Boddydarg is right, New St. used to be called coo rodden, coo - cow, and rodden - road. I found this doing research on stevenston's history. There was a burn or stream near where thr cross is now, and people watered their animals there and allowed them to graze. Used to be, familes had a cow or chicken, but had little or no land, and mosts town and villages had a common are for grazing and watering the family cow

June

Little Plum,

If the Doctor's Surgery is empty he's still a doctor!

They're cattle drovers, for the time being grazing their goats, as they pass through Stevenston!



By the way is the Coo-Rooden what is referred to in old census addresses as the Cow Roading, presumably aye.

Penny Tray wrote:Morag,

I don't know Stevenston but here are some local coos CIRCA 1904:

http://www.workinglives.org.uk/show_ite ... tem_id=244" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

P.T. Never mind the excuse of not knowing Stevenston, but they are the funniest looking coos I've seen in a long time

I think that's the very photo, P.T. looks like Townhead street at the mill dam.

Morag,

I don't know Stevenston but here are some local coos CIRCA 1904:

http://www.workinglives.org.uk/show_ite ... tem_id=244" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I seem to remember seeing a pic of cows being driven around the Mill Dam area. Don't remember if it was posted on 3T's or a link from a post or...

You may be right LP.

B,DARG why would a farmer drive his cattle away from his land to graze ?
I had a chat with a friend, who informed me, that his mother's task in the morning, before going to school , was to take the family cow to the common grazing land at the blue star garage /chapel area and return it home when school was out.This was the 1920's or there abouts.
Jimmy Lyons of the Stevenston historical society informed me that Townhead st. was the coo rooden .

The coo-rooden was given that name because the farmers brought their cows to the field to the side of the graveyard. It was also the school football pitch. The cows were driven down new street.

hi folks

finding the website very interesting i have a quick question ive searched thru the topics and cant find anything but i understand that new street prior was called coo-rooden or cow street, when did the name change to new street or was it just a local slang name for the street? and do any of the buildings on new street still exist from prior to that time or are they of a newer build, new street seems quite well developed in the photos at the turn of the century. the census in 1836 notes cow rooden as adresses and finally does ardrossan library hold old maps of stevenston?

many thanks

alastair