Priory Farm
Priory Farm BMO FGN S NO384238 1 351 105m
Priory Farm 1888 x 1914 OS 6 inch 1st revision
SSE priory + SSE farm
There is no discernible historical connection between this farm and St Andrews Priory, the only medieval priory with a presence in north-east Fife, which is genuinely commemorated in Priorwell BMO. The name does not even appear on OS 6 inch 1st edn (1855), though the buildings are marked. Rev. James Campbell, author of the exhaustive history of Balmerino and its abbey, writing at the end of the nineteenth century, does not mention it as such, although he does take a swipe at the ‘modern’ fashion of giving houses monastic names: ‘It is unnecessary to point out the absurdity of such misleading names as Crawford Priory, Rossie Priory, St Martin’s Abbey, etc., being given to modern mansions where there never were Religious houses. They might quite as fitly be called Lunatic Asylums – a fine mouth-filling phrase!’ (1899, 89, footnote 1). Perhaps he was really aiming this remark at Priory Farm in his parish!
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4