Luscar

Luscar CNK DFL S NT060900 2 135m

duas uillas nomine Lusker 1128 David I Chrs. no. 33 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 1; ‘two touns or vills, Luscar by name’, granted to Dunfermline church by King Duncan II 1093–4: his only grant to Dunfermline]
duas uillas nomine Luschar 1150 David I Chrs. no. 172 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 2]
duas uillas nomine Lusker 1154 x 1159 RRS i no. 118 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 35]
duas Luskres 1163 Dunf. Reg. no. 237
diuisas de Lusker Gocelin 1231 Dunf. Reg. no. 196 [part of the marches of Dunduff DFL]
Lusk<e>r Vniet 1244 Dunf. Reg. no. 201 [rubric]
terr<a> de Lusker orientali 1244 Dunf. Reg. no. 201
terris de Luskirhunyoth 1347 Dunf. Reg. no. 382 [rubric]
tenementi de Luskirhunyoth 1347 Dunf. Reg. no. 382
terris de Luscreuyoth 1412 Dunf. Reg. no. 400 [annual rent of £6 11 s.]
terris de Luscreuyoth 1438 Dunf. Reg. no. 410
Luscreuiot 1450 Dunf. Reg. no. 428 [rubric]
Luscreviot 1450 Dunf. Reg. no. 428
duas villas nomine Luskyr 1451 RMS ii no. 429 col. 1
Loscrevioth 1451 RMS ii no. 429 col. 3
Loscrevoth 1451 RMS ii no. 429 col. 3
Luscyr 1532 Dunf. Reg. Ct. Bk. 59 [Johannes Bruys (Bruce) in Luscyr]
Luscuyr 1532 Dunf. Reg. Ct. Bk. 73 [Johannes Bruys (Bruce) in Luscuyr]
Luscour 1535 x 1536 Dunf. Reg. Ct. Bk. [Jacobus Preston in Luscour]
villa de Wester Luscoure alias Stobies Luscoure 1577 Laing Chrs. no. 945
terris de Luscour Eviot alias Lochend 1599 Dunf. Reg. p. 495 [with pendicles called Drumtuthill DFL (Drumtuthill) and Toungis]
Luscor 1654 Blaeu (Pont) West Fife
E. Luscar 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife [this refers to the original East Luscar DFL which was not transferred to CNK in 1650]
W. Luscar 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Craig Lusker House 1753 Roy sheet 17, 5
Craig Lusker 1753 Roy sheet 17, 5
Luscar 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Luscarhouse 1775 Ainslie/Fife
E<aste>r Luscar 1828 SGF
W<este>r Luscar 1828 SGF
Luscar Ho<use> 1828 SGF
West Luscar 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn. [at NT049896]

? G lusga + ? - ar

? ‘Place of cave(s)’; G lusga is ‘underground dwelling, cave’, from which is derived lusgair ‘troglodyte, hermit’. However, the ending –er or -ar is more likely to be a collective or locational suffix, such as that found in Dollar CLA (‘place of water-meadow(s) or haugh(s)’), so the meaning would be ‘place of cave(s)’. No such feature is known locally, but rather than a cave it might refer to one or more souterrains, which would be more likely to have disappeared.[81]

Luscar applied to an extensive block of land north-west of Dunfermline, and originally all within DFL. However, in 1650 the lands of Wester Luscar (which confusingly were themselves divided into Easter and Wester Luscar) were transferred to CNK. The name survives today in OS Pathf. names East Luscar, Luscar House and Luscar Dean, all now CNK, and Craigluscar (with Craigluscar Hill and Craigluscar Road) DFL.

