Denmuir
Denmuir DBG ABE S NO302188 1 362 80m SOF
capellas de Dundemor 1199 Lind. Cart. no. 94 [capellas ‘chapels’ probably a scribal error for capellam ‘chapel’; see photo-facsimile Lind. Cart. opposite p. 108 (mid-13th-century cartulary); see also DBG Intro., Chapels]
(Waldinus of) Dundemor 1199 x 1202 St A. Lib. 260 [w.]
(chapel of) Dundemor 1248 Lind. Cart. no. 63 [see DBG Intro., Chapels]
(Henry of) Dundemor 1248 Lind. Cart. no. 63
capell<a> de Dundemor 1253 Lind. Cart. no. 64 [see DBG Intro., Chapels]
(John of) Dundemore 1255 CDS i no. 2191
(John of) Dundemor 1257 Inchaffr. Chrs. no. 86 [o.c.]
Johannem de Dundemor’ 1260 St A. Lib. 384 [composition between said John and monks of May anent Tarbreakes SMS (PNF 3, q.v.; also St A. Lib. 385, 386)]
(John of) Dundemor 1261 CDS i no. 2191 [with Henry of Abernethy (Abrynythyn) an envoy of Alexander III to Henry III of England]
(Henry of) Dundemor 1285 St A. Lib. 386 [sentence of Bp William of St Andrews in dispute between Henry of Denmuir and monks of May]
(Patrick of) Dundemer 1296 Inst. Pub. 145
(Henry of) Dundemor 1296 Inst. Pub. 157
(Richard of) Dunmore 1305 CDS ii no. 1670
Johanne de Dundemore 1312 x 1332 Dryb. Lib. no. 302 [w.; knight]
terris de Dunmore 1346 x 1357 RMS i app. 2 no. 1262 A [16th-c. index]
(Marion of) Dunmore 1346 x 1357 RMS i app.2 no. 1262 B [17th c. index]
(lands of) Dunmore 1346 x 1357 RMS i app.2 no. 1262 B [17th c. index, granted by Marion of Denmuir (Dunmore) to Roger Mortimer]
(the late Marjorie/Marion of) Dundemore 1390 x 1392 RMS i no. 854 [see FLK Intro., Chapel of Glenduckie]
terr<a> de Dunmure 1451 ER v, 470 [‘land of’]
pomeri<us> de Dunmure 1451 ER v, 470 [‘orchard of’]
(lands of west half of) Dunmure 1508 RMS ii no. 3180 [see Ayton DBG]
orientalem dimediam partem terrarum de Dunmure 1516 RMS iii no. 89 [‘the eastern half of the lands of Denmuir’, feued to the Paterson family]
de tota et integra dimedietate orientali parte terrarum de Dunmor 1517 Fife Ct. Bk. 66 [John Paterson (Patersone) died siesed ‘of all and haill the eastern half of the lands of Denmuir’; his hier is Walter, his son]
Dunmure-Wester 1558 Retours (Fife) no. 34 [see Ayton DBG]
west part of Dunmure c.1560 s Assumption, 34
east part of Dunmure c.1560 s Assumption, 34
Joannem Aytoun de Dunmvir 1572 Fraser Wemyss ii no. 125 [w.]
Dunmure-Nether 1581 Retours (Fife) no. 1469 [Andrew Ayton (Athone), heir of John Ayton, his father, Nether Denmuir with Brewland and meadow]
Dunmure-Aytoun 1590 RPC iv, 785
Dunmure-Paterson 1590 RPC iv, 785
O<ver> Dunmore 1590 x 1599 Pont MS 54B
N<ether> Dunmore 1590 x 1599 Pont MS 54B
Dwnmure 1601 x 1603 RMS vi no. 1441 [Andrew Paterson of Luthrie CRC grants to George Paterson, his son, on George’s marriage to Katherine Ayton (Aytone), sister of Andrew Ayton of Nether Denmuir various lands including his (Andrew’s) eastern half of lands of Denmuir called Over Denmuir with mill]
terras occidentalis dimediatatis de Drumure 1617 RMS vii no. 1686 [to Andrew Ayton (Aytoun) of Denmuir (Drumure) ‘and to those bearing the arms of the family of Denmuir’ (et insignia familie de Dumure [sic] gerentibus), ‘the lands of the western half of Denmuir, with heath and meadow’ (cum bruerio et prato); [190] also the lands of Carpow Lea (Carpullie) DBG]
(manor-place and fortalice of) Dynmure 1617 RMS vii no. 1686 [‘then to be called of Ayton’ (tunc de Aytoun nuncupand.); see Ayton DBG]
(touns and lands of) Over et Nether Denmures 1617 RMS vii no. 1732 [the garbal teinds etc. to Andrew Lord Gray]
Ovir et Nather Denmuris 1623 RMS viii no. 418 [to William earl of Morton]
Dinmwir 1624 Retours (Fife) no. 340 [Robert Paterson of Denmuir, in east half of lands of Denmuir called lands of Over Denmuir (Over Dummwir), with mill]
terras occidentalis dimidietatis de Dymnure 1625 Retours (Fife) no. 365 [to John Ayton of that Ilk, ‘the lands of the western half of Denmuir’]
Eister vel Ovir Denmuir 1632 RMS viii no. 2023 [see following]
Nethir et Westir Denmuir 1632 RMS viii no. 2023 [‘Easter or Over Denmuir, Nether and Wester Denmuir and Carpow Lea then called Ayton’ (Eister vel Ovir Denmuir, Nethir et Westir Denmuir et Carpowie tunc Aytoun nuncupat.)]
