Balcarres

Balcarres KCQ S NO474043 2 70m

de terra de Balmackerus 1294 PRO E101/331/1 B [printed Balnackcrois Stevenson, Documents i, 417; part of the shire of Rires (Ryrays) KCQ, paying annually to the earl of Fife £19 6 s. 8 d; printed Balmackernis CDS ii no. 684]
(land of) Balkerouis 1368 NAS Calendar of Charters i, no. 148A [the Water of Kethok shall be the march between the land of Balcarres and John Strang, lord of Pitcorthie (Petcorthi)’s lands of Wester Pitcorthie (Westirpetcorthi) CBE]
Balcarhous 1404 Fraser, Wemyss ii, 266 [from a surviving abstract, the original charter being lost][163]
terrarum de Balkerochis 1451 ER v, 466
terris de Balnakeroch 1451 ER v, 466
Balkeroys 1454 ER v, 688
Balkerous 1456 RMS ii no. 603 [James II feus to Robert Hunter (Huntar), for specified rents in kind and money to be delivered to the king’s barn of Falkland]
Balcarras 1511 RMS ii no. 3595
Bacarras 1545 x 1555 N. Berwick Cart. p. xxiii [to John Beaton, the teind sheaves of Balcarres, and the teind of peas and beans of Kilconquhar (Culcunquhar)]
Balcarrous 1578 RMS v no. 192 [see Langstruther # KCQ]
Balcarres 1601 Retours (Fife) no. 94 [David Lyndsay of Balcarres]
Balcarhous 1601 Retours (Fife) no. 94 [and the mill; see Langstruther # KCQ]
? Barras 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Balcarras 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Balcarras 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1 [also Balcarras mills to the south-east]
Balcarres 1775 Ainslie/Fife [‘Earl of Do.’ = Ditto i.e. ‘Earl of Balcarres’]

G baile + ?

The earliest form suggests a personal name containing mac ‘sons of’.

For the Water of Kethok (now the Den Burn) in the 1368 entry, see Section 1, Linear Features, and Kellie CBE, above. OS Pathf. shows Balcarres House (as an antiquity with its own chapel), and this supplies the above NGR; also Balcarres Mains, Balcarres Den, Balcarries (sic) Craig, Balcarres Mill Bridge. Balcarres Mill[164] is shown on OS 6 inch (1855) at NO486035, beside OS Pathf. Balcarres Mill Bridge; and 2 km to the north is Balcarres Ward. OS Pathf. Balcarres Mains is shown on the 1855 map as Balniel Den, clearly an error: Balniel Den occurs again applied to the deep den of the Den Burn north-west of Balniel.

There is a chapel in the grounds of Balcarres House, marked at NO474044, which was erected in 1635 (NMRS NO40SE 5.06). It is not to be confused with the nearby medieval ‘chapel (site of)’ marked on OS 6 inch 1959 at NO467045, which is associated with Rires (q.v.).

/bəlˈkarəs/ or /balˈkarəs/

This place-name appeared in printed volume 3