Wemyss
Wemyss WMS PS NT341967 1 385 10m SEF
(Robert de) Wemes c.1180 St A. Lib. 353
(Radulphus rector of church of) Wemes x 1214 St A. Lib. 381
ecclesia Sancte Marie de Wemys c.1239 Midl. Chrs. (Soutra) no. 14
(Gilbert parson of) Wemes c.1240 St A. Lib. 269
(church of) Wemis c.1250 St A. Lib. 33
(John de) Wemes c.1290 Fraser, Wemyss ii no. 2 [o.c.]
(land of Michael of) Wemes c.1290 Fraser, Wemyss ii no. 2 [o.c.]
(lands and gardens of the manor of Sir Michael of) Wymes 1306 CDS ii no. 1787 [ordered to be destroyed by Edward I]
(John de) Wemys 1372 RMS i no. 518
(in the parish church of) Kyrk-Wemys 1374 Fraser, Wemyss ii no. 11
all the landis of the Wemis-schire 1428 Fraser, Wemyss ii no. 42
Kirkwemis 1428 Fraser, Wemyss ii no. 42 [see WMS Introduction]
Kyrkwemys 1433 CSSR iii p. 27
apud le Wemis 1466 RMS ii no. 982 [at the Wemyss]
(half of the lands of) Wemis 1468 RMS ii no. 958 [to John de Wemis of that ilk]
ante ostium ecclesie parochialis de Kyrk Wemys 1482 Fraser, Wemyss ii no. 66 [in front of the door of the parish church of Kirk-Wemyss]
(si th part of the lands of) West Wemis 1484 RMS ii no. 1576
(lands of) Westerwemys 1487 RMS ii no. 1689 [acquired by the Oliphants]
(lands of the east part of) Wemys 1494 RMS ii no. 2198 [with its house or fortalice, to the Livingstones of Drumry]
Wemysschire 1508 RMS ii no. 3229
(parish church of) Wemys 1508 RMS ii no. 3229
(lands of) Est Wemys 1508 RMS ii no. 3229 [‘the lands ... as bounded and divided of old, forming a third of Wemyss-shire’ (terras ... ab antiquo divisas et partitas pro tertia parte de Wemysschire)]
(barony of) Est Wemys 1508 RMS ii no. 3229
West Wemys 1508 RMS ii no. 3229
Wemysschire 1511 RMS ii no. 3636 [to David Wemys of that ilk the lands of Wemyss-shire (Wemysschire) with licence to erect the *Haventon of Wemyss (le Havintoune de Wemys) (i.e. West Wemyss) and other lands into a free burgh of barony]
Est Wemys 1531 RMS ii no. 980
terras nostras ecclesiasticas de Eister Wemis 1546 Fraser, Wemyss ii no. 110 [George Clapperton provost of the Holy Trinity College Kirk, Edinburgh, to John Wemyss of that ilk anent ‘our’ i.e. the Holy Trinity’s kirklands of Easter Wemyss, as well as our lands of Kirktoun]
kyrk of Eister Vemis 1550 Midl. Chrs. (Holy Trinity) no. 48 [‘the gleib and kyrklandis of the kyrk of Eister Vemis’]
manis of Eister Vemis 1550 Midl. Chrs. (Holy Trinity) no. 48
manis of Wester Vemis 1550 Midl. Chrs. (Holy Trinity) no. 48
(vicarage of) Vemys 1553 Midl. Chrs. (Holy Trinity) no. 53
vicarage of the paroche kyrk of Est Vemis 1553 Midl. Chrs. (Holy Trinity) no. 53
le Manes de Eist Wemys 1578 x 1582 RMS v no. 485 [see WMS Introduction]
apud Eist-Wemis 1580 x 1582 RMS v no. 485
apud Wemis-Eister 1580 x 1582 RMS v no. 485 [different charter from the preceding]
Eister Weymis 1605 Retours (Fife) no. 156 [James Colville of Easter Wemyss]
in terris dominicalibus lie Mains de Weymis 1610 Retours (Fife) no. 210 [‘in the mains land (called) the Mains of Wemyss’]
Weymes 1615 Retours (Fife) no. 250
lands of Eist Weyms 1619 Retours (Fife) no. 296 [Mariota Colvill]
Eist Weymes 1619 Retours (Fife) no. 297
E. Weemis 1642 Gordon MS Fife
W. Weemis 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Weemis Kirk 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Chapel of Weems 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife [and West Fife]
South Weemis 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife [and West Fife; this is for East Wemyss and is probably an error]
W Weemis 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife [and West Fife]
Easter Weems 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Weems kirke 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Weemis toun 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Weemis Chappell 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
W. Weemis 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
minister of the Weyms in Fyffe 1664 Lamont’s Diary, 172
att his howse in the Weyms 1664 Lamont’s Diary, 172
East Wemyss 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
West Wemyss 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Wemyss Castle 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
E. Wemys 1775 Ainslie/Fife
W. Wemys 1775 Ainslie/Fife
East Wemyss 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn.
West Wemyss 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn.
G uaimh + G – es
‘Cave place’. The –es suffix is one of a variety of suffixes in OG which indicate ‘place of’ (Ó Máille 1990). The eponymous caves, many with Pictish carvings on the walls, are grouped along the shore north-east of the village of East Wemyss. Directly above them stand the ruins of ‘Macduff’s Castle’. The present ruins probably date from the late fourteenth century. (RCAHMS Fife, 281–2). However, given its position at the caves, it is likely that this was the original caput of the shire of Wemyss, and that there had been an important residence here from a much earlier period. (For notes on, and drawings of, the carvings in the caves see Ritchie and Stevenson, 1993.)
Note also the settlement called Caveheid between West Wemyss and Wemyss Kirk marked on Gordon MS Fife (1645), Englished as Cave head on Blaeu (Gordon) Fife (1654).
/wimz/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 1