Drums
Drums FAL S NO269053 1 373 160m EAF
Drum c.1350 RMS i app.2 no. 760 B [17th c. index; earl of Fife to Thomas Lumsden (Lumisdaine), lands of Drum (Drum) <and> Conland (Condland) FAL]
Drum 1476 ADA 64
Drum 1507 RMS ii no. 3143
duelland in the Drwme 1516 Fife Ct. Bk. 142
Drwmes Owir et Nethir 1612 Retours (Fife) no.1544 [in the barony of Conland (Condland) FAL]
(lands of) Drumes Over & Nether 1622 RMS viii no. 348
Drummes Over et Nather 1642 Retours (Fife) no. 619 [wrongly punctuated as ‘Drummes, Over et Nather Powrane’]
Neitherdrum 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Overdrum 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Drummies p 1682 Retours (Fife) no. 1205 [‘terris de Downes (vel Drummies)’]
Drum 1684 Adair/East Fife
Drums 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Drum 1775 Ainslie/Fife [Lunden Esqr]
Nether Drum 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Over Drums 1815 Sasines no. 10696 [‘lands of Over Drums and Gallowhill on the south of the high road from New Inn to Falkland’]
Drums 1828 SGF
Nether Drums 1828 SGF
Drums 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Nether Drums 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn
G druim or Sc drum
It is not possible to say whether this name was formed originally from G druim and then given a plural form in the Sc period, or whether it was formed originally from Sc drum. The two words mean exactly the same thing, ‘ridge’, the Scots word being borrowed from the Gaelic.
The ridge in question is the rise on the eastern side of East Lomond. OS Pathf. also shows Nether Drums.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 2