Scotscraig
Scotscraig FPC LEU S NO444282 1 352 75m
Scottis-crag 1452 x 1480 RMS ii no. 1444 [Scotscraig ‘and the Ferry’ (Scottis-crag et le Fery), St Andrews Church land]
apud occidentale latus aque et litoris de le Scottiscrag 1480 RMS ii no. 1502 [fishing rights ‘on west side of the water and shore of the Scotscraig lying in half of barony of Naughton BMO’ (jacen. in dimedietate baronie de Nachtane)]
Scottiscrag 1532 RMS iii no. 1163 [Andrew Baird (Barde) in Scotscraig]
Scottiscrag 1539 St A. Rent. 89 [lands of Scotscraig to Henry Kemp, £16]
Skotysh Crage 1547 Cal. State Papers Scot. i, 67 [Thomas Wyndham to Somerset: ‘On the 22nd I went aland on Fife side with 200 men and burned Skotysh Crage and ij myll in the land, and more then iij myll compase. ... the country gathered 500 horse and skirmished with us, dismounting and trying to get between our boats and us, but their hearts failed them.’]
(lordship of) Schottiscraig 1562 Assumption, 2 [archbishopric of St Andrews]
the landis of Scotiscraig c.1560 s Assumption, 90 [‘rentale of ane pensioun of my lord Sanctandrois, payit be him out of the landis of Scotiscraig ... and be Henry Durie, laird of that ilk, to Andro Davidsoun’]
Scottiscraig c.1560 s Assumption, 13
Scottiscrag 1564 St A. Kirk Session Rec.
(lordship and barony of) Scottiscrag 1593 RMS v no. 2273 [see Ferry-Port-on-Craig FPC]
( 3 quarters of lands and vill of) Scottiscraig 1597 RMS vi no. 523 [feued along with other lands to Robert Durie]
dominio de Scottiscraig 1603 RMS vi no. 1492 [see Ferry-Port-on-Craig FPC]
Scottishcraig 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Scotscraige 1652 Retours (Fife) no. 799
the lands and toun of Scotiscraige 1652 Retours (Fife) no. 799 [John Erskine]
Scots-craig 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Scottiscraig 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Scotscraig 1666 Retours (Fife) no. 989 [William Stewart of Kirkhill, a 5th of toun and lands of Scotscraig and Sandyhills]
Scots Craig 1775 Ainslie/Fife [Jas. Dalgliesh Esq.]
Scotscraig 1782 Sasines no. 304 [‘comprehending Sandyhills, Mill of Ferrytoun, Chappletoun, South Ferry Partoncraig ... salmon fishings of Drumlaw, Johnsands, Pynellknow and Landshott, parish of Ferry-Partoncraig’]
Scotscraig 1828 SGF [also shows Mains for OS Pathf. Scotscraig Mains]
Scotscraig Mains 1790s OSA 375 [‘originally church land, belonging to the archbishopric of St Andrew’s’]
Scotscraig (Remains of) 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn [also shows Scotscraig (modern farm); Scotscraig T.P. (a turnpike, at the point where the B946 crosses the FGN/FPC boundary, NO437290), Scotscraig Mains and Scotscraig Burn (forming western and south-western boundary of FPC)]
? pn Scott + Sc craig ‘crag, rock’
The eponymous craig is probably what is now called Craig Law, immediately west of the site of the castle, later mansion house, of Scotscraig. ‘It is stated, though on dubious authority, that the estate was feued during the reign of Alexander II by the bishop of St Andrews to Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie, the father of the famous Michael Scott, the Wizard,’ hence the name Scotscraig (Millar 1895 ii, 275). This seems to originate with Robert Sibbald, who, writing of Balwearie (Balweerie) KDT, states that it ‘belonged for at least 500 years to gentlemen of the name of Scott, who had Scotts-Craig and many other lands in this shire’ (1803, 316).
OS Pathf. also shows Scotscraig Mains (NO450285) and Scotscraig Burn. The above NGR is for the old house of Scotscraig, now ruined. OS Pathf. shows the modern farm of Scotscraig at NO445281.
OS 6 inch (1855) also shows Bishop Sharp’s Gate at NO445282. The gate, an entry into the old walled garden of the house, is inscribed AIS (for ‘Archbishop James Sharp’, who held the see of St Andrews from 1661 until his assassination in 1679, with the date 1687 (NMRS NO42NW 9).
In 1815 the fields (called in the Sasine Parks) of Mains of Scotscraig are named as follows: Muckle Ironside, Chapel Lees ... Muckle Hay Nook, Greve’s Cottary, Kay’s Cottary, ... Mill Mackrie, Gaskielar; ‘Outfield pasture of the Doll’ (Sasines no. 10,697).
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4