Balbeildie
Balbeildie # SSL S NO503154 1 35m
Ballebelin c.1212 x 1216 St A. Lib. 317 [priory lands held by Girig (Gillegirg)]
Ballebecklin c.1220 Terrier B1 [17/18th c. copy; priory lands held by Christin son of Girig, along with Denorc Aviel]
Balleboethin c.1220 Terrier B2 [17/18th c. copy; priory lands held by Christin son of Girig, along with Denorc Aviel]
? Balebolin c.1220 Terrier F [17/18th c. copy; either that part of Balbeildie not held by the Priory, or a different place entirely]
Middle Babildy 1555 SAUL B65 12 no. 96 (p. 65) [18th c. copy; with l corrected from e]
Over Babildy 1555 SAUL B65 12 no. 96 (p. 65) [18th c. copy]
Nether Babieldy 1555 SAUL B65 12 no. 96 (p. 65) [18th c. copy]
territory callit Over Balbeildie 1653 Retours Fife no. 816 [‘lyand among the remnant acres of St Andrews Priory and regality’]
Nether Balbeildie 1691 Retours Fife no. 1320
the shade called Over Balbeildie or Borroch’s Brae 1793 Sasines no. 3577 [‘Jean Key, relict of Alexander Stalker, Merchant, St Andrews in an acre of the land in the shade called Over Balbeildie or Borroch’s Brae, lying among the remaining Prior’s Acres of St Andrews’; see also below]
Balbieldie 1843 x 1896 Priory Acres Plan (SAUL UY1386:14)
G baile + ? pn Beollan
‘?Beollan’s farm’. For the G personal name see Barrow 2003, 62 (Beolin), Black 1946, s.n., and Clancy 2000, 89–91, 98–102. It is probably the Latinised form of this name that appears as Beollanus, the father of Malnechte (Maolsneachda?) a priest in Abernethy PER (1093 × 1107 St A. Lib. 115). The second element has possibly been analogically affected by Sc beild ‘shelter’.
In the early thirteenth century it was held of St Andrews Priory by (Gille-)Girg (for whom see Greigston CMN) and his son Christin. It is possible that this early tenant has left his name in the Sc place-name Greigstaves #, which appears as Greigs tofts 1555 SAUL B65 12 no. 96 (p. 65) [18th c. copy] and Greigstafts in 1700 (Retours Fife no. 1444). Greigstaves is the form on the Priory Acres Plan, located at around NO508153, east of and practically adjacent to Balbeildie. The second element is Sc toft ‘site of a house or buildings, sometimes with land attached’, and this is confirmed by the above-mentioned Greigs tofts of 1555. Despite its relatively late appearance in the record, the fact that it may contain the name of this important early thirteenth-century church tenant makes it likely that this Sc name dates back to Girig’s time or shortly thereafter. It is noteworthy that the other place probably named after this man, who was almost certainly a Gaelic-speaker, is Greigston CMN, also a Sc formation.
In 1653 Over Balbeildie is described as ‘lyand among the remnant acres of St Andrews Priory and regality’, and in 1691 Nether Balbeildie is described as being near the city of St Andrews (Retours (Fife) nos. 816, 1320). In 1793 Over Balbeildie is given the alternative name Borroch’s Brae (Sasines no. 3577), which appears in 1700 as Puloxbrae (Retours Fife no. 1444) and on Priory Acres Plan as Puddocks Brae.
We can in fact locate it exactly from the Priory Acres Plan: it lay to the south-west of the town of St Andrews, north of Pipeland.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 3