Nydie

Nydie SSL S NO438174 1 35m

molendinum de Nidin 1160 RRS i no. 174 [= St A. Lib. 205; ‘mill of Nydie’]
de stagno Molendini de Nidin c.1165 x 1172 St A. Lib. 243 [rubric; ‘anent the pond of the mill of Nydie’]
stangnum molendini sui de Nidin c.1165 x 1172 St A. Lib. 243 [‘the pond of their (canons of St Andrews) mill of Nydie’]
Bonde Nidin 1212 St A. Lib. 316 [archdeacon to have the garbal teinds of various lands including Kincaple (Kinecapel), and Bonfield SSL, q.v., and *Kirk-Nydie (Kirke Nidin); see SSL Introduction, Local Detail for full text]
Kirke Nidin 1212 St A. Lib. 316
Nidin Ardulf c.1220 Terrier F [17/18th c. copy; lands held by bp and his men]
Nidin rusticorum c.1220 Terrier F [17/18th c. copy; see Bonfield SSL]
Nidin ecclesie c.1220 Terrier F [17/18th c. copy; *Kirk-Nydie]
(William of) Nithyn 1234 Balm. Lib. no. 56 [w.; a royal clerk]
(Hugh de) Nidi 1238 x 1250 Balm. Lib. no. 46 [rubric; see discussion, below]
(Hugh de) Nidyn 1238 x 1250 Balm. Lib. no. 46
quarrarium meum de Nidyn 1238 x 1250 Balm. Lib. no. 46 [‘my quarry’]
villa de Nidyn 1238 x 1250 Balm. Lib. no. 46
(Richard of) Nidi 1238 x 1250 Balm. Lib. no. 47 [rubric]
quarrarium de Nidy 1238 x 1250 Balm. Lib. no. 47 [rubric]
(Richard of) Nidyn 1238 x 1250 Balm. Lib. no. 47 [14th c. copy; date from Watt, Grad. 493b: w. by i.a. Master Eustace (of Shelford)]
(quarry of) Nidyn 1238 x 1250 Balm. Lib. no. 47
villa de Nidyn 1238 x 1250 Balm. Lib. no. 47
Nidin 1260 St A. Lib. 341
(mill of) Nidyn 1286 Barrow 1974 no. 10 [o.c.; concerning re-siting of St Andrews Priory’s mill of Nydie]
Nidy 1303 CDS ii no. 1350 [half of Nydie assessed at 1 davoch (davauche)]
Willelmus de Forsyth de Nydy 1434 St A. Cop. no. 62 [w., p. 111]
Nydy-Estyr 1452 x 1480 RMS ii no. 1444 [St Andrews Church land]
Nydy-Westir 1452 x 1480 RMS ii no. 1444 [St Andrews Church land]
(mill of) Westir Nydy 1471 RMS ii no. 1039
Jonet Lermonth, Lady Nyde 1590 St A. Kirk Sess. 666 [summoned to appear before kirk session]
Nydie Eister 1604 Retours Fife no. 142 [Alexander Forsyth; with mill and fishings]
Needy 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife [also Mill of Nedy]
Nydie 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife [also Nydie mill]
Nyddie 1655 Lamont’s Diary 91 [‘a mille that belongs to Nyddie, called Gappies Mille’, damaged by flood]
Neidy 1684 Adair/East Fife
terris de Newtoune de Nydie 1696 Retours Fife no. 1384
Nydie 1753 Roy sheet 18, 2
Cottown of Nydie 1753 Roy sheet 18, 2
Neidy 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Neidy Mill 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Plan of Neydie Estate 1776 Nydie Plan
Neydie Toft 1776 Nydie Plan
Neydie Miln 1776 Nydie Plan [at site of OS Pathf. Nydie Mill, NO429169]
Neydiemuir 1776 Nydie Plan [centred at NO437165]
Neydie-Knock Hill Outfield 1776 Nydie Plan [centred at about NO444166]
Nydie Hill 1790s OSA, 716 [‘a greater elevation of the same moor (as Strathkinness Moor)’]
Nydie 1828 SGF [also Newton of Nydie, Nydie Mill and Nydie Knock Hill]
Nydie Hill quarry 1845 NSA ix, 475
Nydie 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn [= OS Pathf. Nydie Mains]
Newton of Nydie 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn

