Cumnock and Doon Valley Monument Inscriptions is a website which was originally conceived in 2010 as a way of assisting people in their genealogical research. The idea grew from my own use of the monument inscriptions gathered by the former Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Whilst these records proved very useful, unfortunately they were not widely available.
The Monumental Inscriptions contained in this website were gathered sometime in the late 1970's by a Manpower Services Commission project team. Their task was to record all pre 1918 MI's in the area covered by Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council. The MI's were never commercially published, but copies were sent to all local libraries, and I have personally seen hard-bound copies in Glasgow's Mitchell Library and New Register House in Edinburgh.
Whilst researching my own family history, I was struck by the poor condition of many of the volumes in various places: pages missing, second or third generation photocopies etc. This prompted my decision to scan the entire set during the course of late 2009 and early 2010. I was lucky enough to be allowed to access some of the original manuscripts which were located in the new Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock. Previously I had been able to consult a version, in very poor condition, in Cumnock Library, but this has since been withdrawn since the new library opened in Greenholm Brae.
During my time I also came across a number of other resources which I felt would be useful to others in their research. Records of local war memorials also proved very useful, and in the Burns Monument Centre there were a number of handwritten notes and typewritten scripts focussing on First and Second World War memorials. No-one is really sure where they came from and they clearly have not been published, but they were invaluable. I also made copies of these, and if anyone has information on their origin or who deserves the credit, get in touch and I will do so. Some local directories from the 19th Century for my native Cumnock were also scanned at the same time.