Earlseat
Earlseat WMS S NT318974 1 75m
Earleseat 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Earles-Seat 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Earls Seat 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Earls Seat 1775 Ainslie/Fife [also shows Earls Cross, for the nearby standing stone]
Earls Seat 1828 SGF Fife [also shows Earls Cross, for the nearby standing stone]
Earl’s Seat 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn.
Sc earl + Sc seat or Sc set
Names such as King’s Seat and Earl’s Seat can refer to places connected with the hunt. Sc set was applied to the place where the hunters waited while the game was driven towards them (Gilbert 1979, 54). The large stone known as Earls Cross (for which see below) may have been the landmark which determined this position. It is possible that this upland area of WMS was used by the earls of Fife as a hunting area, although I have as yet found no documentary evidence to support this.[232]
OS Pathf. calls it Earlseat Farm, though OS Explorer (2001) has reverted to calling it Earl’s Seat.
OS Pathf. shows a standing stone to the north of the house, designated Earls Cross on Ainslie/Fife (1775) and SGF (1828). In fact it is not a cross, but a large piece of sandstone (1.4 m high and c.2.4 m maximum girth). NMRS indicates ‘no cup-marks or other sculpturing are visible’ (NMRS no. NT39NW1).
This place-name appeared in printed volume 1