A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of
Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical,
Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and
originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange
Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885. This edition
is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, It has
taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's
text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by
making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view
this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining.
Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please
give what you can. Use the tabs on the right of this page to see
other parts of this entry ow, any one of numerous sluggish
rivulets or stagnant burns in marshy or alluvial districts of
Scotland. The name is an Anglicised or softened form of the
Gaelic Poll, and the Cymric Pwl, signifying `a pool, a ditch, a
stagnating stream, or a marshy plac