Letham

Letham SCO S NO377042 1 373 100m SOF

Lathame 1452 x 1480 RMS ii no. 1444 [one of the lands belonging to the Church of St Andrews, listed between Aithernie (Athirny) SCO and Balgrummo (Balgormo) SCO]
? Thoma<s> Sibbald domin<us> de Lathan 1466 RMS ii no. 893 [charter by which Alexander Morton (Myretoun), chaplain and lord of Cookston (Cukestoune) KBS, CRA grants to Alexander Sibbald, heir apparent and son of Thomas Sibbald lord of Letham (Lathan), and of Janet Barclay (Jonete Berclay) his spouse the lands of Cookstonin the constabulary of Crail (Carale), which lands had formerly belonged to the Sibbalds, and which had been mortgaged (impignorate) to the Mortons, to be held of Alexander Morton]
? Dauid Sibbald de Lethame 1514 Fife Ct. Bk. 12 [included, probably wrongly, under Letham MML PNF 4]
? Dauid Sibbald of Lathene 1516 Fife Ct. Bk. 59 [included, probably wrongly, under Letham MML PNF 4]
? the manys of Laithame 1521 Fife Ct. Bk. 236 [Agnes, widow of David Sibbald of Letham (Laithame) asks to be served the terce of David’s lands of the Mains of Letham, and their mill, and of his lands of Cookston (Cuykstone) KBS, CRA with pertinents, and of the quarter of the lands of Glasslie (Glasly) FAL etc.; included, probably wrongly, under Letham MML PNF 4]
Lathamen 1587 Assumption 15 [sic]
Lethame 1593 RMS v no. 2273 [... Clatto (Clatto) KTT, Letham, Balgrummo (Balgrummo) SCO ...]
cum superioritate terrarum de Lethame 1603 RMS vi no. 1450 [king confirmed to John Lord Lindsay of Byres the lands of Struthers CER, the lands of Kirkforthar, with the superiority of the lands of Letham, all incorporated into ‘the free tenandry’ (liberam tenandriam) of Struthers, in the regality of St Andrews; it is clearly the same place mentioned in the 1648 source, below]
de terris de Lethame 1615 Retours (Fife) no. 243 [James Sibbald, heir of his uncle James Sibbald in Scoonie (Scony), in the annual rent of 1,260 merks ‘from the mains of Lundin, in the barony of Lundin’ (de terris dominicalibus de Lundy, in baronia de Lundy); in the annual rent of 190 merks from the lands of Letham]
Lathon cotton 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Lathem 1648 RMS ix no. 1939 [lands and tenandry of Struthers (Auchterutherstruther) CER, comprehending the lands of Struthers, Kirkforthar MAI and Letham; recorded with a question-mark as an early form of Letham MML (PNF 4), it is clearly the same place mentioned in the 1603 source, above]
Letham 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Lathon 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Lathon-cotton 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Letham 1665 Lamont’s Diary 181 [Lord Scotstarvet ‘took infeftment to his only son, Walter Scot ... of the lands of Letham’; in payment of money owed to him by Aithernie SCO]
Letham 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Letham 1775 Ainslie/Fife [also shows Letham Mill in LAR]
Lethem 1828 SGF
Letham 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn

G leathan

‘Broad slope’. This is a common place-name element in eastern Scotland. For other Fife examples, see Letham CMN (PNF 3) and Elements Glossary (PNF 5).

    OS Pathf. also shows Letham Burn, Letham Feus and Letham Den (through which the Smithygreen Burn flows, not the Letham Burn). The public park called Letham Glen, on the outskirts of Leven along the lower reaches of the Scoonie Burn, is named not after Letham SCO, 2 km to the north, but after John Letham, who gifted the land to Leven Town Council in the 1920s. It was formerly called Sillerhole Den. For more details, see under Sillerhole SCO, below.

    Problems remain in connection with the assigning of early forms of Letham to the various places of that name in Fife. It is likely, however, that the Sibbalds held Letham SCO.[290]

    /ˈlɛθəm/

This place-name appeared in printed volume 2