: Today there is a Caldwell Golf Course, a Caldwell Parish,
: and a hamlet (not village) of Caldwell, all in East
: Renfrewshire, adjacent to Uplawmoor, and located about
: 4 miles east of Beith, Ayrshire. The valley abounds
: with artesisan wells, from fissures in volcanic rock.
: A book on the history of Caldwell Parish has been
: published. A little more than a hundred years ago,
: Caldwell Parish was part of Neilston parish. At
: various times in the past, the hamlet of Caldwell has
: belonged to the Glasgow Parish, the Paisely parish,
: and the Beith parish. The mystery is whether the name
: came from a person with a Caldwell surname who
: acquired these lands, or whether, as was common in
: England, evolved as a place name (O.E., caeld weille)
: from the presence of an artesian well. Does anyone
: known whether Caldwell appears among the 2000 names
: listed in the Ragman's Roll of 1296, in which Scottish
: nobles and gentry pled allegiance to Edward I? If
: Caldwells were a promonent clan in the 13th century,
: using Caldwell as a surname, I would expect them to be
: so listed. Likewise, if there were tax rolls in the
: 13th century, would not the surname Caldwell have
: appeared?
I have some information on the name Caldwell going back to the 1200"s (once)
In Ayrshire there were two Thomas Colvylle's and one Adma Colvylle (or similar spelling) there is also a well known family known as Colville. Whether this was Edward I's Normanised scribes bowdlerising to a familiar name or whether they were really Caldwell's in disguise it is impossible to know.
Significantly a land grant to a Thomas Colville le Scot would seem to be an attempt to distinguish possible Caldwell/Colvilles from true Norman Colvilles who were not Scots at that time. I wonder how a native french speaking person would get his tongue around "Caldwell".