WEEMS and WEMYSS
Weems is...
Ancient Scottish surname associated with the caves around the area of Fife, Scotland.
Last Update: September 1, 2024
Added: June 2024 newspaper notice of the sale of Seton Castle
Added: A blurb from a September 1, 2024 UK Times profile of architect "to the King" Ben Pentreath about the purchase of a home: "One is a slate-roofed cottage with match-boarded pine interiors, which houses their bedroom and living room. In the other, under a red corrugated-iron roof, is the kitchen, with an Orkney rush chair next to the fireplace. "We have no central heating and no plumbing," Pentreath continues. "But we do have some lovely chintz curtains and a strong line in Wemyss Ware." When they moved in they fixed the roofs and put in new windows. "We have electricity," the proud owner says. "If you’ve got electricity, that’s actually very civilising. You’ve got an electric cooker, you’ve got lights, you’ve got electric heaters, you’ve got a fridge, you’ve got a kettle."
Added: Photo by Wemyss Bay, Scotland, of a "Caravan Park"
Added: Photo of the view from Macduff Castle near the Wemyss Caves
Added: Town of Weems, Virginia
Added: Weems Chapel Tennessee [more photos Aug 2023]
Added: Armorial Seals of the Family of Wemyss
Spellings of the name:
Wemyss - typical spelling in Scottish history
Weems - typical spelling in America
Infrequent variations in the spelling of "wemyss"
Wemes
Wemys
Wemyses
Weeyms
Vemis
Vemys
Weymis
Wymes
Wymess
Weemes
Weams
Weims
Weem
Oysmes
Uaim
Uaimh
Uiamgh
Vumhs
Wamh
Origin of the name
Apparently derived from the Gaelic language "Uamch" (or "uamh") meaning "Caves." This is directly related to the geography of the coast of Fife, Scotland, in which a series of caves are found at the location of the modern towns of East Wemyss, West Wemyss and Coaltown of Wemyss.
"WEMYSS: Local: From the town of Wemyss in Fifeshire. The family are descended from John, son of MacDuff, Thane of Fife, who assumed the name from his lands."
From the 1862 The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames, published originally by J. Munsel, New York.
"...The name Wemyss is derived from the Gaelic uaimh which means "cave" and is believed to refer to the two caves with their Pictish markings on the rockfaces below "MacDuff Castle" at East Wemyss near Kirkcaldy in Fife. The Wemyss are descended from a younger son of the MacDuffs, Gillemichael MacDuff, Earl of Fife who obtained the lands from his father in around 1160."
From page 253, The Handbook of Clans and Tartans of Scotland,by Maria Costantino published 2003 by Barnes and Noble.
Clan
Clan MacDuff: The Wemyss are a "Lowland Family" directly descended from the Celtic nobles, the Macduff Earls of Fife.
Fife, Scotland
The Highland Clans - AMAZON 176 pages -
Published by Thames & Hudson
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