Beley
Beley DNO S NO537106 1 363 100m EAF
Balealin c.1220 Terrier F [17/18th c. copy; lands held by bp and his men]
Balaly 1452 x 1480 RMS ii no. 1444 [St Andrews Church land]
Balhaly 1482 ADA 101 [cattle thieving from the lands of Beley]
Baelie 1593 RMS v no. 2273 col. 4 [St Andrews Church lands]
Bailzie 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Ballelie 1648 Retours (Fife) no. 758 [James Bynning of Dunino (Dunnino)]
Ballelie-Over 1649 RMS ix no. 2107
Over Ballelie 1649 RMS ix no. 2107
Nether Ballelie 1649 RMS ix no. 2107 [for parts of Nether Beley, see discussion, below]
molendino de Ballelie 1649 RMS ix no. 2107 [‘mill of Beley’]
Baillie 1654 Gordon (Bleau) Fife
Bailie 1684 Adair/East Fife
Ballelo 1691 Retours (Fife) no. 1317 [James Binning of Dunino (Dunnino)]
Balleslie 1699 Retours (Fife) no. 1453 [Patrick Thomson]
Bely quarter 1745 Dunino Kirk Session Records fo 401r [for its constituents, see DNO Introduction]
the two Belyis 1745 Dunino Kirk Session Records fo 401r
Meikle Bailie 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Bely 1790s OSA, 261
Belie 1828 SGF [on the site of OS Pathf. Old Beley]
Beley 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn [on the site of OS Pathf. Beley]
G baile + G ail + – in
‘Farm of the place of the rock or cliff’, containing G ail ‘rock, cliff’ and the common locational suffix –in ‘place of’. Ballooly, Garvaghy parish Co. Down (Baile Ailigh), contains related Irish Gaelic elements; see Muhr 1996, 191–4, where it is translated ‘townland of the stony place’. Immediately east of Beley farm-steading and the main road, and bordering Dunino Den, is a field called Craig Park. The eponymous craig or crag is probably the same feature as ail in Beley, referring to the steep, rocky sides of the Den.[131]
In 1649 parts of Nether Beley are described as Easter and Wester Fairnybrex (Eister et Wester Fairnybrex), *Clayside (Cleysyd) and Callyons (Calzeane) (RMS ix no. 2107). For Fairnybrex see The Brake DNO.
OS Pathf. Old Beley (NO534102) is the older site. The newer site, marked as Beley on OS Pathf., seems to have come into being between 1828 and 1855, as suggested by the removal of the name from one site to the other between those two dates. The name Beley also occurs on OS Pathf. in High Beley (beside Old Beley), and Beley Bridge, which has given rise to OS Pathf. Beleybridge and Beleybridge Farm.
/ˈbelɪ/[132]
This place-name appeared in printed volume 3