Dunsmore is a surname and place name of Scottish origin, predating its first written mention in the Chartulary of the abbey of Lindores in 1198 AD.
[1] Prior to Scottish unification of Picts and Gaels, circa 900 AD, it is believed that the inhabitants of Fife spoke a Brythonic Celtic language.
Further evidence of the origin of the name is attested to by the remains of a Fife hill fort, Dunmore, at position 56° 10' 15.65" N, 3° 20' 12.14" W which overlooks the Firth of Forth.
They were also to pay him half a merk of silver yearly, or sixty 'mulivelli' (a kind of fish abounding in the northern seas—the word has been translated mullet or haddock), as their option; and they also granted to him and his heirs a lamp of glass (to burn continually) in the church of Syreis, or Ceres, and for feeding it two gallons of oil, or twelve pence yearly.
'[9] "Henry of Dundemore, the successor of John, apparently not afraid for the loss of prayers of the monks, seized a horse belonging to them, because they would not swear fealty to him for the lands of Turbrech; but in 1285 the Bishop of St Andrews, as arbiter, decided 'that the monks were not bound to make the fealty claimed, and gave sentence that the horse be restored.
On August 28, Edward I ordered, on pain of death, that the Scottish abbots and noblemen swear fealty to him, thus forcing their signature on the Ragman Rolls.
According to eminent historian Alexander Laing, during the Scottish Wars of Independence: "The Dundemores' seem to have been a family of great ability, and their talents raised them to high positions both in Church and State.
Among the petitions presented to Edward I for maintenance of wives of those whose estates had been seized because of their opposition to his claims, appears that of Isabella, widow of Simon of Dundemore, 3d September 1296.
In the same year, John of Dundemore affixed his seal as a witness to the settlement of the dispute between the Abbot and Convent of Lundoris and the Burgesses of Newburgh.
The Bishop-elect being a keen supporter of Bruce, Edward II wrote to the Pope not to admit him to the Bishopric; and it would appear that he never was consecrated, having died, it is said, on his way to Rome.
[12] "On the 27 June 1321, Sir John Dundemore conveyed by charter in free gift to the monks of Balmerino, the right to the water running through his land of Dunberauch for the use of their mill at Pigornoch.
The bestowal of this gift was apparently made at the occasion of a festive gathering at Dunmore; The Bishop of St Andrews [Bishop William de Lamberton], the Abbot of Lundoris, Sir David de Berkeley (of Cullairnie), Sir Alexander Seton (Governor of Berwick), Alex of Claphain, and others, were present as witnesses; most of whom had borne their part in the great struggle for Independence.