Kilmaron
Kilmaron CUP S NO352163 1 362 185m SEF
(Thomas of) Kilmeron 1199 x 1202 St A. Lib. 260 [w.]
(Thomas of) Kelm<er>on c.1210 NAS GD20/1/189 [o.c.; w.]
(Thomas of) Kinmalron 1204 x 1214 Aberdeen-Banff Coll. p. 408 [w.]
(Thomas of) Kilmaron 1204 x 1230 St A. Lib. 245 [w.]
(Thomas of) Kilmar’ 1204 x 1230 Dunf. Reg. no. 144 [w.]
Dunecano filio Thome de Kilmar’ c.1220 St A. Lib. 273 [w.]
(Thomas of) Kenmaron c.1220 N. Berwick Cart. no. 10 [w.]
(Thomas of) Kilmaron 1238 x 1240 Barrow 1974 no. 6 [w.]
Dunecano de Kilmerone 1245 St. A. Lib. 44 [w.]
(William of) Kylmero<n> 1269 x 1273 St A. Lib. 108 [w.]
(Richard of) Kilmaron 1281 St A. Lib. 342 [w.]
Thomas de Kylmeron 1293 SHS Highland Papers 2 no. 3, p. 125
Kylmeron c.1353 SAUL MS 37490, no. 3 [see discussion, below]
Kilmaroune 1492 RMS ii no. 2101 [Peter Pitbladdo (Petblatho) of that ilk sold 5 twelfths of Kimaron to Matthew White (Quhite), in lordship of Pitbladdo CUP]
Kilmarone 1513 RMS ii no. 3848 [Matthew White of Kilmaron (Kilmarone) to Andrew Seton, his lands of Kilmaron, viz. 5 twelfths of lands of Kilmaron]
Kilmarone 1513 RMS ii no. 3873 [lands of Kilmaron and Pitlug # MML (q.v.)]
Balmaron 1513 NAS C2/19 no. 7 [abbreviated and printed as RMS ii no. 3873]
Kylmarone c.1560 s Assumption, 14
Kilmarone 1616 Retours (Fife) no. 256 [David Barclay of Collairnie DBG, in 5 twelfths of lands of Kilmaron in barony of Pitbladdo CUP]
(Henry Oliphant, portionar of) Kilmarone 1637 Retours (Fife) no. 544
Killmaroon 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Kilmarnou 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Killmaraon 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Kilmaron 1656 Retours (Fife) no. 860 [in barony of Pitbladdo]
Kilmaron 1783 Sasines no. 651 [Kilmaron and Pitlug in barony of Collairnie]
Kilmaron F<ar>m 1828 SGF
Kilmaron Castle 1828 SGF
Kilmaron 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn [also Kilmaron Castle and Kilmaron Den]
Kilmaron Hill 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn [summit at NO358167]
G cill + pn Mo Rón
‘Church of St Rón’; the personal name Rón, which originally meant ‘seal’ (the sea creature) is better known in its diminutive form Rónán. There are twelve saints by the name of Rónán in the Irish calendars, and we have no way of knowing which, if any, of these is the saint commemorated in Kilmaron (see Watson 1926, 309). It is also found, in a different diminituve form, in the parish-name Kilmaronock DNB at the south-east end of Loch Lomond,[153] where there is a St Ronan’s Well (NS448876). The establishment of the church of Kilmaron in Fife probably dates to around 700 A.D., over a century before the general Scottish settlement of eastern Scotland. There is some evidence that it was founded from an important religious centre at *Kinrymonth (St Andrews), supported by the Pictish kings but staffed by Gaelic-speaking clerics from Iona (see Taylor 1995; also Kilconquhar KCQ and Kilduncan KBS, PNF 3). The connection between Kilmaron and Pitlug MML in the charter of c.1350 (for which see below) and thereafter is significant. The name Pitlug means ‘farm of the bell’, and would seem to indicate that the land had been held by the dewar or keeper of a bell belonging to the church of Kilmaron. In the mid-fourteenth century, Margaret of Pitlbladdo granted the lands of Kilmaron and Pitlug in the following terms (SAUL MS 37490 no. 3):[154]
To all who see or hear this charter, Margaret of Pitbladdo, lady of the same, salvation/greeting in the eternal Lord. All shall know that I, in my free maidenhood have given, granted and confirmed by this present charter to Christiana de Ramsay and Sir Henry de Ramsay, lord of Forthar, her son and heir, and to their heirs and assignees, the whole land of Kilmaron and Pitlug, by these marches: beginning on the south side at the place called *Sunkenkirk, and thus going by the path which leads to the ditch between the land of Pitlug and Auchtermoonzie, beside the place which is called Macolmis Wawys[155] on the north side, and with the lordship and homage and service of the land of Torr of Moonzie, and with the old loan, which is called the *Loaning, which is in breadth eight of the lots which are called rigs, which loan leads between the land of Kilmaron and the marsh of Kilmaron and lies in the land of Pitbladdo, beside the eastern side of Torr of Moonzie ...’[156]
It is impossible to be sure where the original cill of Kilmaron lay. In the OSA, written about 1790, the minister of Cupar, Rev. George Campbell, writes: ‘The ruins of a small chapel, situated near the eastern boundary of the lands of Kilmaron, were to be seen not many years ago’ (OSA, 207), and this may refer to a hollow feature at NO363166, about 4 m by 2 m in plan, and cut into the ground to an average depth of about 1 m., on the west side of a low turf or ‘fail’ dyke which probably once marked the boundary between Kilmaron and Pitbladdo. If this is the site of a church or chapel, which is by no means certain (it is orientated north-south, which makes it less likely), we still cannot be sure that it is the site of the cill of St Rón. The so-called *Sunkenkirk (Sunkynkirc) of the charter reproduced above is probably not the same place as the ‘small chapel’ mentioned in OSA, 207, since it is clearly stated in the charter that the *Sunken Kirk is on the south side of Kilmaron, if not the south-west, while the place mentioned in OSA is on the east side. Similarly we cannot ascertain whether the *Sunkenkirk was the cill of Kilmaron, nor even if it was actually an ecclesiastical site at all. There is a Sunkenkirk in Clatt parish ABD (NMRS NJ52NW 6), and another at Swinside near Ulverton in Cumbria (Lewis 1886, 475), both of which are actually the sites of pre-historic stone circles, and not church sites. There is no reason to treat the name *Sunkenkirk as evidence of any kind of ecclesiastical building actually having been here.
The NGR given above is for the farm called Kilmaron; OS Pathf. also shows Kilmaron Castle (NO358161), Kilmaron Hill and Kilmaron Den which forms part of the western march of CUP.
/ˌkɪlmaˈrɔn/ or /ˌkɪlməˈrɔn/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4