Dunmuire 1642 Gordon MS Fife [appears along with Aiton]
Dunmor 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
N<ether> Dunmor 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Beanmoir hill 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Dunmuir 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Easter seu Over Dunmure 1668 Retours (Fife) no. 1040 [‘or’ (seu)]
Wester et Nether Dunmure 1668 Retours Fife no. 1040 [‘and’ (et)]
Dunmuir 1753 Roy
Dunmoor 1775 Ainslie/Fife [shown on west side of burn]
E. Dunmoor 1775 Ainslie/Fife [shown on east side of burn]
Denmuir 1828 SGF [mainly east side of burn, with 3 buildings on west side]
Denmuir 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Ayton 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
? en Dundee + G mòr
While the later forms of this name point unproblematically to an underlying Gaelic dùn mòr ‘big fort’, with reference to the large prehistoric (probably Iron Age) fort on neighbouring Norman’s Law DBG (q.v.), all the forms recorded before c.1300 point to an extra medial unstressed syllable -de-. If the final (specific) element were a noun, this could be seen either as the number dà ‘two’ (seen probably in Kinloch CLS, earlier Kindelouch etc, q.v., above) or perhaps even as the remains of the gen. sing. definite article (as in Ballindean BMO, q.v., above). However, given that the second element can really only be the adjective mòr ‘big’, the first (specific) element would seem originally to have consisted of two syllables. All the early forms are identical with those of Dundee (Dunde 1183 St A. Lib. 59; Dunde 1190 × 1195 Lind. Cart. no. 2 [church granted to Lindores Abbey by Earl David]; (burgh of) Dunde 1190 × 1195 Lind. Cart. no. 2; also Logie-Dundee (Logydunde 1178 × 1188 RRS ii no. 276). The most plausible explanation of Dundee is that it derives from G dùn (or its Pictish cognate) + the river-name Tay (Tey 1127 × 1131 David I Chrs. no. 33; They 1190 × 1195 Lind. Cart. no. 2). Since dùn was in OG a neuter noun, it would have caused nasalisation (also known as eclipsis) of the following consonant: in effect /t/ would be pronounced /d/.[191]
On the lands of Denmuir is Norman’s Law, the highest hill in north Fife (north of the Lomonds), with its large, relatively well-preserved hill-fort on the summit, an ideal candidate for the eponymous G dùn (or its Pictish cognate). While the summit of Norman’s Law lies almost 2 km from the Tay, it rises directly (and without interruption) from the river, offering a commanding view of the whole of the Firth of Tay. Therefore ‘hill-fort of the Tay’ would be an entirely appropriate name for what later became known as Norman’s Law. The affix mòr was added to distinguish it from the smaller Dundee nearer the mouth of the Firth, on its opposite (north) side.
The reinterpretation of the first element as Sc den ‘(small, deep) valley’ seems to have begun in the early seventeenth century, while a similar process by which the second element became muir (cf Sc muir ‘rough grazing’) may have started earlier, with such forms as Dunmure (1508 RMS ii no. 3180).
The lands of Denmuir were divided into two parts at least as early as 1508. These were variously described as Denmuir Ayton and Denmuir Paterson (referring to them by the names of those who held them), as Nether and Over Denmuir, and as Wester and Easter Denmuir, respectively. Denmuir Ayton later became known simply as Ayton (q.v., above).
On Pont MS 54B (1590s), Denmuir is divided into O. Dunmore (for Over Denmuir) and N. Dunmore (for Nether Denmuir, i.e. Ayton).[192] Blaeu (Pont) East Fife (1654) shows these places respectively as Dunmor and Aiton, reflecting the change of toponymy in the first part of the seventeenth century. It also shows N. Dunmor, the same place as Ayton, wrongly as a separate place.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4