Pitmilly is the site of a former estate located five miles south-east of St Andrews, Scotland. Its historical significance is threefold. It has been inhabited from ancient times; artifacts continue to be recovered from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages and a well-known barrow (burial mound) Tumulus from the Bronze Age still exists there. It is connected to Clan Hay in that Eva of Pitmilly, the Celtic heiress to these lands, married William II de Haya, a Norman, in the 12th century C.E., with the couple becoming the progenitors of that Scottish clan. Finally, for over seven centuries, it was owned by the important Monypenny family.
Pitmilly Lands
The name, Pitmilly or Pitmillie, has been used for centuries, but many variants occurred in earlier times. These include Petmullin, Pitmulin, Pethmolyn, and Pitmaulin. They probably reflect the P-Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Latin languages, coupled with no great desire for consistency in spelling and the modification of place names that occurs so often. The prefix pit is derived from the P-Celtic word, pett, meaning a piece of land, and is very common in place-names in this part of Scotland. The second part of the name means mill, regardless of its various forms. Pitmilly means, therefore, a piece of land by the mills, and indeed, there are still ruined mills at Pitmilly.
The Pitmilly Lands lie on both sides of the Pitmilly Burn, a stream that joins the larger Kenly Water, just before the latter reaches the North Sea between Craig Hartle and Babbet Ness on the east Fife coast. The lands on the east side of the Pitmilly Burn border that sea. In order to define further the Pitmilly Lands as they have been known through the centuries, it is helpful to note that in the early 20th century, before it was broken up, the Pitmilly estate consisted of the manor house with its grounds, known as Pitmilly House, several farms, a flax mill and a grist mill, both of which may have been ruins then, and a fisherman's bothy. The farms, all of which are identified on the 2008 Ordnance Survey map, are Boghall, Falside, Hillhead, Morton of Pitmilly and Kilduncan. A possible source of confusion is that the Kenly Water has sometimes been known, and shown on maps, as Pitmilly Burn, but it seems clear that the Pitmilly Burn of the Pitmilly Lands is a tributary stream.
A study of the cartography of the region from 1642 onwards shows the different naming of Pitmilly Burn and Kenly Water by individual mapmakers. In one map the two streams reach the North Sea separately. It also shows that a manor house existed at Pitmilly in 1775 and that the present farms in the region have existed for a long time, with the same names. One map refers to Pitmilly mills in the plural, which explains why two different mills have sometimes individually been referred to as Pitmilly Mill. The spelling of Pitmilly varies only slightly. In addition to Pitmilly, the name is found as Pitmilli, Pitmil (possibly as an abbreviation) and Pit Mille. The family name, Moneypenny, appears on a map in 1775.
History before the arrival of the Normans
Artifacts have been recovered from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age s, indicating that Pitmilly has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic Age. Beatson and Wright, in The Statistical Accounts of Scotland of 1791-99 and 1834–45, respectively, described stone coffins, containing human bones, on the shore of Kingsbarns parish, which includes Pitmilly. They stated that the tombs were thought to be of Danes, i.e., Viking raiders, but Beatson appears dubious. From these descriptions, there is no doubt that the tombs were really Bronze Age cists. Pitmilly Law, a Bronze Age burial barrow, now with trees growing on its summit, is a local landmark on the Pitmilly estate. An article by Skinner in 1869 discusses the finding of six empty cists there. In 1867, he had discussed nearby cists on the Pitmilly estate that contained skeletons. Around 2004, an early Bronze Age cist was discovered just outside the ruins of Pitmilly House during road work; it contained a skeleton and a food vessel of the Yorkshire vase tradition. Neolithic carved stone balls have been found in several locations in Scotland and in 2006 one was recovered near Pitmilly Law.