Pitlour
Petinlouer 1189 x 1194 RRS ii no. 339 [ = Arb. Lib. i no. 34; grant of church of Abernethy to Arbroath Abbey by King William, including ‘the land of Ballo ANY and of Pitlour’ (terra de Belach’ et Petinlouer)][419]
Petenlouer 1189 x 1194 Arb. Lib. i no. 35 [as previous, grant of church of Abernethy to Arbroath Abbey by Laurence son of Orm, lay abbot of Abernethy, including ‘land of Ballo ANY and of Pitlour’ (terra de Belach et de Petenlouer)]
Petenlouer 1191 x 1194 Arb. Lib. no. 211 [as previous, grant by Bp Simon of Dunblane][420]
Pettenlouer 1195 x 1198 Arb. Lib. i no. 212 [as previous, Bp Jonathan]
Petenlouer 1210 x 1214 Arb. Lib. i no. 213 [as previous, Bp Abraham]
Petenlouer 1237 Arb. Lib. i no. 241 [dispute between bishop of Dunblane and Arbroath Abbey; judges delegate decide that ‘all the right which Arbroath had in the altarage of Abernethy, with lands of Pitlour and Ballo’ (totum ius ... in alteragio de Abirnyth’ habuerunt cum terris de Petenlouer et de Belath’), will be within the jurisdiction and disposition of bishop of Dunblane and his successors, ‘except for half of the land of Ballo’ (salua ... medietate terre de Belath’), and except for all the garbal teinds which belong to the said church of Abernethy]
Petenlouir c.1248 St A. Lib. 310 [held of the earl of Fife by Duncan son of Michael son of Malotheny; see SLO Intro., The Scotts of Strathmiglo]
ad curiam meam de Petlovr c.1400 Fraser, Melville iii no. 23 [Wm Scott of Balwearie KDT to John of Melville of Raith KDT all land of Pitscottie CER, with third of land of Callange CER, with obligation of suit of court ‘at my (William’s) court of Pitlour’]
Pitlour 1465 Arb. Lib. ii no. 162 [garbal teinds of Pitlour in the parish of Abernethy are declared to belong to Arbroath Abbey, but the bishop of Dunblane is to continue to receive 4 merks Scots twice a year, which ‘the farmers and inhabitants’ (coloni et inhabitantes) are accustomed to pay him]
Westir-Petlour 1490 RMS ii no. 1986 [see Wester Pitlour]
apud Petlour 1504 x 1505 RMS ii no. 2871 [charter issued here in 1504 by Andrew Fernie (Ferny) of *Mairston (Mairtoun) CRA to Henry Pitcairn anent 2 tofts and a croft in the toun of Strathmiglo; see 1605 RMS vi no. 1569, below, and Strathmiglo, early forms, for more details]
Petlour 1506 Dunk. Rent. 194 [teind of barley to Dunkeld Cathedral; one of the touns in the parish of Strathmiglo (Strathmyglaw)]
Petloure 1508 RMS ii no. 3255 [David Scott of Pitlour]
Westir Petloure 1508 RMS ii no. 3255 [see Wester Pitlour]
Westir Pitlour 1510 RMS ii no. 3427 [see Wester Pitlour]
Estir et Westir Pitlour 1510 RMS ii no. 3427 [in new barony of Strathmiglo]
Petlouyr 1511 Dunk. Rent. 219 [one of touns in parish of Strathmiglo]
terras bine partis de Westir Pitloure 1515 RMS iii no. 43 [see Wester Pitlour]
Westir Pitlour 1526 RMS iii no. 371 [lands of Wester Pitlour and Nochnarie (Auchnary) in the barony of Strathmiglo]
Estir Pitloure 1529 RMS iii no. 760 [barony of Strathmiglo; see SLO Intro., The Scotts and Strathmiglo]
Westir Pitloure 1529 RMS iii no. 760 [see preceding]
Westyr Petlowyr 1531 Arb. Lib. ii no. 758 [q.v.; parish of Abernethy]
Estir Pitlour 1538 RMS iii no. 1877 [4 merks from lands of Easter Pitlour, for support of chaplains at Creich FIF]
Eister et Wester Pitlour 1548 RMS iv no. 200
Eister Pitlour c.1560 s Assumption, 69 [in parish of Strathmiglo; no mention of Wester Pitlour or Nochnarie]
Petloure 1590 RPC iv, 785
Pittlaur 1590s Pont/EF
