St Monans

St Monans SMS KCQ EPS NO522014 1 10m

ecclesi<a> Sancti Monani 1362 ER ii, 114 [to William Dishington of Ardross, money for his expenses in building work on St Monans kirk; also see ER ii, 137, 138, 175, 178, 221, 241, 289, 307, 347, 357]
ad fabricam capelle Sancti Monani 1364 ER ii, 169
apud Sanctum Monanum 1364 ER ii, 141
ad opus Sancti Monani 1369 ER ii, 329
capella nostra Beati Monani 1370 RMS i no. 304 [David II confirms to God, BVM and the blessed Monanus, and to the chaplains in ‘our chapel of the blessed Monanus we have founded recently (or anew)’ (de novo fundavimus), the lands of East Barns (Estbernys) CRA and lands of Den MLO]
Sancti Monani 1435 St A. Lib. 419 [‘sir Thomas Heath (?), master of the fabric of <the chapel of> St Monans’ (domino Thoma Heth fabrice Sancti Monani magistro)]
capella Sancti Monani de Invare 1446 ER v, 226 [payment from the customs of burgh of Cupar to chaplains serving in two chaplaincies founded by the king’s progenitors in the chapel of St Monans of Inverie]
ecclesia Sancti Monani de Invery 1455 ER vi, 15 [for two chaplains ministering in the church (ecclesia) of St Monan of Inverie, 20 merks, from the foundation of David II]
capella beati Monani de Invery 1456 ER vi, 131
apud S<anctum> Monanum 1482 RMS ii no. 1528 [place-date of charter granting a quarter of Balcaskie CBE and Ovenstone CBE to John Strang]
ecclesiam suam S<ancti> Monani de Inverry 1519 RMS iii no. 196
Invery alias Sancti Monanis 1523 ER xv, 44 [to the Friars Preachers (Dominicans) of Inverie alias St Monans]
Inverye alias Sanctmonanis 1525 ER xv, 116
in terris de Over Sanct-Monanys 1530 RMS iii no. 947
ecclesiam et locum S<ancti> Monani de Invery 1539 x 1546 St A. Formulare no. 468 [Dominicans at ‘the church and place of St Monan(s) of Inverie’]
ecclesi<a> S. Monani de Inverre 1543 RMS iii no. 2964
Sanct Monance nuncupata Inverye 1590 Retours (Fife) no. 1492 [William Sandelandis of St Monans (Sanct Monance), half the lands of ‘St Monans called Inverie’ ...]
Wester Sanct Monance 1590 Retours (Fife) no. 1492 [see previous entry; ... and the other half of the lands of Inverie (Inverye) called Wester St Monans, with half its mill]
Inverie alias Sanct-Monanis 1593 RMS v no. 2273 [with fortalice and manor, mill, mill-lands and with the acres of St Monans (Sanct-Monynns); St Andrews church lands]
terras dimidietatis de Sanct-Monanis alias Invery 1608 RMS vii no. 49 [George archbishop fo St Andrews to William Sandilands (Sandylandis) of St Monans (Sanct-Monanes) ‘the lands of half of St Monans alias Inverie ... and the other half of the said lands of Inverie alias Wester St Monans’ (see next entry)]
aliam dimidietatem dictarum terrarum de Invery alias Wester Sanct-Monanis 1608 RMS vii no. 49 [see preceding]
St. Monans 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Cotton of S. Monans 1642 Gordon MS Fife
St. Minnance 1644 St A. Presb., 19
Invirie alias Sanct-Monance 1649 RMS ix no. 2060 [half of the lands of St Monans (Sanct-Monance) called the Inverie (lie Inverie); the other half of Inverie (Invirie) called Wester St Monans (Wester Sanct-Monance) with the tower of St Monans (Sanct-Monance) called Newark (Newwark), 5 merks of the lands of ‘Inverie alias St Monans’]
Wester Sanct-Monance 1649 RMS ix no. 2060 [see preceding]
St Monence 1652 Lamont’s Diary 45 [‘David Leslies wyfe, of St Monence’]
St. Monans 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
S. Monans 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife [also shows Cast. of S. Monans]
St. Minnins 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Over St. Minnins 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1 [between St. Minnins and Abercromby]
St Monance 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Upperstonmidins 1775 Ainslie/Fife [a transcription error for *Uppersaintminnins; cf. entry on Roy (1753) Over St. Minnins]
Monance 1828 SGF [sic, though the parish is named St Monance]
St Monans 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Saint Monance 1870 Elie Disposition fo 52r. [see Inverie SMS, above]
St Monan’s 1899 OS 1 inch 2nd edn

Sc sanct + pn Monan

For a full discussion of this saint, see SMS Introduction, David II and St Monan. In the seventeenth century the final s of St Monans, a possessive ending, began to be re-interpreted as an organic part of the name, Monance. This can only have happened once the cult of the eponymous saint had been so weakened that the name was no longer recognised as such.

OS Pathf. spells the name St Monance for the place and the burn, which along part of its course forms the boundary between SMS, KCQ and ELI, and is known locally as the Inverie Burn. OS Explorer (2001) has reverted to the more traditional and correct form, St Monans, for the place, but has retained the less correct form in the name of the St Monance Burn.

For St Monans as an alternative name for Inverie, see above under Inverie.

There is a small cave on the shore-line, about 50 m east of the parish church called St Monan’s Cell, from the unsubstantiated tradition, and without any evidence of occupation, that the saint used it as a hermitage.

The old settlement of Over St Monans lay at around NO521018, at or near the settlement marked on Blaeu (Gordon) Fife (1654) as Cotton.

The above NGR is for the kirk of St Monans on the western edge of the town.

/səntˈmonənz/, /səntˈmonəns/, /səntˈmɪnəns/;[353] the vowel in the first syllable can also be /e/, and the t silent.

This place-name appeared in printed volume 3