Balchrystie
Balchrystie NBN S NO460029 1 374 35m
villa de Ballecristyn 1070 x 1093 St A. Lib. 115 [rubric; the vill of Balchrystie and its liberty]
uillam de Ballecristin 1070 x 1093 St A. Lib. 115 [given by Malcolm III and Margaret to Almighty God and to the Culdees of Lochleven; see NBN Introduction, Loch Leven and Dunfermline, for more details]
Balcristin 1150 David I Chrs. no. 171 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 3; probably 11 June 1150; given by David I to Dunfermline Abbey, ‘except for the right which the Culdees ought to have’ (excepta rectitudine quam cheledei habere debent)]
Belacristin 1150 x 1152 Dunf. Reg. no. 2 [= David I Chrs. no. 172, which prints Balecristin, although noting MS’s Belacristin; probably 1150; given by David I ‘in meadows and pastures, except for the right which the Culdees ought to have’ (in pratis et pascuis excepta rectitudine quam Keledei habere debent)]
Balechristin 1152 x 1156 St A. Lib. 43 [to prior Robert of St Andrews, the abbacy of Lochleven, including its right ‘to twenty measures of barley from Balchrystie’ (xx melis ordei de Balechristin)][260]
Balecristine 1154 x 1159 RRS i no. 118 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 35]
Balcristin 1163 Dunf. Reg. no. 237
Balcristyne 1165 x 1169 St A. Lib. 175
Balcristin 1165 x 1171 RRS ii no. 35 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 59]
Balcristine c.1166 RRS ii no. 30 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 50]
Balecristin 1227 Dunf. Reg. no. 74
Balchristin 1248 St A. Lib. 121
Balchristin 1248 St A. Lib. 179
Balcristyn 1277 Dunf. Reg. no. 81
Balcristi 1279 x 1297 St A. Lib. 177
Balcristy 1413 St A. Lib. 16
Balcristin 1451 Dunf. Reg. no. 434
Balcristie c.1560 s Assumption 24 [rental of Dunfermline Abbey]
Balcristie 1561 Dunf. Reg. p. 428
Bawcristie 1561 Dunf. Reg. p. 441
Balchristie links 1595 Dunf. Reg. p. 493
Balchristie linkis 1601 Dunf. Reg. p. 501
Balcristie 1629 Retours (Fife) no. 419 [John Finlay (Phinlaw), an eighth part of the vill and lands of Balchrystie; and an eighth part of the lands of Links of Balchrystie (Lynkis de Balcristie)]
Lynkis de Balcristie 1629 Retours (Fife) no. 419 [see preceding entry]
Balcrystie 1631 Retours (Fife) no. 453 [see Incharvie KCQ]
Links de Balcrystie 1631 Retours (Fife) no. 453 [an eighth part of the Links of Balchrystie; see Incharvie KCQ]
Balchrystie 1631 Retours (Fife) no. 455 [Thomas Alexander, a sixteenth part of the vill and lands of Balchrystie]
Bal-Christ 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Balkirstie 1670 Lamont’s Diary 220 [sold to William Bruce of Balcaskie CBE]
Balkirsty 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Balchristie 1775 Ainslie/Fife [‘Capt. Christie’]
Balchristie Burn 1779 RHP3918 [northern boundary of Muircambus KCQ]
Balchristie 1790s OSA, 348 [‘Captain Christie of Balchristie’]
G baile + ? pn Christ or pn Gillechrìosd (Gilchrist)
‘Christ’s farm’ or ‘Gillechrìosd’s farm’. Given its relatively early Christian religious connections, with at least some of its revenue given to the Céle Dé (Culdee) monastery of Lochleven by Malcolm III and Queen Margaret (St A. Lib. 115), it may well contain Christ’s name in the sense of a baile some of whose produce is dedicated to the Church. This would then make it similar to places such as Pitbauchlie DFL, Pitliver DFL, *Pittuscall KTT etc. This would not indicate, however, that the Culdees had a church here, in spite of suggestions to this effect by NSA (ix, 125).
However, the name Gillechrìosd was fairly common around this period (see Black 1946, 299; see also Jackson 1972, III, V and p. 68), and gille was not always regarded as a fixed and inalienable part of the name (see, for example, Greigston CMN). Also the name Cristin appears in connection with St Andrews c.1220 (see Balbeildie # SSL, PNF 3).
Both St Andrews Priory (which inherited Lochleven’s rights in Balchrystie) and Dunfermline Abbey had claims on the lands of Balchrystie, for the details of which see NBN Introduction, Loch Leven and Dunfermline.
On the south side of Balchrystie Ainslie/Fife marks Loch, apparently in the hollow more or less contained by the 25m contour, centred on NO457026.
It is the earliest recorded Bal-name not only in Fife, but in Scotland.
/bəlˈkrɪstɪ/ or /bəˈkrɪstɪ/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 2