Struthers
Struthers CER S NO377098 1 373 125m
(the water of) Hothirstrothyr 1310 x 1327 SAUL MS 37490, no. 1 [= Glassy How Burn; see CER Introduction]
Ochtyrothyrstruthyr 1380 SHS Misc. v, 29 [William Keith (de Keth) and his wife Margaret Fraser, to their son Robert Keith ‘all our lands of Struthers’ (omnes terras nostras de Ochtyrothyrstruthyr), with pertinents]
Uchteruthirstruthire 1440 RMS ii no. 240 [to John Lindsay of Byres, the lands of Struthers, Wester Markinch (Westir Markinch) MAI and Pittendreich (Petindrech), Portmoak KNR, FIF]
Ouchtiruthirstruthir 1442 RMS ii no. 278 [in Scots; ‘Ouchtiruthirstruthir, Westir Markinche & Pettendrech’]
Outhirrudirstrudyr 1452 x 1480 RMS ii no. 1444 [one of the lands belonging to the Church of St Andrews]
apud Struder 1497 RMS ii no. 3274
apud Strwthir 1508 RMS ii no. 3526
the Strothir 1520 Fife Ct. Bk. 176
the Strudowr 1539 x 1540 Knights of St John, 26 [‘Item ii temple landis besyd the Strudowr’]
Auchterstruder c.1560 s Assumption 55 [teinds to St Mary’s on the Rock Collegiate Kirk, St Andrews]
Auchterutherstruther 1603 RMS vi no. 1450
all and haill the landis of Auchter Vtherstruther 1606 APS iv, 312 [to John lord Lindsay of the Byres]
(temple lands of) Struthers 1614 RMS vii no. 1100 [‘temple lands of Struthers and Widdieshauch, held by Lord Lindsay’ (terras templarias de Struthers et Widdieshauch per dominum Lindsay possessas)]
Struther 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Strudder 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Struthers 1684 Adair/East Fife
all and haill the maner place of Auchteruther-Struthers 1724 NAS GD20/1/772
Struthers 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Struthers 1775 Ainslie/Fife [‘Earl of Crawford’]
Struthers 1790s OSA, 147 [‘Struthers, or, as it is called in some old papers, Auchter-uther-Struther, formerly the seat of the Earls of Crawfurd’]
Struthers 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Struthers Barns 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
G uachdar + G eadar + G sruthair
‘Upland between burns’. The Middle Irish form would be óchtar/úachtar etar sruthra, the form sruthra being the accusative plural. The two burns in question are the Glassy How Burn and the Craigrothie Burn.
The site appearing as Struthers Barns on the 1855 OS map (and on OS Pathf.) appears to be that named Busg Barns on Roy (1753). OS Pathf. shows the site of Struthers Castle about 150 m south of Struthers.
DSL wrongly derives this name from Sc struther (and variants) ‘marsh, marshy place’. It is rare to find this Sc word in place-names north of the Forth–Clyde line, though it does appear, for example, in Langstruther, part of Cumberland KCQ, q.v.
Blaeu (Gordon) Fife marks Strudder with a large enclosure round about it, and Millar (1895 i, 143) cites Robert Sibbald as saying ‘it is a large old house, with gardens, great orchards, and vast enclosures’. The remains of these ‘vast enclosures’ still exist as huge stone walls in the surrounding fields.
The name associated with Struthers temple lands in 1614, Widdieshauch, contains Sc widdie ‘withy, twig or wand of willow’, but which can also refer to the gallows (CSD). The second element is Sc haugh, indicating that it was low-lying land beside a water-course.
/ˈstrʌðərz/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 2