Ecclesmartin
Ecclesmartin # SLO ES NO217102 1 60m
(land of) Eglismarten c.1248 St A. Lib. 310 [held by Duncan son of Michael son of Malotheny by gift of his late lord, Malcolm (I) earl of Fife; see SLO Intro., The Scotts and Strathmiglo]
Eglismartin 1510 RMS ii no. 3427 [lands of Strathmiglo also called]
Eglismartene 1605 RMS vi no. 1564 [town and burgh of Strathmiglo alias]
Eglismartin 1665 Retours Fife no. 974 [town and burgh of Strathmiglo also called Ecclesmartin, with toft and garden]
Englishmartin 1781 Sasines no. 78 [‘town of Strathmiglo called’]
Eccles-Martin 1832 Miller/map [text]
Pictish * eglēs + pn Martin
‘Church of (St) Martin’. Though the earliest surviving record of the name is from the thirteenth century, its origin lies in Pictish times, certainly before c.900 AD, and perhaps considerably earlier (Barrow 1983 and Taylor 1998; see also PNF 5, Elements Glossary, *eglēs).
The cult of St Martin was well-established in early medieval Britain: Bede says that a church dedicated to Martin was founded in Canterbury while the Romans were still there (HE i, 26); he also indicates that eighth-century Whithorn was dedicated to the same saint (HE iii, 4). Sulpicius Severus’ Life of St Martin was known on Iona in the late seventh century, when Adomnán quoted from it in his Life of Columba (Clancy and Márkus 1995, 215–16).[395] The dedication of an eglēs to Martin is thus not inconsistent with a foundation in the earliest period of Christianity in the region.
See also Inch Marton ABO (PNF 1), which contains the same elements. It is perhaps no coincidence that both these early Martin dedications in Fife are in detached parishes of Dunkeld diocese.
The NGR is that of Strathmiglo parish kirk.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4