Fetters
Fetters # LEU S NO4725 2
Fotheros 1150 x 1152 David I Chrs. no. 172 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 2; ‘beside St Andrews with its proper boundaries’ (iuxta Sanctum Andream cum suis rectis divisis) was given by David I to Dunfermline Abbey]
Fotheros 1154 x 1159 RRS i no. 118 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 35; ‘beside St Andrews’ (iuxta Sanctum Andream)]
Fotheros c.1166 RRS ii no. 30 [= Dunf. Reg. no. 50; ‘beside St Andrews’]
Fothros c.1378 Dunf. Reg. no. 393 [Dunfermline Abbey feus to John Lyon of Glamis, chamberlain of Scotland, all its lands of Fetters and Shanwell FPC with their pertinents, ‘beside Portincraig ferry’ (iuxta passagium de Portyncrag)]
Fothros 1378 Dunf. Reg. no. 465 [Fetters and Shanwell beside Portincraig]
(a third of) Westerfothey 1390 x 1406 RMS i app. 2 no. 1734 [Wemyss; LEU Intro., Lordship and Baronies]
(a third of) Fotheris 1491 RMS ii no. 2082 [see *Thaneslands LEU]
(a third of) Fotheris 1512 RMS ii no. 3715 [see *Thaneslands LEU]
Fotheris 1539 RMS iii no. 2028 [see FPC Intro, Fishings]
(a third of) Wester Fotheris 1540 RMS iii no. 2114 [see LEU Intro., Lordship and Baronies]
(a third of) Fotheris 1543 Retours Fife no. 2 [see *Thaneslands LEU]
Eister Fotteris c.1560 Assumption, 14
Wester Fotteris c.1560 Assumption, 14
(a third of) Wester Fotheres 1567 Retours (Fife) no. 63 [Leuchars-Ramsay]
Westir Fotheris 1573 RMS iv no. 2131
Fotheris 1575 RMS iv no. 2529 [Dunfermline Abbey land, feued to Lord Glamis; Fetters and Shanwell alias Tentsmuirs]
Fotheris 1622 Retours (Fife) no. 323 [David Kinnear of that ilk, a third of Strathburn, Fetters and Fordel, with the mill of Strathburn]
Wester Fotheris 1622 RMS viii no. 370 [Bruce, a third of lands of Strathburn, Wester Fetters and Old Muirs]
Fothers 1643 Retours (Fife) no. 648 [Andrew Bruce of Earlshall, a third of Strathburn, Fetters and Fordel, with mill of Strathburn, in barony of Kinnear]
Fotheris 1648 Retours (Fife) no. 759 [Patrick earl of Kinghorn, lands of Fetters and Shanwell ‘called Tents Muirs’ (vocatis Tentismuires)]
Fothers 1652 Retours (Fife) no. 799 [John Erskine of Scotscraig FPC, the lands of Fetters and Shanwell ‘utherwayes called Tentismures’]
E. Fetters 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
W. Fetters 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
E. Fotters 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
W. Fothers 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
third pairt of the lands of Wester Fothers 1658 Retours (Fife) no. 882 [James earl of Southesk]
tertia parte terrarum de Westir Fothers 1665 Retours (Fife) no. 975 [Andrew Bruce of Earlshall, ‘3rd of lands of Wester Fetters’, and later in the text ‘another 3rd of said lands of Strathburns, Fetters and Fordel’ (alia tertia parte dictarum terrarum de Strathburnes, Fotheris et Fordell) with mill of S., Kinnear barony]
Fothers 1666 Retours (Fife) no. 989 [William Stewart of Kirkhill, lands associated with Scotscraig FPC including a fifth of lands of Fetters and Shanwell (Shamvald) otherwise called Tents Muirs (Tentmures) with various fishings]
Wester Setters (vel Fetters) 1684 Retours (Fife) no. 1232 [Thomas Duncan, tenant in Easter Cruvie LOG, the sunny third of the lands of Wester Fetters in parish of Leuchars (Lewchars) and in barony of Leuchars-Bruce]
Wester Fothers 1688 Retours (Fife) no. 1292 [Charles earl of Southesk, a third of the lands of Wester Fetters with the castle of Leuchars (Lewcharis)]
Wester Fothers 1700 Retours (Fife) no. 1440 [James earl of Southesk, a third of the lands of Wester Fetters, with the castle and fortalice of Leuchars, in the barony of Leuchars-Ramsay]
E. Fatters 1775 Ainslie/Fife [shown in FPC]
W. Fatters 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Fatters 1785 RHP1684
West Fatters 1785 RHP1684 [settlement lying north of area marked Fatters]
Feathers or Wester Fetters 1790 Sasines no. 2476 [one third in barony of Leuchars Ramsay, one third in barony of Leuchars Forbes, parish of Leuchars]
E. Fetters 1827 Ainslie [shown in FPC]
W. Fetters 1827 Ainslie
E. Fetters 1828 SGF [shown in FPC]
W. Fetters 1828 SGF
Fetters 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn [= Wester Fetters; also Fettersloch Wood]
Fetters 1904 OS 1 inch 2nd edn
G foithir + ? G ros or ? G – os
The final element could be ros ‘head-land’ (with reference to Tents Muir); or the locational suffix –os ‘place of, place at’. The first element is either G foithir ‘terrace’, which W. J. Watson would relate directly to the unusual dune landscape of this area (1926, 509); or a G adaptation of a Pictish word *uotir ‘territory’, perhaps some kind of administrative unit (see PNF 5, Elements Glossary, under foithir). It is the same name as Fodderance (now Lintrose), Kettins ANG (Fotheros c.1114 Scone Liber no. 1), and may also be compared with Feathers (Feders 1592 RMS; Fedderis 1609 RMS), Dunottar ANG and Phoineas (Fotharais), Badenoch INV.
It was royal demesne land in the twelfth century, when David I gave a part, probably a third, of the lands to Dunfermline Abbey. A third of the lands of Fetters formed part of the holding of *Thaneslands LEU (which see, below).
The centre of the lands of Fetters was probably Shanwell FPC, LEU (from G sean bhaile ‘old farm’). Note also that a farmstead on the muirland which undoubtedly formed part of the medieval lands of Fetters, and which now lies beneath Tentsmuir Forest, was called Old Muirs. East(er) Fetters, which appears on maps till 1828 (SGF), lay in FPC (LEU before 1606).
East Fetters also lies beneath Tentsmuir Forest, while former Wester Fetters, shown simply as Fetters in 1855, is now called Fetterdale.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4