Cadham
Cadham LSL S NO278019 1 373 95m SOF
Calldame 1486 NAS GD26/3/6
Caldhame 1487 NAS GD/26/3/13
Caldhame 1497 RMS ii no. 2342 [money from the lands of Sythrum (Scheithum) MAI and Cadham to chaplains serving the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the parish kirk of Largo]
Caldhame 1497 RMS ii no. 2343 [associated with the lands of Sythrum (Scheithum) MAI, q.v.]
Cowdane 1511 RMS ii no. 3567 [part of the lands of Sythrum (Schethum) MAI, q.v.]
Cauldhame 1587 Assumption 15 [see Balgonie MAI]
Cowdame 1603 Retours (Fife) no. 129 [part of the lands of Sythrum (Scerthum) MAI]
Cawdame 1627 RMS viii no. 1058 [in lands of Sythrum (Schethume) MAI, listed after *Blackfaulds (Blakfauldis) MAI]
Cowdam 1627 Retours (Fife) no. 384
Cowdane 1630 RMS viii no. 1978
Caldhame 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Coldham 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Caddam 1661 Retours (Fife) no. 895 [Anna, countess of Buccleuch, lands of Balgeddie (Balgiddie) LSL and Cadham, in the parish and barony of Leslie]
Cadhame 1673 NAS GD26/3/249 [town and lands of Cadham alias Markinchlaw (Markinch-law), with the lands of Rescobie (Rascobie) and others]
Cadham 1690 NAS GD26/3/260 [town and lands of Cadham commonly called Markinchlaw (Markinchlaw), with the lands of Rescobie (Rosscobie) and others]
Cadham or Caldhom 1810 RHP3595 [on plan itself]
Caldom 1810 RHP3595/5-6 [in the numerical index]
Cadham 1828 SGF
Cadham 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn [at NO278019]
Sc cauld + Sc hame
‘Cold home’. For the change of cald to cad (presumably originally with vowel-lengthening, although it is now pronounced locally with short a), compare for example Caldheugh ROX, which appears as Cadheuch 1609 RMS vii no. 139, but Caldheuch 1618 RMS vii no. 1915.
Though now in LSL, close to MAI boundary, Cadham is frequently referred to in the earliest of the above entries as part of the lands of Sythrum MAI, while in 1587 it is listed as among the lands of the Kirk of Markinch (Markinche) (Assumption 15). Its original site may therefore have been to the east of the NGR given, within MAI. There may even have been two places of this name in the vicinity of Markinch. In the seventeenth century, documents mention Cadham as an alias of *Markinchlaw (q.v. below). However, in 1661 Cadham is described as being in the parish and barony of Leslie (Retours (Fife) no. 895).
In the 1740s the earl of Rothes opened up coal pits at Cadham (Silver 1987, 21, 84), after which date it became a mining village.
Modern Cadham Square appears on OS 6 inch 1856 as Eglantine Square, and lay just within MAI. The NGR given above is for the site of Cadham on the 1856 OS 6 inch map, south-west of Eglantine Square and within LSL. Cadham is now the name of an area within Glenrothes New Town.
/ˈkadəm/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 2