manerie loco de Pitloure 1605 RMS vi no. 1569 [to Patrick Pitcairn of Pitlour (Pitloure), toun and lands of Drunzie (Drumgie), Orwell KNR;[421] toun and lands of Wester Pitlour, lands of Nochnarie SLO, lands of Easter Pitlour, ‘with the ditch and the manor place of Pitlour’ (cum fossa lie fos et), in the barony of Strathmiglo with pasturage in the Lomonds of Falkland and in the hills of Auchtermuchty (lie Lowmoundis de Falkland et in montibus de Auchtermuchtie) corresponding to the quantity of the said lands, 2 tofts and ‘a croft with a brewery and a barn’ (croftam cum polentario et horreo) [422] (viz the croft on the south side of the town of Strathmiglo ‘beside the royal lands’ (juxta terras regias), the rest on the north side of the same between the lands of the abbot of Balmerino and the royal lands); ... all of which the king incorporates ‘into the free tenandry of Pitlour’ (in liberam tenandriam de Pitloure)]
Pittlawr 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Pitlaur 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Pitlour 1775 Ainslie/Fife [‘Coll Skyne’, i.e. Colonel Skene]
Pitlour 1828 SGF
W<este>r Pitlour 1828 SGF
Pitlour House 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn [also Pitlour Hill and Pitlour Wood (the latter mostly in AMY), Pitlour Park (around Pitlour House), Wester Pitlour and the buildings (un-named) which appear on OS Pathf. as Pitlour Farm]
G pett + G an + ? G leabhair or ? G lobhar
‘Land-holding of the (gospel) book’ or ‘of the leper’. It is discussed in Watson 1926, 267–8, who remains undecided between the two possible derivations. Pitliver DFL shows the regular gen. sing. libuir of OG lebor ‘book’.[423] For Pitlour to contain lebor, MG leabhair, it would have to have undergone the change from ea to io /j/ before –bh-, which is a later G development, and there is some doubt as to whether it would have taken place as early as the twelfth century. The possibility remains strong, therefore, that Pitlour contains G lobhar ‘leper’, indicating that this land was dedicated to the provision of maintenance for lepers, presumably under the auspices of the clerics of Abernethy.
Pitlour is the southernmost of a dense cluster of Pit-names around the church of Abernethy, the densest such cluster in Scotland (twelve in all), the next densest being around Dunfermline (see Taylor 1994).
Pitlour was one of the lands of the monastery of Abernethy which were taken from it and granted by William I to Arbroath Abbey in 1189 × 1194 (RRS ii no. 339), although, as is clear from the context of several early forms, above, this was the start of a long-running dispute between Arbroath Abbey and the bishop of Dunblane over their teinds (see SLO Intro., Parish and Boundaries, for more details). In this context Pitlour is always associated with the land of Ballo (Belach’ etc) ANY, a name which derives from G bealach ‘pass through hills’, referring to the pass (now called Abernethy Glen) and the road which ran south from Abernethy through the Ochil Hills to Pitlour. It also ran past Pittenbrog # ANY, which seems to have belonged to the monastery, and whose name may reflect its function as the land whose render provided shoes for the monks (see Pittenbroig # LEU, above), or was perhaps connected with a shoe-relic of St Brigit, the patron saint of Abernethy.[424] This stretch of road was part of an important route, ‘the Kings high way’ from Perth to Kinghorn, via Strathmiglo and Falkland, described by John Taylor in 1722 (Geog. Coll. i, 116).
OS Pathf. Pitlour Farm (NO210113) is shown but not named on OS 6 inch 1st edn. OS Pathf. Pathf. also names Wester Pitlour (see also below, s.n.), Pitlour House, Pitlour Park, Pitlour Hill and Pitlour Wood.
The above NGR is of Wester Pitlour.
/pɪtˈləur/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4