Hawkcraig
Hawkcraig ~ ABO R NT1984 1 25m
the Crag 1592 Cal. State Papers Scot. x, 736 [earl of Bothwell’s men land at ‘the Crag at Aberdeen’, an editorial error for ‘Aberdour’]
Hallcraig 1703 Adair/Sea-Coast (Forth)
the Hawcraig c.1750 RHP1022 [and ‘the Hawcraig Point’]
Hall Craig Park c.1770 RHP1023 [also Hall Craig referring to the cliffs behind the present Forth View Hotel; no buildings shown here on the plan]
Hallcraig 1775 Ainslie/Fife
the Hawkcraig 1787 gravestone, St Fillan’s, Aberdour [John Morrison, ‘who fell to his death from the Hawkcraig and was killed on the spot 20 June 1787’]
Hawk Craig 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Sc hall + Sc craig
The eponymous hall is Aberdour Castle; the reinterpretation of the first element as SSE hawk had already occurred by 1787, and was well established by the 1850s (see OS Name Book 134, 40; for more details, see Aberdour 2011, 9.
It refers to the whole headland, at the inland (north-west) edge of which stands Aberdour Castle (NT19 83), at a similar elevation, while the south-eastern extremity (NT20 84) is called Hawkcraig Point on OS Pathf. 395 and OS Explorer 367.
/hɔ: kreg/ or /hɔ:k kreg/, the former pronunciation reflecting the original form, the latter the reinterpreted one. Both can be heard locally.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 1