? G nuadh or ? en *Nith + – in

G nuadh ‘new’, OIr núide + loc. ending; or perhaps from a Pictish cognate with the same meaning; cf Welsh newydd, early British *nouuid? The meaning would thus be ‘new lands, new place’, perhaps referring to the fact that they had been cleared and settled at a relatively late (i.e. early historical) date. However, neither of these suggestions, whether from Gaelic or Pictish, satisfactorily explains the vowel in the first (stressed) syllable, which is consistently /iù/ (long i) in the earliest forms. Alternatively it may contain the tribal name found also in Newburn, formerly Nithbren (PNF 2), and perhaps also in Arnydie CER, SSL (PNF 2, q.v.). See also *Nevethy-endereth SSL, above.

In the agreement made in 1212 between St Andrews Priory and the archdeacon of St Andrews, by which the archdeacon gets the teind-sheaves of Kincaple, Bonfield (Bonde Nidin) and *Kirk-Nydie, these lands are further described as stretching from the marches of Kincaple (in the east) to the marches of Kemback (in the west), indicating that all the lands of Nydie are involved in this deal. A further implication of this is that at this time Nydie was divided into two parts only. However, in the Terrier, which dates from around the same time (c.1220), three parts of the lands of Nydie are listed (amongst the lands belonging to the bishop and his men): Bonfield (Nidin rusticorum), *Kirk-Nydie (Nidin Ecclesie) and *Nydie-Ardulf (Nidin Ardulf) i.e. Nydie held by Ardulf (as a tenant of the bishop). *Kirk-Nydie refers to that part of Nydie which was held directly by the Church (in this case the bishop), as opposed to those parts which the bishop had rented out.

The pastoral and spiritual needs of the population of the extensive lands of Nydie, which lay in the far north-west corner of the medieval parish of St Andrews, at about 7.5 km from the parish kirk of the Holy Trinity, were served by the chapel of St Gregory, first mentioned as such in the mid thirteenth century (Balm. Lib. no. 46). There are no standing remains of this chapel, but it is obvious from the 1776 Nydie Plan that it stood c.100 m due north of Nydie Mains farm steading at NO4388 1760.[321] Here the Nydie Plan shows ‘Chaple Park, part of Gleb’, and indicates the precise site of the chapel within the park by a drawing of a small building with a large cross beside it, together with the word Chaple. Also, to the north of this site, centred at NO438181, lay a piece of land called Clerks Holl (1776 Nydie Plan), which may also be connected with the chapel and the above-mentioned ‘Gleb<e>’.

The above-mentioned charter (Balm. Lib. no. 46), which mentions in passing the chapel of St Gregory, concerns the granting of quarrying rights on the lands of Nydie to the monks of Balmerino, a Cistercian abbey which was being constructed some 10 km to the north-west. It deals not only with the quarry, but with access through the lands of Nydie to the ford of Bruckley LEU over the Eden. The grantor is Hugh of Nydie, who for the salvation of his soul and for the souls of his predecessors and successors, has granted:

to the house of St Mary of Balmerino, and to the monks who serve or will serve God there, forever, in pure and perpetual alms all my quarry of Nydie, for breaking and removing (stones), as much as they will consider useful, without anyone refusing or impeding them. I have also granted to the same monks free passage across my land to the said quarry, that is which extends from that quarry through the middle toun[322] of Nydie, on the west side of St Gregory’s chapel, as far as the ford of Bruckley (LEU), as I had my plough drawn, with Richard my brother, Matthew the steward, Adam the monk and many others being there with me at the time. I have also granted to them (the monks) one toft in the toun of Nydie, that is the one where my mother Mary and my grandmother Gunnhild used to live. And the monks shall have 24 oxen in the common pasture of Nydie (Balm. Lib. no. 46).[323]

