had moved there. Almost all the Irish Caldwell families can trace their ancestry to Scotland. Contrast this with the place name that is said to be the source of the naming of the Scots family. It is the name of a property held by the Mure family. A very substantial property said to have been taken into the Mure family by marriage with an heiress in the 1300's. Nonetheless it is an estate and has been alienated from the Caldwell family for a very long time. Even the closest village is known as Lugton and not "Caldwell". It is possible that the family name was established through association with the estate but I might wonder why the Caldwell surname is much more common than Mure? (not Moore, Muir or other variants but possibly "More"). The Mure/More family were very wealthy and owned many large properties in their network. If the Caldwell name prospered because of its association with the Mure property of "Caldwell" we might then wonder why there are not also great numbers of persons with a surname reflecting the other Mure properties: Polkelly, Coudams, Glanderston, Rowallan?

Next the property of Caldwell is another property that was undoubtedly in the hands of the superior line of the Caldwell family until the late 1600's : "The Hall of Little Caldwell".

There is no doubt that there were a good number of Caldwell's in that region from an early date and that they had a family relationship to the Mure's.

Pronunciation: my father carefully told me how "country" people pronounced Caldwell as "Ker-wahl" with the first part iterated quickly and almost gutturally "Ker..." and the last syllable a drawn out "waaahl". I wondered why it would be pronounced this way, my father thought it was just the Scots "lazy speech" and my uncle Tom told me he thought it was "just a nickname". Both told me that members of the CALDWELL family "always" pronounced it "Caldwell" as it is written. On the site http://caldwellgenealogy.com a posting member stated that in the USA Caldwell had been pronounced Kuh-well or even Quail in some regions and I think that this corroborates to some extent the Scots version in a divergence over some centuries.

I can provide a semblance of explanation on back grounding Kerwahl (or Carwall as Reaney put it):

"Car" is a common name in Scotland for places that were positions of fortifications and equivalent to the Welsh and Welsh border "Caer" and Wall or Walls could be either an English reference to Walls or to Wallys which meant the original British "Welsh" inhabitants of Strathclyde from which the modern surname Wallace is derived.

To the North West of the property Caldwell and, very likely even once on the Caldwell property itself is an Iron Age Fort built appropriately on "Walls Hill". Nearby there are two farms called Castlewalls. On an old map I found a tower marked "Castle Wallace" just to the south of Walls Hill. Just to the East of Caldwell there are two further farms named "Carwell".

From the story of Howwood:
"A vast hill fort can be found on Walls Hill. It has been suggested that this was a Celtic 'oppidium' and possibly the capital of the Damnonii in Roman times."

The link of the pronounced name to the physical is quite strong but I cannot connect the pronunciation to the spelling.

I also note as a by-the-way that Murer in French means to wall in. I might wonder if some preoccupation with walls led to the divergence of the surnames about the time of the Norman family feudalisation of Scotland. The fact that a Thomas Caldwell "built" Kelburn Castle and the late Mrs Lesley Anne Gordon claimed that the Caldwell's were celebrated master masons might point to a long history of castle building (smile).

Caldwell's in Lochwinnoch area seem to have had their grants of land from the Fitzallan's (later Stewarts) and also seem to be quite prolific at an early date in the area south of the River Irvine known as Kings Kyle. Furthermore this mirrors the Wallace family areas.

I surmise that the Caldwell's could have been followers of the Fitzallan's from England when they first came to Scotland. The Scottish Royal family for a long time held lands in the midlands known as "The Honour of Huntingdon" and this strangely enough seems to be the area in England where there are a good number of English Caldwell's.

Located in the general area is Litchfield Cathedral where St Chad's Well is located. Veneration of wells is an old custom in the midlands and probably is a left over from the Germanic cult of Teutones. Sufficient that Chadwell and Caldwell are almost synonymous and this fact is acknowledged by Reaney. There is a Caldwell Hall in a village of Chadwell.

Furthermore the Scots Caldwell shield shows three piles and waves and the crest is a fountain "springing up water". Perhaps cold water and a spring, but hey! the Scots Caldwell comes from a place-name (we are told) - it is the English one that came from "cold water"! Significantly Litchfield Cathedral is relatively unique in having three equal sized spires, very much like the piles on the Scots Caldwell shield. The water may signify St Chad's well and the fountain the grace achieved by a pilgrimage to the holy well. I will come back to the alternative spellings and pronunciations for St Chad and his brother.

Scots who came from the Wallace family regions would have been very proud to have been called "Wallace" after the feats of their kinsman and patriot leader William Wallace but they might not have been able to write. Consequently it would have been quite legitimate for regulatory purposes when asked their name "What are ye Cau'd?" to have replied "I'm Cau'd Wallys". To which the scribes might have written "Cauldwalls".

Not finished: I have also noted similar names but not attached much to this fact but they need to be recorded: the district of Cowall across the Firth of Clyde; the Norman French Colville.

According to Reaney :

"Gauld: Jas Gald 1550 Black; John Gauld 1686 ib. Gael gallda 'pertaining to the lowlands'. v GALL, GALT"

"Gales: Mager' Galeys 1279 RH (C); Henry le Galeys, le walais 1299, 1305 LoCt. The central French form of Wallis, or OG Walo. v. WALES"

From Mrs Gordon's research:

"Petrus ver (Petricus) Caldwell carta Petri Caldwell de tenus de Colgreve ... 1412/carta from Sir Adam Fullarton of Crosbie in his favour of lands of Scottishaw (now called Gaylis) dated Irvine 1391" (after Otterburn)

Comment: "de tenus de Colgreve" is a puzzle it seems to point to an existing property connection of "Petri Caldwell". I have looked fro a connection to a place called Colgreve or Colgreave or Colgrave but have found no such place. The closest is Colgrave Sound in the Shetlands between Yell and Fetlar but this is most unlikely. I have tried the family name to see if it can be linked to a place and there are a few of the "Colgrave" surname (and fewer still of "Colgreve"). Colgrave seems to have come from the English Midlands around Sheffield and I would be very pleased if someone could help throw more light on this question. Of course it could be "Coal-Grieve" and an occupational name for the overseer of mining operations. Whereas this might be true of the Sheffield family it is much less likely in the case of this Carta because of its date: 1412 and the wording and context doesn't seem a plausible support for that argument. Reaney is not much help as he doesn't recognise "Colgrave" or any variation as a surname (although it undoubtably exists).

