Spittel
The Spittel Sept of the Clan Buchanan
Spittle, Spittal, Spittel
This has a very interesting story as a part of the origin.
Buchanan of Auchmar tells us that the ancestor name was the son of Sir Maurice Buchanan of that ilk, who was the laird during the reign of Alexander III (ca. 1239-1286). His reason for assuming the surname “Spittel” was because he was admitted to the order of Knighthood called “Knights Templar”. This order was instituted in the eleventh century for the purpose of defending the Temple and Cross of Jerusalem. This order of Knights wore a portraiture of the cross between their shoulders on their upper backs, hence “cross backs or cruch backs”, and from the temple which they were sworn to defend came the term “Templars”. This order owned large tracts of land throughout Christendom which was used for the purpose of hospitality and entertainment for the pilgrims who were making their way to the Holy Land.
From this practice came the term hospitallers, and their lands were called Spittels. With time, the order came to be known as the Knights of St. John; later Knights of Rhodes and, finally, Knights of Malta.
Heatmap of surname Spittel, created from the United Kingdom 1881 census and the Griffith Valuation for 1853-1865. By Scaled Innovation. Click to enlarge.
Leuchat was a castle or tower house belonging to the Spittal family between the 16th and 18th centuries, but nothing of it now remains.
The Gordons’ mid-17th century map of Fife seems to show Leuchat on the coast between Donibristle Castle and St. Bridget’s Kirk. This location is also suggested by Blaeu’s slightly later 1654 map of “The Sherifdome of Fyfe” but Blaeu’s map of “The West Part of Fife”, also published in 1654, shows Leuchat (as Leuchell) slightly inland to the north.