There is no mention of the involvement of the bishop of St Andrews in this grant, although the first witness is Adam archdeacon of St Andrews, the only cleric amongst the witnesses. This is perhaps surprising in the light of the fact that, in the Terrier of c.1220, all of Nydie seems to be listed as land belonging to the bishop and his men. It is in fact probable (but not provable) that the part of Nydie held by Hugh of Nydie and his family is the Terrier’s *Nydie-Ardulf. Ardulf would appear to be the OE personal name Eardwulf showing Scandinavian influence, and as such is found only in Yorkshire (see Taylor 1995a, 161). The quarry-charter (Balm. Lib. no. 46) informs us that Hugh’s grandmother (we do not know whether maternal or paternal) had the very Scandinavian name of Gunnhild, and may well have been Ardulf’s wife. If this is the case, then the Anglo-Scandinavian naming tradition did not survive beyond Ardulf and Gunnhild’s generation, since we know that Hugh’s father (Ardulf and Gunnhild’s son?) was also called Hugh (St A. Lib. 285), and he (Hugh I) had a brother William (for whom see *Torbreck KMB). We also know that Hugh II, the grantor of the quarry, had a brother called Richard, who confirmed the quarry-grant at around the same time (Balm. Lib. no. 47), that Richard’s wife was called Amabilla (Balm. Lib. no. 50, for which see below), and that he witnesses a charter dated 1260 (St A. Lib. 340–1).

The road by which the monks were permitted to cross the lands of Nydie ran due north, to the west of St Gregory’s Chapel (discussed above), to the Eden and the ford of Bruckley (Burglyn) LEU. For discussion of the ford of Bruckley, see *Clachan SSL, above.

The quarry mentioned in Balm. Lib. nos. 46, 47 (see below) is probably OS Pathf. and OS Explorer ‘Nydie Quarry (disused)’ at NGR NO441168. ‘A geological examination of some of the stones in [Balmerino] Abbey ruins shows them to be calciferous sandstone of identical structure with the calciferous sandstone found in Nydie quarry and several other near-by quarries’ (Smith and Johnson 1949, 162). This article describes the route which the stones would have taken between Nydie and Balmerino Abbey.

The above-mentioned Richard of Nydie, brother of Hugh II, issues a charter, perhaps c.1265, which contains more detail of the lands of Nydie. By it he grants:

by the express wish and with the consent of my wife Amabilla, for the salvation of my soul and of my predecessors, to God and the monastery of the Blessed Mary of Balmerino and to the monks serving there and who will forever serve there, in pure and perpetual alms a certain part of land in my land-holding of Nydie by the following marches, viz that piece of land which lies between the marked boundary[324] on the east side and the loan (literally ‘common exit of animals’) of Nydie on the west side, and which extends towards the royal road which leads to the town of St Andrews on the north side, and on the south side goes towards the great muir; together with common pasture in all my holding of Nydie for two cows, one horse and sixty sheep, with all easements and pertinents ... with these witnesses John of Kinnear KLM, John de Hay lord of Naughton BMO, FGN, William de Ramsay and others (Balm. Lib. no. 50).[325]

It seems that this piece of land (described as a toft in the rubric) lay in the south-eastern corner of the lands of Nydie, about NO441163. The western limit of the toft is the west loan of Nydie, likely to be the southward continuation of the Lonnage shown on Nydie Plan (1776) which runs south from the house (OS Pathf. Nydie Mains), through what was the estate’s arable land, towards Knockhill Farm. This is the loan by which animals would be taken south onto Nydie’s grazing land, and to the muir beyond (Neydiemuir on Nydie Plan, at NOT437165, and thereabouts). The northern limit of the toft is the via regia, ‘the royal road’, referred to as the ‘Kings Highway’ on the Nydie Plan, part of old road from the west through Dairsie by way of the Strathkinness High Road to St Andrews.[326] The southern limit of the toft is ‘the great muir’ (magnam moram), which must refer to the uplands around Easter Clatto SSL, while the eastern limit presumably refers to the boundary between the lands of Nydie and those of the farm to the west.

That Nydie had not only its own chapel but also its own local assembly place is indicated by the place-name Cuttle Bogs on Nydie Plan (1776), at NO440177, about 100 m east of the site of St Gregory’s chapel. This is a hitherto unrecorded couthal-name, indicating the presence of a medieval open-air court for settling local disputes (see Barrow 1981). Its proximity to an ecclesiastical site is probably significant, and is paralleled in the case of Cuthill KTT, for which see KTT Introduction, Lathrisk and Kettle.

It would appear that in 1303 the whole of the Nydie estate was assessed at two davochs, since Adam le Marischal had held half of Nydie of the bishop of St Andrews, rendering the service of a davoch (davauche) (CDS ii no. 1350).

OS Pathf. shows Nydie Mains (= Nydie OS 1855, and which gives the above NGR), Newton of Nydie, Nydie Quarry, Nydie Wood and Nydie Mill.

/ˈnaidɪ/

This place-name appeared in printed volume 3