Balfarg
Balfarg MAI S NO284032 1 373 95m
Johann<a> de Balmaharghe 1293 Stevenson, Documents i, 410 [to Johanna of Balfarg, for her dowry which she recuperated in front of the Guardians of Scotland in Balfarg, ?6 13 s. 4 d.; see PNF 5 Appendix 2]
in Balmaharghe 1293 Stevenson, Documents i, 410 [see preceding]
gardinari<o> ... de Balmagharg 1294 Stevenson, Documents i, 414 [to the gardeners of Rathillet (Rathaly) KLM and of Balfarg 14 s. 4 d., paid by the earl of Fife]
Balmeharge 1294 PRO E101/331/1 [o.c.; printed Balineharge in Stevenson, Documents i, 417; see MAI Introduction]
Johanna de Balmagharg 1295 PRO E101/331/1 [o.c.; = Stevenson, Documents i, 417]
(Malcolm of) Balmeharg 1310 Balm. Lib. 12
(Malcolm de Ramsay of) Balnewarg 1316 Dunf. Reg. no. 349
(Adam of) Balmaharg c.1332 Fraser, Wemys ii no. 7 [o.c.]
(Malcolm of) Balmaharg c.1336 NLS Adv. MS 34.6.24 p. 410
(John of) Balcharg 1389 NAS GD150/263 fo 32r [a charter anent Bishopshire (Portmoak)]
lacu de Balquharg 1511 RMS ii no. 3642 [Henry Wardlaw, lands of Brunton (Burntoun) MAI, Dalginch (Dalginch) KWY, MAI, with the loch of Balfarg]
(temple lands of) Balquharge 1531 Dunf. Reg. no. 516
the temple of Balfarg 1540 Knights of St John 25 [30 d.; note also Balmarg ibid. 26, 3 s. 6 d.]
lacu<s> de Balquharge 1562 RMS iv no. 1415 [‘Balfarg loch’, no mention of the lands of Balfarg, in ‘the barony of Wester Lochoreshire’ (baronia occidentalis partis Lochquhorshire)]
lacus de Balfarg 1605 RMS vi no. 1658 [Andrew Wardlaw, lands of Brunton (Bruntoun) MAI, Dalginch (Dalginche) KWY, MAI and the loch of Balfarg]
Balferg 1642 Retours (Fife) no. 619 [‘in the lands of Balfarg with the loch and myre’ (terris de Balferg, cum lacu et maresio), in the barony of Inchgall BGY; to John earl of Rothes, lord Leslie]
Balfarrig Loch 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Balfarge 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Balfarrig 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
L. Balfarrig 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife [marked beside loch]
Balfarg 1684 Adair/East Fife
Balfurg 1725 Geog. Coll. i, 300 [written by the Laird of Balfour]
Balfrage or Balfarg 1814 Sasines no. 10284 [‘... with the Loch and Myre thereof’]
Belfarg 1828 SGF
Balfarg 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn
G baile + ? G mac or ? G mo + pn
‘Farm of the sons of ?’ or ‘of my (i.e. Saint) ?’. It is not at all obvious what the personal name in question might be. The Scottish surname MacHarg, McQuharg etc. might be of some help here, though its early occurrences are associated with Carrick and Galloway (Black 1946, 508). MacLysaght (1985) connects the name MacHarg with Mac Giolla Chairge ‘a Scottish name found in Cos Antrim and Derry. Also appears as Maharg, MacIlhargy etc.’. However, there is no Carg or Cairg in CGSH or CGH. It is just possible that the underlying personal name began with a vowel or f, which through lenition after mo would disappear.[211]
Roy (1753) shows in this area, on the road running south from Gateside MAI, Bahard, and south of that Lufarg. The former may represent Balfarg, while the latter may be a garbled form of *Loch Balfarg.
OS Pathf. shows Balfarg at the above NGR; OS Explorer (2001) shows the same settlement, but also gives the name Balfarg to an area of housing in Glenrothes New Town some 500 m to the south-west.
/bəlˈfarg/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 2