Lahill

Lahill NBN S NO445038 1 75m

terris de Halhill 1542 RMS iii no. 2691 [associated with Monturpie (Montripple) NBN]
(lands of) Hawhill de Melgum 1555 Dunf. Reg. no. 576
Hallhill c.1560 s Assumption 24 [rental of Dunfermline Abbey]
Hawhill 1561 Dunf. Reg. 428
Halhill 1594 RMS vi no. 75 (col.3) [‘... Melgund et Laugrenis, Halhill, Coitt (Coates NBN) ...’]
(lands of) Halhill 1615 Retours (Fife) no. 250 [William Bell]
Halhill 1646 RMS ix no. 1646 [... lands of Halhill, Melgum and Lawgreins, in the parish of Newburnshire (Newburnshire)]
Hahill 1650 Lamont’s Diary 10 [laird of Auchmuty (Auchmoutie) MAI ‘dyed of a hydropsie in his oune house, Hahill’]
Hall-hill 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife Fife [house]
(lands of) Hallhill 1669 Retours no. 1057 [David Auchmuty, in the lands of Hallhill; lands of Melgum (Melgume) and *Lawgreens (Lawgreins), in the parish of Newburnshire (Newbirnshyre)]
Lawhill 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1 [house]
Lawhillcraig 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Hallhill 1775 Ainslie/Fife [house]
Lawhill 1790s OSA, 685 [‘the late Mr Craigie of Lawhill (now Hall-hill)’]
Hall-hill 1790s OSA, 688 [‘Mrs Halket Craigie of Hall-hill, patroness of the parish’]
Hallhill 1799 RHP22853 [name of estate]
Hallhill 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Hallhill 1827 Ainslie/East Fife
Hallhill 1828 SGF [‘in ruins’]
Halkett Esq. of Lawhill 1829 RHP320
Lahill House 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Lahill House 1894 OS 1 inch 1st edn

Sc hall + Sc hill

The change from initial h to l is due partly to assimilation, partly to substitution of the first element by Sc law ‘hill’ found in the associated lands of *Lawgreens NBN. The change of name is acknowledged in the 1790s by the minister of Newburn, who writes of ‘the late Mr Craigie of Lawhill (now Hall-hill)’ (OSA, 685). The hill referred to in the name is most probably the conspicuous eastern outlier of Largo Law now known as Craig Rock, but which must also have been known as Lahill Craig. From names such as Hawhill de Melgum (1555) Lahill was clearly part of the lands of Melgum # NBN, but came to supersede it.

    OS Pathf. shows Lahill House (which supplies the above NGR), Lahill Mains and Lahill Craig (the farm east of Craig Rock).

    /lɔ: hɪl/[270]

This place-name appeared in printed volume 2