Pitcruvie
Pitcruvie LAR S NO414046 1 374 65m WEF
Petcruvie 1455 ER ix, 664
domin<a> de Petcruvy 1497 RMS ii no. 2342 [Janet Ramsay, lady of Pitcruvie and widow of David lord Lindsay of the Byres, grants 5 merks annually for the service at the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Largo parish kirk]
Petcruvy 1497 RMS ii no. 2376 [to Patrick Lindsay the lands of Pitcruvie and *Monsheil (Montschele) LAR ‘with their castle and tower’ (cum castro et turre earundem)]
Petcruvy 1498 RMS ii no. 2419 [lands of Pitcruvie and *Monsheil (Monthschele) LAR and lands of Auchindownie (Edindowny) LAR]
(John Lindsay of) Petcrowy 1515 Fife Ct. Bk. 1 [knight, sheriff of Fife]
(the teind of) Pitcortwe 1545 x 1555 N. Berwick Cart. p. xxiii [‘Item, set to the Maister of Lynsay (Lindsay) the teynd of Pitcortwe, Etherdoune (Auchindownie LAR) and Balmene (Balmain LAR), for x lib. to be payit at Beltayne (Beltane i.e. 1 May) callit the Inventione of the Croce’]
Pitcruvie c.1560 s Purves 154 [?1]
Pitcurvie 1573 Assumption 145 [rental of North Berwick Priory]
terras et baroniam de Petcrovie 1588 RMS v no. 1431 [see discussion]
(barony of) Pitcruvie 1602 Retours (Fife) no. 112 [see discussion]
Pittcraue 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Pitcruvie 1664 Retours (Fife) no. 953
Crouvie C<astle> 1684 Adair/East Fife
Balcruvie Tower 1775 Ainslie/Fife [‘in Ruins’]
Balcruvie 1790s OSA, 577 [ancient castle ‘occupied of old by the family of Crawford’]
barony of Pitcruvie 1795 Sasines no. 4188 [‘comprehending Pitcruvie and Wormwell, parts of Auchindownie or Edindownie, Mill of Balmain (except Briesmire)’ i.e. Birsiemire LAR]
Cruvie Castle 1827 Ainslie/East Fife
Balcruvie Tower 1828 SGF [‘in ruins’]
G pett + ? G crobh + G –in
‘Farm at the place of the hollow?’, probably containing an oblique form of G crobh (gen. sing. cruibh), ‘hand, paw’, referring to the bowl-shaped hollow (as in an open hand) lying between the castle and the Keil Burn; cf also Cruivie LOG PNF 4. W. J. Watson interprets it as peit chraoibhe ‘tree share’ (sic; i.e. land-holding’) or chraobhaigh, dative of craobhach ‘wooded’ (1926, 412). This is far less likely, since the standard development of the diphthong in craobh ‘tree’ in Fife and other parts of south-east Scotland is /i/, as in Crieff PER, Pittencreiff DFL (PNF 1) and Pittencrieff CUP (PNF 4). This whole discussion will have to be re-assessed if Petcrothy, granted by the earl of Fife (1315 x 1353) to Maurice del Spens along with Corston SLO (NAS GD 20/1/779, discussed under SLO PNF 4), turns out to be an early form of Pitcruvie.
This place appears in Johnston’s Gazeteer of Scotland (1937) as Balcruivie or Pitcruivie, and Watson also gives these alternative forms (Pitcruvie or Balcruvie; 1926, 412). However, in its many occurrences in RMS between 1497 and 1648 it appears exclusively with the generic Pit- etc., as also in Fife Ct. Bk.. On Ainslie/Fife (1775) it appears as Balcruvie, while on Ainslie/East Fife it appears simply as Cruvie. On all OS maps it appears as Pitcruvie. It is therefore clear that the generic element variation between Pit- and Bal- is a very late (eighteenth-century) development, and that historically the generic element was pett.
In 1602 John Lindsay of Byres was retoured in the barony of Pitcruvie which was defined as comprising: Markinch (Markinsche) MAI with its mills, Pyeston (Pyotstoun) MAI, Montsheil (Mounscheill) LAR, half the lands of Auchindownie (Edendowny) LAR, half the lands of Cassindilly (Cassindillie) CER, the lands and barony of Pitlessie (Pitlessie) CLT, the lands of Hilton (Haltoun) CLT and Bunzion (Bunzeoun) CLT, the lands of Dennyhogles (Dumhaigillis) CLT, and other lands in Linlithgow, Haddington and Perth, all united in the barony of Pitcruvie (Retours (Fife) no. 112). A slightly earlier version of this is can be found in RMS v no. 1431, dated 1588.
/pɪtˈkruvɪ/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 2