Lindores Loch
Lindores Loch ~ ABE W NO267164 1 362 70m
magnus lacus de Lundors 1219 x 1232 Lind. Cart. no. 15 [‘the big loch of Lindores’, referred to simply as magnus lacus ‘the big loch’ c.1198 in Stringer 1985 no. 44]
(the big loch of) Lundors 1261 Lind. Cart. no. 114
Braidloch alias lacum de Lundoris 1510 RMS ii no. 3435
e itum lacus de Auld Lundoris 1541 RMS iii no. 2460 [to Patrick Balfour the lands and rights of Denmylne ABE, including ‘the outflow of the loch of Auld Lindores with its closing and opening’ (cum clausura et relaxatione ejus); i.e. control of the watermills downstream]
cum e itu lacus de Lindores 1646 RMS ix no. 1691 col. 1 [to Michael Balfour of Denmylne; the same terms as in 1541 RMS iii no. 2460]
Woodmill L<och> 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Lindores Loch 1827 Ainslie/East Fife
Lindores Loch 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
en Lindores + Sc loch
The early forms show that the name of this important loch, one of the largest in Fife, has been relatively unstable over the last 500 years, appearing variously as Braidloch (‘broad loch’), the *Big Loch, Woodmill Loch (named after the estate of Woodmill ABE, which lies at its southern end), Auld Lindores Loch and Lindores Loch; and often referred to locally as the Loch of Lindores. It is shown but not named on Pont MS 54B, Gordon MS 54A and Blaeu (Pont) East Fife.
The earliest references to this loch are simply to ‘the big loch’. For example in King William’s confirmation of Earl David’s foundation charter of Lindores Abbey, one of his grants is ‘all the land on the west side of the burn which descends from the big loch as far as the Tay’ (totam terram ab occidentali parte rivuli descendentis de magno lacu usque in They) (1190 × 1195 RRS ii no. 363).
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4