Auchmuir

Auchmuir KGL PTM S NO221005 1 165m

Admore 1093 x 1107 St A. Lib. 116 [see discussion below]
Ecmor c.1147 x 1169 St A. Lib. 43 [presumably for *Etmor; (annual) rent to abbey of Loch Leven from Auchmuir of 20 measures (melis) of cheese, 4 measures (melis) of malt and one pig]
Admore 1165 x 1169 St A. Lib. 175 [one of the lands of the abbey of Loch Leven]
Admor 1243 x 1245 St A. Lib. 103
Admor 1245 St A. Lib. 44 [Earl Malcolm II of Fife resigns his right in Auchmuir]
Athmor 1245 St A. Lib. 44
Achmor 1245 St. A. Lib. 282 [same charter as St A. Lib. 44]
Admor 1248 St A. Lib. 103 [one of lands of abbey of Loch Leven, with Kirkness (Kyrkenes), Portmoak parish KNR, Bogie (Bolgin) KDT and Auchterderran (Hurhyndemuch)]
Admor’ 1248 St A. Lib. 121 [Auchmuir and Ryelaw (Rialie) part of the barony of Kirkness]
(lands of) Admoir 1285 St A. Lib. xxix no. 64 [carta terrarum de Admoir facta per priorem S. Andree domine Margarete Lindsay (charter of the lands of Auchmuir made by the prior of St Andrews to Lady Margaret Lindsay)]
Admor 1306 x 1329 Dunf. Reg. no. 352
cana et superioritate ville de Admuir 1544 x 1587 RMS v no. 1146 [the cain and superiority of the vill of Auchmuir]
Admure 1599 RMS vi no. 913 [lands of Auchmuir (Admure) except the part of them called Ryelaw (Royallie) occupied by William Boswell, in the barony of Kirkness (Kirknes)]
Cottermoss of Auhtmwre 1599 RMS vi no. 927 [in Scots]
Auchnuy 1654 Blaeu (Pont) West Fife
Achmuir 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
S. Aldmuir 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Achmuir 1753 Roy sheet 17, 5
N. Aughmoor 1775 Ainslie/Fife [no *S. Aughmoor is marked]
Admuir 1787 Sasines no. 1623 [‘Admuir called Auchmuir’]
Auchmuir 1787 Sasines no. 1623 [‘Admuir called Auchmuir’]
Et. Auchmoor 1828 SGF [also Auchmoor Mill and Auchmoor Br. (for Bridge or Brig)]
Nh. Auchmoor 1828 SGF
Sth. Auchmoor 1828 SGF

G àth + G mòr

‘Big ford’. The first element had become assimilated to Auch- by the late sixteenth century, under the influence of such names as Auchterderran; while by about the same time the second element had become muir under the influence of Sc muir. Aithmuir, Errol PER derives from the same G elements (G ?th and G mòr), but shows a different development of the first element.

The eponymous ford was an important crossing over the River Leven, the furthest west crossing point (i.e. nearest to Loch Leven) which would have been usable all year round. The old causeway, which crossed the flat land to the west of Auchmuir, between Auchmuir and Loch Leven, immediately south of Scotlandwell, and which is first referred to in a land grant to the abbey of Loch Leven made by King MacBethad and Queen Gruoch (1040–57) as pubblica strata ‘public paved road’ (St A. Lib. 114), carried one of the main routes from Inverkeithing and Queensferry to Perth. However, this would often have been flooded in the winter months.[181] There was a bridge on this causeway from at least the second quarter of the thirteenth century, since there is a reference from 1225 × 1236 to the Hospital of St Mary of Scotlandwell beside the bridge of Loch Leven (iuxta pontem de Lochlevyn) (St A. Lib. 176). This bridge must have been near Old Gullet Bridge, immediately south of Lochend PTM.

From the earliest reference to Auchmuir (1093 × 1107 St A. Lib. 115–16),[182] in a document granting it to the Culdee community in Loch Leven, it is clear that there were major interests involved in this land, no doubt on account of the ford itself. These included the abbot of Dunkeld (Ethelred, son of Malcolm III and Margaret), the earl of Fife, and all the members of the ecclesiastical community at Abernethy, including Augustine (Augustinus) the priest of the Culdees there, and Berbeadh, rector of the schools of Abernethy (presumably translating G fer lèiginn), all of whom would have been regular users of this crossing-point. The earls of Fife maintained an interest here, which they did not give up until 1245 (St A. Lib. 44).[183]

In 1652 Auchmuir was disjoined from Portmoak (Portmook) and annexed to Kinglassie (Kinglessie) (Stevenson 1900, 377; see also ibid. 379).

The NGR is of OS Pathf. Auchmuir Farm. The name also persists in OS Pathf. Auchmuir Braes Plantation and Auchmuirbridge, a small settlement on the north side of the Leven beside Auchmuir Bridge itself. It is likely that the bridge crosses the River Leven at or near the ford from which the estate takes its name (NO219011).

/ɔx mjur/, locally /ɔx mer/ or /ax mer/.

This place-name appeared in printed volume 1