What does "Cotton of...." refer to?

[Montrose Budie]

There's plenty more all over Scotland.

Take any of the following and add ton or town. They occur on their own or in combination, e.g. Netherton of Braco, or, reversed, Aucharnie Netherton.

sal[t]
new
lang
ferry
middle
hill
over
wood
castle
chapel
fisher
sea
coal
ford
auld
brig
bog
monks
outer
little
easter
wester
suther
nor
nether
yonder
mid
muir
meikle
hill

There's many, many more but they tend to be more specific, i.e. less general.

mb

[jennyblain]

These names used to fascinate me when I was a small child being taken out for trips in the countryside. And still do, really. They hold so much of history.

When my great-grandfather Thomas Lynch was sent out from Dundee to be boarded out, as an orphan, he was first with Andrew Scott in Bonnetton of Auchterhouse, then with Mrs Chrichton in the Kirkton. (Incidentally there were two other Lynch sent, George and Ann, and I've recently been trying to find out what happened to them and their later families - though with no direct evidence that the three were of one family.)

Jenny

[Montrose Budie]

After driving around in North Ayrshire/Renfrewshire y'day and today, connected with the Tall Ships event in Greenock, it occurs to me that another frequent Scottish placename element is "end".

mb