ShirvaDyke House Kirkintilloch

[FindinFamily]

Looking to find out where ShirvaDyke House in Kirkintilloch was in 1901, and if it still exists today.  I am showing my Hay family ancestors lived there at the time of 1901 census.  I am assuming it was a farm.  Any help would be appreciated.

[ShaunJ]

Does the census image say "Shirvadyke House" or just "Shirvadyke"? I've looked at three transcriptions for the Hay family in 1901 and they all say just "Shirvadyke". 

[Forfarian]

Shirva Dyke is west of Twechar, beside the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Antonine Wall.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.7&lat=55.95031&lon=-4.11439&layers=6&b=1 - you may need to enlarge the map to see the names. Slide the blue dot to the left to see a satellite view.

Look at http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NS6775, click on the map to enlarge it, then double click again. Find where it says 'ROMAN FORT' and above it the number 49 (this is a spot height and means that it is 49 metres above sea level) and just to the right of the number is a rectangle with a pinkish square in the corner. That is the house.

It is listed in the post code directory (as Shirva Dyke Cottage) so it is still occupied.

[MonicaL]

Some more details here https://canmore.org.uk/site/45201/auchendavy-antonine-wall  I think what is today referred to as Shirva Dyke Cottage is the smaller property across from the farm on the photographs.

Some older details here (1860) for Shirva Dyke House https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/dunbartonshire-os-name-books-1860/dunbartonshire-volume-10/30

Forfarian, you are brilliant on the mapping  What do you think re the location from these notes?

Monica

[Forfarian]

What do you think re the location from these notes?

Not sure what you mean - I don't think there's any difference between Shirva Dyke, Shirva Dyke House and Shirva Dyke Cottage - reckon that's just different names for the same place.

Shirva Dyke isn't in the aerial photo on the Canmore web site. That's Auchendavy. Shirva Dyke is north of the road a bit further east, cut off at the bottom of that photo.

[FindinFamily]

Thank you all for the very valuable information.  I have one more question.  Does anyone know the meaning of Shirva?

[Forfarian]

W B Johnston's Place Names of Scotland suggests that Shira or Shirra may be from Gaelic siòrabh which he translates as 'lasting river'.

My Gaelic dictionary doesn't include siòrabh.

However sìor is listed as meaning 'long-lasting', 'permanent', 'perpetual' etc, and (unusually) is used before the noun it qualifies.

And abhainn is a variant spelling of abhuinn or amhainn, all pronounced AH-v'n, and meaning 'river'.

So I can see that siòrabh might derive from sìor abhainn, and would sound pretty much like 'Shirav'n', so that is one possible derivation.

[FindinFamily]

Forfarian - Thanks so much.  Since this is located near Antonine's Wall - I am going with "Long Lasting"  I appreciate all your help with this query