Spittal place-names in Menteith and Strathendrick: evidence of crusading endowments?

Abstract

Much discussion on the place-name element spittal has focused on its use as an indication of the location of a medieval hospital, lands belonging to such a hospital, or, in remote places, to the location of an inn or hostel. This paper argues that there is an overlooked dimension to spittal place-names, namely that some of them are properties belonging to the Knights Hospitaller, one of the crusading orders founded to protect the crusade routes to Jerusalem in the twelfth century. There is a large cluster of spittal-names in the earldom of Lennox, particularly in Strathendrick, and the evidence points to their being properties of the Hospitallers or their fellow crusading order, the Knights Templar. The Templars were suppressed in 1312 and many of their possessions were transferred to the Hospitallers. It is likely that these spittal-names in the Lennox are in fact crusading endowments, given perhaps by the earls of Lennox or the bishops of Glasgow.