Place Names

Place names within Meigle and Ardler and in the surrounding area appear to come from a variety of different linguistic origins and include some that combine different languages within the one name. The derivation of place names can be uncertain but we have tried to illustrate likely, or at least feasible, explanations of the origin of local names.

The oldest, pre-Celtic names across Britain relate to natural features, especially watercourses and the river which makes the northern border of the old Meigle Parish is such a name, the Isla. The Dean Water may also come from the same an ancient root as the River Don but this is less clear.

Meigle itself derives from the Pictish word 'mig', meaning a bog, and 'dol', a water-meadow. 

Cardean may derive from 'caer', which means fort in the Brythonic Celtic languages (such as Pictish). Though this could relate to the nearby Roman fort, the current settlement of Cardean was previously called Potento with Cardean being further to the east. West Cardean still exists to the east of the current Cardean with Easter Cardean being renamed as Simprim at the same time that Potento became Cardean. If it does derive from 'caer', this could be the Roman or another fortified feature. An alternative suggestion is that it may derive from the Pictish 'carden', which can mean a wooded valley. 

Other Pictish names are evident in other place names close to Meigle and Ardler, such as 'cuper' in Coupar Angus but the prefix 'pit' or 'pett', as in Pitcur, was absorbed into Gaelic and so may not indicate a Pictish origin.

Ardler derives from the Gaelic words 'aird' (high) and 'làr' (ground) and other Gaelic based place names abound within Meigle and Ardler. These include Drumkilbo (druim – ridge, caol – narrow/ thin or cùil – corner, bò – cattle), Balmacron, Balmyle (Baile – settlement), Glenlui (gleann – valley, laoigh - calves). Other place names could have these Gaelic derivations: Arnbog (earrann – portion, bog – soft/boggy), Craithes (crath – shaky), Camno (camadh – bending or winding, perhaps from the Camno Burn before it became a straightened drainage channel). These examples show that Gaelic must have been commonly spoken in the immediate area.

Some local place names come from Scots. Teuchat Muir by Ardler is clearly from 'teuchat', a lapwing, and 'muir', a moor. Langlogie and Nether Logie both include 'logie' which can be associated with a church or religious site, these also being frequently in hollows, 'lagach' being Gaelic for 'of the hollow'. 'Lang' and 'Nether' are Scots words for long and lower/under respectively and the 'loan' in Loanhead is Scots for level ground.

Both Fullerton and Washington, the name for the planned village of Ardler, are family names. The Fullerton family owned the land east of Meigle village and the name seems likely to derive from wildfowling, with ton being the town or farmstead. Washington was named by George Kinloch, 'The Radical Laird', after George Washington, the name being the town of Wassa, which is an Old English proper name.

Other Scots place names in Meigle and Ardler include Blackfauld (a black sheep fold/enclosure), and Myreside (the side of a bog).