I have been looking at family genealogy for some time (on and off). Every so often you tend to get the feeling that you are on the edge of a break through. I feel that at the moment a significant discovery is not far off.

I need some help from Scots locals or anyone who has researched the location of Caldwell family farms.
There seems to be quite a deal of evidence emerging on which and whichever notable family the Caldwell's were associated with. If we can narrow this down to time and place we can relate to histrical time and records and thereby get a better understanding of the family.
Some facts help -

I now know that Ayrshire was a predominately farming shire - towns and villages were small and existed mainly to support the farming community.
People did not move great distances and when they did get about it was usually by connection with kith and kin.
Farm names in Scotland have been handed down for centuries.
Being associated with a farm did not mean ownership. Scotland had a system of system of leasing property known as "feuing" and "portioning" which I franking do not properly understand. But in reality the absolute ownership of property in any area was restricted to a relatively small number of major landlords. A laird could still be a man of some local substance without necessarily owning his land.

Both I and some of the contributors to this site have been sourcing the names of farms and dates of occupancy by Caldwell's. I can see patterns emerging.

On high resolution ordinance maps a high percentage of these farm-names can be found today. Unfortunately some names were quite common such as "Bogside" which obviously charmingly refers to a farm located by an undrained area of low-lying land. Nevertheless with some diligence we can start to map out the areas where particular families lived for generations. By cross-referring them to the major landholders we might start to firm up early statements that have been handed down as "is reputed to" or "it has been said" into a more solid argument.

I have known for some time the names of farms associated with the Caldwell's of the Lochwinnoch area.
David Caldwell of Manitoba (formerly of Inchgotrick) has helped with farm-names in the Irvine valley area near Kilmarnock. The farm-names of this area scream "connection with the Fullarton's". The Fullartons (again) "are supposed to have come to Scotland in the train of Walter FizAlan" and were very close to the early Stewart Kings at Dundonald. That the Caldwell's were connected to the Fullarton's is obvious from the trail of farms names from the coast through to the outskirts of Kilmarnock.

I have this refernce from Mrs Gordon's papers:
"Patrick or Peter Caldwell (wife Isobel) - reign of K Robert III (1390-1406) 'Petrus Caldwell' carta Petri Caldwell de tenus de Colgrieve ... 1412

Carta from Sir Adam Fullarton of Crosbie in his favour of lands of Scottishaw (now called Gaylis) date Irvine 1391"

I don't know where Colgrieve is but Gaylis is modern Gailes which used to be two farms North & South Gailes on practically all the coast between Barassie on the south and Fullarton on the south bank of the Irvine River opposite Irvine itself. The southern farm is now an army barracks.

I heard a legand about Gaylis - the property is supposed to have been a reward for success in a tournament and the progenator was supposed to have borne himself so well as to have been dubbed in Norman French "Gay Lis" beautiful Lily (meaning noble-bearing). I suppose he must have been a "tough-nut" and not effeminate and this was regarded as a compliment in its day. The lily is the tressure on the royal standard and I would suppose that this was all a mark of royal favour at the time.

The "tournament success" may well have related to a success in battle in the cause of Scotland. I have seen accounts of independent jousting associated with the battle of Otterburn when it was still possible to pause for a one-on-one contest with the loser becoming the captive of the victor and as a handsome ransom prize worth much more than a dead opponent. By definition the ransoms went to the king who was expected in return to appropriately reward to source of the booty.

I believe that one of the Montgomery's built Polnoon Castle with his share of the reward from the ransom of Henry Hotspur after Otterburn. Otterburn is ranked as second only to Bannockburn as the most rewarding to Scotland in the form of ransom payments.

Colgrieve sound suspiciously like "Coal Grieve". The coal grieve was the supervisor/manager of a coal mine. As far as I know they were only mining surface outcrops that far back in time and I find iit implausable that this is what was being referred to. It is much more likely to be a place or property name.

Back to farms -
The Caldwell family of Todriggs near Kilmarnock also held land at Kempisland near Largs and Butterwall in the same area. I have not been able to find the exact location of either of these properties. Another property "Whitecraig" may be the property of that name just outside Dalry although there are a number of "Whitecraig's".

The reasons I think that this is the property mentioned are:
A will associates persons with a Caldwell testator who belong to farms named in the region of the Rye Burn running up into the hills from Dalry towards the Largs area.
Current maps show barely a track running up the Rye Burn conecting farms but old maps show a substantial Road connecting Dalry through the hills to Largs.

In any case it would appear that this might be a "link" between the Caldwell's of the Kilmarnock area and the Caldwell's of the Lochwinnoch area. The Caldwell of Todriggs who "got" Kempisland in 1496 (held by the family until 1610). It was granted by from Sir Adam Mure of Caldwell. (Who may have held it from the days of the Battle of Largs). This possibly shows some sort of family relationship still existing at that time.
(I hate the word "got" but it seems to be used in this type of relationship)

The Largs property eventually found its way into the hands of the Brisbane family who are also "supposed to have come to Scotland in the train of Walter FitzAlan ...." da-de-da - familiar refrain.