Downfield
Downfield KTT S NO342076 1 373 205m NEF
(Lawrence Ramsay of) Dwnfeild 1491 NAS GD26/3/796 [17th c. copy (1649); member of a jury in Cupar]
(Ramsay of) Dwnfeld 1495 Laing Chrs. no. 222
(the principal hall of the place of) Downfeld 1495 Laing Chrs. no. 222
Dounfield 1500 Laing Chrs. no. 240
Dounfeld 1511 Laing Chrs. no. 2l79
Dounfeild 1513 RMS ii no. 3860 [to George Airth (Erth) and Janet Clephane (Clapham), ‘the sunny half of the lands of Downfield’ (dimedietatem terrarum de Dounfeild versus solem) ... with three acres of the other half]
Dounfeld 1513 Laing Chrs. no. 293
Downfeld 1513 Laing Chrs. no. 293
(John Ramsay of) Dovnfeild 1513 Laing Chrs. no. 294
Dvnfield 1513 Laing Chrs. no. 294
Dounfeld 1516 Fife Ct. Bk. 29
Donfeild 1517 Fife Ct. Bk. 80
Dounfeyld 1521 Fife Ct. Bk. 235
(lands of) Dunfeild 1538 RMS iii no. 1744 [king to his servant Patrick Wemyss of Pittencreiff (Pettincreif) DFL, the lands of Downfield which David Ramsay of Downfield (Dunfeild) has resigned]
Dunfeild 1552 RMS iv no. 667 [David Pitcairn of Forthar (Forthir) MAI, KFX sold to his son Robert lands of Forthar (Forthir), with tower, fortalice etc. and lands of Downfield, with tower, fortalice etc.]
terris de Downefeild 1581 Retours (Fife) no. 1467 [David Schethum of Skelpie (Skelpye) CLT in the lands of Downfield]
Tounfeild 1587 Assumption 15 [teind sheaves of St Andrews Priory]
Dounfield 1611 RMS vii no. 448 [part of the free barony of Forthar; full details of this charter are given under Forthar MAI, discussion, below]
Downfeilds 1642 Gordon MS Fife
? Broun hills 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife [for Down Law or Downfield? See discussion under Down Law KTT, below]
Dunfield 1684 Adair/East Fife
Downfield 1828 SGF
en *Down + Sc field
‘Field at or belonging to Down’. ‘Down’ itself derives from G dùn ‘hill, hill-fort’. In the Scots-speaking period it was then combined, as an existing name, with Sc field to refer to a piece of enclosed land, which by extension came to designate the associated settlement. In a similar way it was also combined with Sc law to form Down Law (see next entry), the name of the hill on whose southern slope Downfield lies, and which was itself the feature originally designated by G dùn.
As the name suggests, there was a hill-fort on Down Law, the ramparts of which are still clearly visible. The fort had a rampart and ditch, now partially obliterated by quarrying; the remains of a palisade trench were discovered in 1984 (NMRS NO30NW 21; DES 1984, 1988; in the latter year a small excavation was carried out, but nothing was found). For a late eighteenth-century description of the fort here, see Bowden KTT.
OS Pathf. also shows Downfield Wood and Downfield Cottages.
/ˈdəunfild/, locally /ˈdunfild/[126]
This place-name appeared in printed volume 2