Denhead SSL S NO4613 1 363 135m

mora de Deinheid 1581 RMS v no. 702 [‘muir of Denhead’]
Tenenheid 1587 Assumption, 10 [Damheid written in margin]
Denneheid 1587 Assumption, 13 [listed in the rental of the teind sheaves of the St Andrews Priory, within the parish of St Andrews (the Trinity); leased for 4 bolls bere, 1 chalder, 4 bolls oats]
Denheid 1593 RMS v no. 2273 [‘... Denbrey, Denheid, Drumcarrow …’]
Denheid 1625 Retours (Fife) no. 364 [listed between Denbrae (Dynbrae) SSL and Drumcarro (Drumcarro) CMN]
Denheid 1630 RMS viii no. 1639 [an eighth of the toun and lands of Denhead in the lordship of the priory of St Andrews]
Daneheid 1635 RMS ix no. 307 col. 1
? Denheid 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife [misplaced in south of Cameron parish]
Denheid 1656 Retours (Fife) no. 857 [James Robertson of Claremont (Clearemouth) SSL, ‘the tua pairt of the halfe of the lands of Denheid, and thrid pairt of the halfe of the said land, extending to halfe of the landis of Denheid, within the lordship, pryorie and regalitie of Sanct Androus’]
Denhead 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Denhead 1828 SGF [shown on west side of road, where OS Pathf. has Elderburn Farm ]

Sc den + Sc heid

‘Head or end of the steep valley’. The den in question is that formed by the Elder Burn, a small burn immediately to the north, which flows north into the Claremont Burn east of Claremont. Denhead belonged to St Andrews Priory before the Reformation (Assumption, 10, RMS v no. 2273), and may have formed part of the priory’s lands of Denork CMN or Drumcarro CMN. However, it is also possible that it represents one of the lost settlements within the Boar’s Raik belonging to the Church of St Andrew. Note that Blaeu (Pont) East Fife has two places called Denheid in the St Andrews area, neither of which corresponds to this Denhead. One of them is in the south of CMN, while the other lies between Feddinch and the sea. Where Denhead would be he has Lonheid!

Note that OS Pathf. Denhead refers to a small collection of houses just in SSL, while OS Pathf. Denhead Farm (NO465133) is in CMN.

This place-name appeared in printed volume 3