Giffordtown
Giffordtown CLS S NO288111 1 362 45m
Gifford Town Feus 1831 RHP3554
Jefferton 1848 Rae-Arnot 1911, 159
Giffordton 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Giffordtown 1957 OS 1" 7th series
pn Gifford + SSE town
For the founding of this early nineteenth-century settlement, see Edenstown above. On SGF/1828 the row of houses now called Giffordtown is marked, but not named, to the east of Innerleith. The OS Name Book entry for Giffordton c.1850 describes it as follows: ‘A small hamlet composed of houses one storey high, with offices in good repair. There are gardens attached. The inhabitants are composed of weavers and agricultural workers. It is feued from A. Bogie Esq., Kinloch. It is called Giffordton on account of Lord Gifford, when Lord Chancellor deciding a law plea in favour of the proprietor’ (OS Name Book 13, 23). Lord Gifford was Chancellor in 1825, when he was responsible for bringing to law a plea by Andrew Thomson, the owner of Wester or Little Kinloch to remove the residents of the cruck houses which composed the village of Kinloch (Calley [1999], 74). Land was feued at Monkstown, Edenstown and Giffordtown to some of the residents. Because of Gifford’s judgement the village of Kinloch disappeared.
The Disruption of 1843 saw the erection of Collessie Free Kirk at Giffordtown, which became known as ‘the kirk in the woods’ This was partly removed and re-erected at Ladybank in 1876 (Gillin and Reid 1979, 32).
/ˈdʒɛfərtən/ or /ˈdʒɪfərtən/.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4