Balcaskie
Balcaskie CBE S NO527037 1 30m
Balecaskin 1223 SAUL, MS Dep121 o/s23 A [o.c.; = RRS Handlist/Alexander II no. 76; Alexander II confirms William I’s charter anent lands of Balcaskie and Pitdinnie CNK in favour of Ivo the royal cook; see CBE Introduction, Royal Influence]
Balecaskin 1223 SAUL, MS Dep121 o/s23 B [o.c.; = RRS Handlist/Alexander II no. 75. Alexander II confirms William I’s charter anent Balcaskie ‘in the territory of Kellie’ (in territorio de Kellin) to Ivo his cook]
in terra sua de Balecaskin 1223 SAUL, MS Dep121 o/s23 B [o.c.; = RRS Handlist/Alexander II no. 75; Alexander II confirms William I’s charter in favour of Ivo the cook anent liberty of building a mill on Ivo’s land of Balcaskie]
(John Cook of) Balcasky c.1260 St A. Lib. 385
(John of) Balkaschin 1266 Laing Chrs. no. 8 [w.]
(John of) Balkasky 1270 CDS v no. 27
(John of) Balcasky 1279 x 1297 Spalding Misc. ii, 312 (Erroll Papers XV)
(Thomas of) Balkasky 1296 Inst. Pub. 145
Thoma<s> de Balcasky c.1330 x c.1330 x 1350 Balm. Lib. no. 49 [w.]
(William Strang of) Balcasgy 1438 St A. Lib. 432
Balkyasky 1482 RMS ii no. 1528 [John Strang, lands of Balcaskie (Balkyasky) and Ovenstone (Ewinstoun)]
(lands of) Balgasky 1510 RMS ii no. 3456
(lands of) Balkasky 1514 RMS iii no. 9 [wrongly indexed in RMS as no. 99]
Georg. Strang de Balcaskie 1517 Fife Ct. Bk. 395
Balcaskie 1548 Retours (Fife) no. 12 [John Strang of Balcaskie in half the lands of Balcaskie ‘with cottager lands called Ovenstone’ (cum cottagiis vocatis Ownstoun) etc.]
Balkaskie 1564 Retours (Fife) no. 56
Balcaskye 1610 Retours (Fife) no. 215
Balcaskie 1618 Retours (Fife) no. 287 [an 8th of the lands of Balcaskie and Ovenstone (Ewynstoun) CBE]
Balcaskie 1647 Retours (Fife) no. 728 [the lands and barony of Balcaskie, including various parts of the lands of Balcaskie, Ovenstone (Unstoun) CBE, Inch CBE (Inche de Balcaskie)]
Balcasky 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Balchaskie 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Balcasky 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Balcaskie 1775 Ainslie/Fife [Sr Robert Anstruther]
Balcaskie House 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
G baile + G gasg + – in
‘(Place of the) ridge farm’. Gasg, literally ‘tail’, is a common element in east Fife place-names, found more frequently as the generic e.g. Cassindonald CMN, Carskerdo CER, Cassindilly CER, Magask CER, and SSL, Fingask DAE. It refers to a long, rounded ridge, often, but not always, running out from a plateau. The ending is the early locational suffix with the sense of ‘place of’, found still in the 1266 form Balkaschin (Laing Chrs. no. 8), and regularly reduced to –ie/-y by the end of the thirteenth century.
OS Pathf. shows Balcaskie House, which gives the above NGR.
/bəlˈkaskɪ/, locally /bəlˈkɛskɪ/, /bəˈkaskɪ/ and /bəˈkɛskɪ/[52]
This place-name appeared in printed volume 3