Arncroach
Arncroach CBE S NO513052 1 374 70m
Arncroich 1511 RMS ii no. 3590 [Oliphant of Kellie (Kelly) CBE, knight]
Auldincroich 1542 RMS iii no. 2798 [Oliphant]
Aldenchroch 1560 Retours (Fife) no. 43 [Oliphant; in barony of Kellie CBE]
Arnecloich 1607 RMS vi no. 1841
Arn-croch 1607 NLS Adv. MS 34.6.24 [transcript of 1710; see Kellie CBE]
Auchincroch 1613 RMS vii no. 883 [part of barony of Kellie CBE, q.v.]
Auchincroich 1630 x 1631 RMS viii no. 1834 [Thomas earl of Kellie sells to his son, Alexander lord Fenton, lands and barony of Kellie, including Arncroach]
Auchincroth 1634 Retours (Fife) no. 504 [in barony of Kellie]
Auchincroiche 1643 Retours (Fife) no. 642 [in barony of Kellie]
Arnes 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Auchineroch 1699 Retours (Fife) no. 1430 [error for Auchincroch]
Arinereuch 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1 [error for Arincreuch]
Iron Croft 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Auchenrock 1780 Sasines no. 871 [part of barony of Kellie]
Aroncroch 1786 RHP2153
Arncroach 1810 Sasines no. 8856 [‘village called Arncroach or Kellie Rink Muirhead’]
Arrancroach 1827 Ainslie/East Fife
Arncroach 1828 SGF
Arncroach 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
? G àird or ? G earrann + G an + G croich
‘Height of the gallows’ (àird na croiche) or (less likely) ‘share (of land) of the gallows’ (earrann na croiche). Every baronial jurisdiction had a gallows for the execution of criminals, and gallow is one of the more common specific elements in Scottish toponymy. It is much less common, however, for the G equivalent croich to appear in lowland Scottish names, and its use here may be another piece of evidence for the survival of Gaelic longer in CBE than in neighbouring lordships (see CBE Introduction, Settlement-Names, for more on this). The name appears too late in the record for there to be any certainty about the first element. The suggestion that it is àird ‘height’ is more likely, especially in the light of the rarity of earrann in Fife place-names. Arngask PER, FIF, for which much earlier forms are available, definitely contains G àird, and shows a similar development (Ardyngrosc c.1250 Dunf. Reg. no. 313, Ardgrosc c.1250 St A. Lib. 33). The Auldin-/Alden-forms (1542, 1560) are best explained as the result of dissimilation of r to l before a following r, rather than from G allt ‘burn’.
These Auldin-forms may well in turn have led to the (probably scribal) re-interpretation as Auchin-, (sporadically from 1613 to 1780), extremely rare in Fife, but very common generally in eastern Scottish place-names.
/arn krox/ and /ˈarən krox/; locally also The Croach /ðəˈkrox/[51]
This place-name appeared in printed volume 3