Pitmullen
Pitmullen SSL S NO5613 3
Pethmulin 1165 x 1172 St A. Lib. 179 [to St Andrews Priory; among lands formerly held by Maolsneachda]
Pethmolin 1165 x 1172 St A. Lib. 217 [= RRS ii no. 13; among the lands of Maolsneachda]
? Pethunleg c.1220 Terrier C [17/18th c. copy]
G pett + G muileann
‘Mill farm, milton’. It has the same derivation as Pitmilly KBS. It is one of a list of lands, all described as being beside St Andrews, which Maolsneachda had held from Bishop Richard of St Andrews, and which the bishop then granted to St Andrews Priory. For a full list of these lands see Bassaguard SSL. It is to be distinguished from Pitmilly KBS, which is expressly located in Crailshire. It is questionable whether it can be directly associated with Pitmullen House, which appears as such on OS 1 inch 7th Series and OS Pathf. (NGR NO546142), as there are no buildings at all marked here on Ainslie/East Fife (1827) or SGF (1828), while on OS 6 inch (1855) the house is called Thorn Bank (it is still called Thornbank as late as 1927, OS 1 inch ‘Popular’ edn). Furthermore there are no watercourses nearby suitable for a mill. It is therefore more likely that it was nearer the Kenly Water, perhaps at the site of OS Pathf. Burnside. It may in fact have been not only adjacent to Pitmilly KBS (which abuts SSL on two sides), but also originally part of the same estate. Note that Pitmilly Mill KBS is shown in 1642, on Blaeu (Gordon) Fife, as Kingsmill. It is possible that both Pitmilly KBS and Pitmullen SSL got their name by reference to a single (originally royal?) mill on the Kenly Burn.
Petmolin mentioned in Lucius III’s confirmation charter of 1183 (St A. Lib. 58) must refer to Pitmilly KBS, as Pitmullen SSL at that time would have been included in the catch-all description ‘the land near St Andrews which Maolsneachda held’.[330]
For the possibility that the Terrier’s Pethunleg is Pitmullen, see SSL Introduction Boar’s Raik and Appendix 2, below. See also Pitmilly Meadow SSL, probably a transferred name.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 3