Winthank
Winthank CMN SSL S NO477132 1 363 145m NOF
de terra in villa de Vnthanc 1177 x 1185 St A. Lib. 257 [rubric]
dimidiam carucatam terre in territorio in uilla de Hunthanch 1177 x 1185 St A. Lib. 257 [Alan son of Walter the Steward grants to St Andrews Priory ‘a half carucate of land in the territory <of > the vill of Winthank’, reading the second in as de, as in St A. Lib. 235]
in Unthanc 1177 x 1185 St A. Lib. 257 [that half carucate of land which Richard brother of Maurice the cook has held ‘in Winthank’]
terra in villa de Vnthanc 1204 x 1204 x 1213 St A. Lib. 258 [rubric]
in territorio uille de Unthank 1204 x 1204 x 1213 St A. Lib. 258 [‘half a carucate of land’ (dimidiam carucatam terre) which Alan my father gave them (St Andrews Priory) ‘in the territory of the vill of Winthank’]
in Vnthank 1204 x 1204 x 1213 St A. Lib. 258
dimidiam carucatam terre in territorio de uilla de Vnthanc 1228 St A. Lib. 235 [royal confirmation charter of gift of Alan son of Walter of ‘a half carucate in the territory of the vill of Winthank’]
Wnthank 1471 RMS ii no. 1039
Unthank 1562 RMS iv no. 1917
Unthank 1587 Assumption, 10 [rental of fermes of St Andrews Priory]
Vnthank 1592 APS iii, p. 549, ch. 20
Unthank 1593 RMS v no. 2273 [St Andrews Priory land]
Unthank 1625 Retours (Fife) no. 364
Wnthanke 1645 APS vi (part i), 332 [part of newly formed CMN]
Vnthank 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Vnthank 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Robertus Weems de Unthank 1661 Retours (Fife) no. 892 [Robert Wemyss]
Winthank 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Winthank Cottown 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Winthank Westfield 1800 Cameron Parish Papers
Winthank Cotton 1800 Cameron Parish Papers
Upper Town of Winthank 1800 Cameron Parish Papers
Winthank Mains 1800 Cameron Parish Papers
Winthank 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Sc unthank
‘Land held without consent’, hence a ‘squatter farm’ (DOST). It is also possible that it refers simply to poor land which was considered difficult to work. A half-carucate of land ‘in the territory of the vill of Winthank’ (i.e. not the whole of Winthank) was given in perpetual alms to St Andrews Priory by Alan fitz Walter, the king’s steward (ancestor of the Stewarts), who must have held the whole vill as tenant-in-chief of the crown. The estate appears to have been subinfeudated by him for the support of members of the royal catering staff, as this same half-carucate had formerly been held of Alan fitz Walter by Richard brother of Maurice the cook (St A. Lib. 257). All this suggests standard feudal practice, and gives no inkling of the irregularity which gave rise to the designation unthank, if indeed that is what the name implies. However, Winthank, along with neighbouring Feddinch CMN to the east, forms an island of land in secular hands surrounded by church-lands within the Boar’s Raik,[50] and it is possible that behind this lurks a tenurial anomaly which generated the name. Given Alan’s close connection with the court, it may be that the land under discussion was alienated from the church of St Andrews by royal command, and the church’s disapproval is reflected in the name.
Whatever the origin and meaning of this name, it belongs to the very earliest stratum of OSc names in east Fife, and is by far the earliest OSc name recorded within the Boar’s Raik. For other early Sc names of this period in east Fife, see Wormiston CRA, below; and LEU Introduction, Early Scots Names, PNF 4.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 3