Luscar was divided into distinct holdings from its earliest appearance in the record. It was royal demesne land when Duncan II (1093–94) gave two vills by the name of Luscar to the church of Dunfermline.[82] However, there was another part of the lands or territory of Luscar which was retained by the crown, and which by the first half of the thirteenth century was in the hands of various secular tenants (see below). As Webster notes (1938, 262ff), the two vills gifted by King Duncan II cannot be the later Easter and Wester Luscar, as Easter Luscar (OS Pathf. East Luscar) has only been known as such comparatively recently. The older Easter Luscar lay considerably further east, and was not granted to the abbey until 1244 (Dunf. Reg. nos.201, 309). At least some of this eastern part of the lands of Luscar must have been held by someone called Jocelyn (Gocelin) before 1231, as *Luscar-Jocelyn (Lusker Gocelin) is mentioned as one of the marches of Dunduff DFL (Dunf. Reg. no. 196). Webster further notes that c.1560 West(er) Luscar (by Luscar House, no longer extant, but shown as Wester Luscar in 1828 SGF at c.NT049897) was divided into three holdings, with two of the three slumped (sic) together as Stobie’s Luscar. The other third was known as Hutton’s Luscar. This lay to the south and east of Luscar House, and was bounded on the south by the Dean Burn. The first Hutton holder of these lands was Thomas Hutton (1536), who is described as son of the late Thomas Hutton tenant in West Clune (Calendar of Deeds viii, 203). Webster cannot definitely identify the Stobies of West(er) Luscar (1938, 270). Their ‘house stood between the present tennis court of Luscar House and Luscar Dykes’ (ibid., 271). He adds that the oldest charters refer to the lands as ‘Wester Luscar alias Stobies’ Luscar’, but he gives no dates or references for these. John Stobie had a charter of the lands of Wester Luscar in 1605 (Dunf. Reg. p. 498). There were Stobies in Dunfermline in the late fifteenth century (e.g. Dunf. Recs. for 1499: the late William Stobe (sic) in Collier Raw).

The lands of Wester Luscar were later held by the Wardlaws (Henry Wardlaw married Christian Hutton, and built the doocot at Wester Luscar in 1698). In 1799 the lands of Wester Luscar held by the Wardlaws were defined as follows: the Forefield, Plaintree Park, Pigeon House Park, Bell’s Fold, West Knockhill Park, How Fold (Webster 1938, 296). Most of these names appear on an estate plan of 1771 (RHP1289).

The lands of Easter Luscar were known as Luscar-Eviot, and included Lochend, *Tongues (Toungis 1598 Dunf. Reg. p. 495, Tongui 1753 Roy), and the pendicle of Drumtuthill DFL (q.v.). According to Webster, Lochend and *Tongues correspond roughly to the present Bonnyton and part of Rosebank, and there is no trace of any old mansion house in connection with these lands (1938, 310 ff). Alexander Wingate[83] or Eviot (Vniet) held the lands of Easter Luscar and Ardlather (‘now called Milton’ for which see *Milton DFL) from the king and in 1244 he granted them in perpetual feu-ferme to Dunfermline Abbey for £10 sterling per annum (Dunf. Reg. nos. 201, 309). In 1347 Christian Bisset daughter of the late David de Wingate (de Hunyoth) of Clerkington sells an annual rent of £3 9s. sterling to abbey of Dunfermline for £40 in order to raise ransom money for her son Walter Bisset, who was prisoner in England (Dunf. Reg. nos. 382, 383). This means that there was a permanent reduction in the rent which the abbey paid to the Wingates for Easter or Wingate Luscar from £10 to £6 11s., and £6 11s. is in fact the rent mentioned as owed from this land in 1412 (Dunf. Reg. no. 400). By this time, however, the lands of *Luscar-Wingate were in the hands of the Menzies of Weem, or rather he had acquired their wadsets or mortgage, which he mortified in favour of Dunfermline Abbey (Dunf. Reg. no. 400). For details of the lands in the sixteenth century see Webster 1938, 312–13.

H. Cameron acquired the lands of Easter Luscar in 1877 and later built Bonnyton House (Webster 1938, 316).

For further discussion on the lands of Luscar, see also Craigluscar DFL. Here it is suggested that the lands of Craigluscar may have been carved out of Luscar Wingate for the Durie family in the early sixteenth century. However, according to Pitcairn, Robert Durie of that ilk was granted ‘the takkis and stedingis of the lands of Luscar Eviote, Killerny (Killernie SLN) and Kyneddar (Kinneddar SLN) etc.’ in the regality of Dunfermline, which lands belonged to Sir John Colville of East Wemys (Est Wemys) and because of his treason had been forfeited to the king (Pitcairn, Trials vol. 1, part 1, p. 225, quoted Webster 1938, 312). This means that the Duries held both Craigluscar and Luscar-Wingate after that date.

/ˈlʌskər/

This place-name appeared in printed volume 1