Barnslee

Barnslee MAI S NO305015 1 373 60m NEF

Backsyde 1722 NAS GD26/5/147 [tack for 19 years to David Gibb, tenant in Backsyde, of Markinch Mill, alias Midlemilne, and mill lands thereof]
Bathside 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Backside of Balgonie 1765 x 1854 Markinch Plan/1765 [see discussion]
Barnslee 1765 x 1854 Markinch Plan/1765 [Backside of Balgonie was sold to ‘Col. Paxton of Brunton, now Barnslee’ = OS Pathf. Brunton House]
Barnslee Estate 1765 x 1854 Markinch Plan/1765 [‘road to Brunton now Barnslee Estate’]
Backside 1775 Ainslie/Fife [= OS Pathf. Barnslee, south of Back Burn; also shows Brunton on north side (= OS Pathf. Brunton House) and Braes (= OS Pathf. Brunton Barns KWY)]
Barnslee 1805 RHP3263 [‘Estate of Barnslee’; on this plan ‘House’ = OS Pathf. Brunton House; S. Farm = OS Pathf. Barnslee; and ‘Farm’ = OS Pathf. Brunton Barns]
Barnslee 1828 SGF [= OS Pathf. Brunton House]
Mains 1828 SGF [= OS Pathf. Barnslee]
Barnslee 1845 NSA ix, 378 [‘Mrs Paston (sic) of Barnslee, proprietor of the lands of Brunton’; listed amongst the chief land-owners in KWY]
South Barnslee 1850s OS Name Book 93, 31 [‘South Barnslee or Backside’ = OS Pathf. Barnslee]
Backside 1850s OS Name Book 93, 31 [‘South Barnslee or Backside’]
Backside 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn [= OS Pathf. Barnslee]
Barnslee 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn [= OS Pathf. Brunton House MAI, NO304020; also The Barns at OS Pathf. Brunton Barns KWY]
Plan of the Estate of Barnslee 1865 RHP4460 [North Barnslee = OS Pathf. Brunton Barns KWY; South Barnslee = OS Pathf. Barnslee; ‘Mansion House’ = OS Pathf. Brunton Barns MAI]
North Barnslee 1865 RHP4460 [= OS Pathf. Brunton Barns KWY]
South Barnslee 1865 RHP4460 [= OS Pathf. Barnslee MAI]
Barnslee 1899 OS 1 inch 2nd edn [= OS Pathf. Barnslee MAI]

SSE barn + SSE lea

OS Pathf. Barnslee was formerly called Backside # MAI. Deriving from Sc backside ‘land lying behind or at the back’, it was named in relation to Balgonie MAI (as is clear from the 1765 Backside of Balgonie), lying as it does in the north-west corner of the lands of Balgonie, at the back of Law Head. However, it had become separated from the lands of Balgonie by the time of the Markinch Plan/1765 (1765 × 1854), which contains the note ‘Backside of Balgonie Farm ... at that time Lord Balgonie’s, since sold to Col. Paxton of Brunton, now Barnslee, for £12,000’. Since the plan is a redrawing in 1854 of a plan of 1765, it is likely that ‘at that time’ refers to 1765, since when (before 1854) it had been sold to Paxton. On that same plan Backside of Balgonie is associated with an area described as mires, at about NO299018 (see Mires MAI/KWY in Section 1 (Linear Features), above).

    By 1805 Backside is referred to simply as S. Farm, that is the south farm of the estate of Barnslee (formerly Brunton). It appears as Mains on SGF (1828), while OS Name Book refers to it as ‘South Barnslee or Backside’ (93, 31), with the OS 6 inch 1st edn map itself perpetuating the old name of Backside. However, it was probably Victorian sensibility that finally determined that Backside should be replaced by Barnslee, a change that was complete by 1899 (OS 1 inch 2nd edn).

    Barnslee itself is probably an imported or transferred name connected with the family of Paxton, since it is first mentioned as the new name for Brunton in 1765 × 1854 in the context of ‘Col. Paxton of Brunton, now Barnslee’ (Markinch Plan/1765). Barnslee continued to be applied to Brunton (north of the Back Burn) until the second half of the nineteenth century. See early forms, above, and Brunton MAI for more details.

This place-name appeared in printed volume 2