Bingartree
Bingartree LSL S NO247015 1
? Lingorthy 1441 Inchcolm Chrs. no. 51 [also RMS ii no. 268; see discussion]
? Lingorthy 1441 NAS C.2 iii 160 [this is the original of RMS ii no. 268, which has Lingorthyn; the flourish over the final y is not a suspension mark representing m or n, as the editor of RMS has interpreted it]
Bynzardy 1522 Fife Ct. Bk. 272 [z = ӡ; ‘the mains of Leslie, Balgeddie LSL and Bingartree in the earl of Rothes hands, taxed at ?7’ (the manys of Lesly, Pitgeddy & Bynzardy in my lord Rothes handis the taxt tharof vij li)]
the Byngarty 1556 NAS NP1/19 no. 87 [see discussion]
the Kingarty 1557 NAS RH2/1/23/3 no. 87 [for Bingarty; see discussion]
Bingatree 1783 Sasines no. 464
Bingartrie 1796 Sasines no. 4439 [‘bewest the town of Leslie’]
Bingartrie 1796 Sasines no. 4607
Bingartree 1814 Sasines no. 10034
Bingartree House 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn [at the west end of the New Town, south of main road]
I can offer no satisfactory explanation for this strange name. The otherwise unidentified Lingorthy, mentioned amongst the lands belonging to Inchcolm Abbey in 1441, occurs with other LSL lands and almost certainly refers to Bingartree. Since all the later forms have initial B, it is best to assume that Lingorthy is a scribal error for *Bingorthy.[182] The two sources with Lin- represent the same text, and are not independent witnesses to a name beginning with L. Furthermore, in NAS C.2 iii 160, printed as RMS ii no. 268, capital L and B are very similar.
The form Kingarty appears in NAS RH2/1/23/3 no. 87, a transumpt or copy of NAS NP1/19 no. 87, which has Byngarty. Part of the original (NAS NP1/19 no. 87), dated 1556, reads as follows:
the whilk day Johnne Maysoun burgess of Leslie grantis him to haif ressauit fra George Olyphant in Banclero the soume of twenty four merkis usuall money of Scotland upoun the alienacioun of his tenementis lyand in the burgh of Leslie on the south syd <gl...and?> twa rudis of land fra the front thairof to the wattir of Levin lyand betwix the lands of James Quhayne on the est syd and the landis of the Blist Virgen Mare on the West syd togidder with tua aukeris of arabill landis, the tane of thame lyand in the bauk[183] of Leslie the tother in the Byngarty ...[184]
NSA mentions this as one of many royal names in the parish, analysing it as “‘bin-ard-ri’ ‘high station of the king’, pronounced ‘bingarbree’ (sic, presumably a misprint for ‘bingardree’) (111, footnote). The analysis of this and the other so-called royal names (for which see Ingrie LSL, below) cannot be taken seriously.
NGR is of OS 1856 Bingartree House, now 338 High Street, Leslie.
It should be put on record that Lingorthy, which is now assumed to be an early form of this name, was on my advice used as a house-name in Newbigging of Auchtertool about 35 years ago, and is still in use.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 2