Scottishaw is likely to mean "King's wood" and Gaylis is now modern Gailes on the Ayrshire coast right next to the then Royal Stewart Castle, residence and permanent home at Dundonald.

This is a castle built in Moray Speyside by one Freskin sent up from Ayrshire to Feudalise the north. It has an uncanny resemblance to Caldwell. Is it fact a castle that was built in the highlands by lowlanders or the "Lowland Welsh":

http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/pls/portal/newcanmore.details_gis?inumlink=16841

www.duffus.com/freskin.htm

There are other references just search Google under "Gauldwell" and "Castle". I will have to find and post the link to the reference that is quite specific that Freskin was not only from Ayrshire but brought his followers from there also. He was originally of Flemish stock but already a few generations Scottish.

Caldwell may then just be a generic name for the lowland peoples of Strathclyde that occupied the areas of Ayrshire and Renfrew: the "Wallys" or more specifically the "Gauld-wallys". This would answer why the name is relatively common and the geographic areas where it is found.

Welcome to the notion that our name is just the unromantic term "Lowland-Welsh", aka "Lowland-Briton", or just plain "Lowlander". There is a notion of respect there in that our nickname Carwall possibly meant "fortress of the welsh" or "strength of the welsh" or simply "castle-walls". Perhaps the original Strathclyde Britons held the iron age fort on Walls Hill as their postion of strength and capital and those that came from the surrounding area were the lowland-welsh from the castle of the welsh.

The English name either came from local place names, Chad's well pilgrims, or followers of the Scots Earl of Huntingdon on his English estates.

"Something of the extent of the 7th-century Welsh in the English kingdoms may in time be learnt from the study of place names. Places whose Roman British names are preserved are few; apart from large towns, they are naturally most numerous in the West Riding, in the Welsh marches and in other border regions. That the English called willages of the Welsh or British are considerably more numerous.

....

Much more numerous are those described as Wealh Tun, Welshman's village, Walton and the like.

....

[In Mercia and Northumbria] where free Welshmen remained unassimilated to a later date [the term "Wealh" meant "Welsh" not bondsman or serf]

....

but when they derive from Wealh, they indicate the homes of Welshmen who lived among the early English

....

Their study has been inhibited by a naive and somewhat nantionalistic reluctance to admit the existence of a considerable Welsh element among the ancestors of the modern English."

"The Age of Arthur - a history of the British Isles from 350-650" by John Morris Pheonix Paperback published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson reissued 2004 ISBN 1 84212 477 3 p314-315

From this we might deduce that names ending in "-wall" or "-well" might reference the English word "Wealh" and might have nothing to do with springs or walls and a lot to do with being a Celt or "Welsh" to the local English settlers.

Farms, mainly on the south side of the Irvine River that have connnections to the Caldwell family. This is based on help from David Caldwell of Manitoba and some of my own research.

It is far from conclusive or complete. Nor does it "prove" anything.

Gailes (Gaylis) is marked on the map but was formerly much larger and covered the area of the current army barracks.

Todriggs is not actually named on the map but still exists ("Kennels" next to Earlston). Old Rome is also marked. Inchgotrick is the farm of David's family and his ancestors were on Annanhill as well. My family once lived at "Wee Inchgotrick" formerly known as "Inchgotrick Mains" which is an older property and not marked but is between Inchgotrick and Treesbanks House. "Mains" apparently means the desmaine farm serving a castle. For the benefit of David Andrew C I have marked Annandale.

Elleslie is also not marked on the map but I have penciled in the name where it still exists next to Annanhill. There is a fair body of opinion that this is actually the birthplace of Sir William Wallace the Scots patriot and not Elderslie near Paisley where it is also attributed. If it were at Elderslie then that is also in "Caldwell Country".

Circumstance surrounding the story of Wallace's life would favour Ellerslie near Riccarton as both his mother and father were from this area and his family were the Wallaces of Riccarton. Furthermore he seems to have spent his early life in the Riccarton area David seems to think that there was a Wallace castle on the site now occupied by Treesbanks House.

Dundonald Castle - the seat of the early Stewart Kings is shown on a crag just west of the village of Dundonald.

Map: Part of Ordinance Survey Landranger Series 1:50 000 Ayr & Kilmarnock Sheet 70 (used for academic illustrative purposes only - copyright is acknowledged)

Highlighted ar farms in the Beith - Lochwinnoch area that I have found and have family lines mapped by the Late Mrs Lesley Anne Gordon. There are other names I have not traced and the farm property "Auchangowan" is somewhere under Barcraigs Reservoir I believe.

Map: Part of Ordinance Survey Landranger Series 1:50 000 Firth of Clyde Sheet 63 (used for academic illustrative purposes only - copyright is acknowledged)

They were all sooo cool in their sunglasses :)

Map: Page 118 "Ayrshire the story of a county" John Strawhorn AANHS 1975 (used for academic illustrative purposes only - copyright is acknowledged)