Kirkcaldy
Encyclopedia
Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh
in Fife
, on the east coast of Scotland
. The town lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth
; 9.3 miles (15 km) SSE
of Glenrothes
, 11.8 miles (19 km) ENE
of Dunfermline
, 44.4 miles (71 km) WSW
of Dundee
and 18.6 miles (30 km) NNE
of Edinburgh
. The name of the town is believed to come from the Pictish
words and and may translate as "place of the hard fort" or "place of Caled's fort". Kirkcaldy had an estimated population of 48,630 in 2008, making it the biggest settlement in Fife. Kirkcaldy has long been nicknamed the Lang Toun ' onMouseout='HidePop("13244")' href="/topics/Scots_language">Scots
for "long town") in reference to the 0.9 miles (1.4 km) main street of the early town, as indicated on maps of the 16th and 17th centuries. The street later reached a length of nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) connecting the burgh to its neighbouring settlements of Linktown, Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown. These neighbouring settlements were later incorporated into the town in 1876, when the boundaries were extended.
The town was first recorded in about 1075, when Malcolm III
granted the shire of Kirkcaladunt to the church of Dunfermline
(later Dunfermline Abbey
) Under King
Robert I, in 1327 the township status of Kirkcaldy changed to that of a burgh dependent on Dunfermline Abbey. The award of feu-ferme status
in 1451 gave the burgh semi-independence from the abbey; full independence was achieved via a charter for royal burgh status, granted by Charles I
in 1644.
Early industries in the town included the production of textiles, nailmaking and salt panning. The production of floorcloth in the early 19th century contributed to the manufacture of linoleum
in the town. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Kirkcaldy was a prosperous centre and world producer of linoleum. New housing estates were built north-west of the town and the redevelopment of older areas such as Gallatown, Sinclairtown and Pathhead took place in the 1950s and 1960s. This was followed by a redevelopment of the town centre which started in the 1960s, lasting into the 1970s. The population of the town was expected to reach between 55,000 and 70,000, but this did not happen as the production of linoleum, the town's main industry at the time, waned in the middle of the 1960s.
Today, the town is a major service centre for the central Fife area. Kirkcaldy is home to an art gallery and museum
, an ice rink
, three large public parks (Beveridge, Dunnikier, and Ravenscraig), two golf courses, a swimming pool, major shopping facilities, and the yearly Links Market
, which stretches almost a mile along the Esplanade—Europe's longest street fair
. Adam Smith College
has two campuses in town (St Brycedale and Priory). Employment is now dominated by the service sector; the biggest employer is MGT (a call centre). Other big employers in the town include Victoria Hospital
, Forbo-Nairn (floor coverings), Kingdom Bakeries (food and drink), and Kingdom Homes Ltd (residential and nursing homes).
for a local "hard" ruler. An interpretation of the last element as din (again meaning "fort", but from Gaelic) rather than –in is incorrect. The Old Statistical Account states a derivation from culdee
, which has been repeated in later publications, but is also incorrect.
cist
burials which date from 2,500 BC and 500 BC may represent the earliest known funerary tradition in the area. The appearance of natural terraces extending away from the sandy bay, as well as the close proximity of the East Burn to the north and the West (Tiel) Burn to the south, perhaps made this an attractive site for these burial plots and served as a focal point in the landscape. Four Bronze Age burials dating from around 4000 BC have also been found around the site of the unmarked Bogely or Dysart Standing Stone to the east of the present A92 road
. Despite the relative absence of Roman
sites within the county of Fife, there is evidence of a Roman camp at Carberry Farm on the outskirts of the town, although nothing upstanding remains.
One of the earliest events associated with the town was the Battle of Raith
in 596 AD. The battle, which is believed to have taken place to the west of the town, was fought between the Angles
and an alliance , led by King Áedán mac Gabráin
of Dál Riata
, of Scots
, Picts
and Britons
.
, King of Scotland (1058-1093), when the king granted the shire of Kirkcaladunt, along with other gifts, to the church of Dunfermline
. The residents were expected to pay dues and taxes for the general upkeep of the church. Two charters, later confirmed by his son, David I
, as Kircalethin in 1128 and Kirkcaladunit in 1130, do not indicate the location of town or shire. A charter which followed in 1182, describing the town as a villa, was the only evidence it was considered a town in the twelfth century.
While Scotland
was under occupation
between 1296 and 1306, the Abbot of Dunfermline
appealed to King Edward I for a weekly market and annual fair for Kirkcaldy in 1304. During these discussions the town, which had been given to the Abbey
by David I, may have been referred to as one of the most ancient of burghs. This status as a burgh dependent on Dunfermline Abbey was later confirmed in 1327, during the reign of Robert I, King of Scotland (1306-1329). Prior to the King’s charter, Kirkcaldy was recognised as a township.
However, the burgh was soon given the right to trade across the regality of Dunfermline in a special charter by David II
, King of Scotland (1329-1371). This charter allowed the burgesses of Kirkcaldy to purchase and sell goods to the burgesses of the three other regality burghs – Queensferry
, Dunfermline
and Musselburgh
, whom belonged to the Abbey. By 1451, Kirkcaldy was awarded feu-ferme status. The routine administration of the burgh, and its fiscal polices became the responsibility of the bailies and council, on condition that an annual payment of 33s 4d was made to the Abbot of Dunfermline.
, the Baltic region
, England, and Northern France. The feu-ferme charter of 1451 between the Abbot of Dunfermline and the burgesses of Kirkcaldy also mentioned a small but functioning harbour. Although, it is unknown when this harbour was established and whether or not it was always located at the mouth of the East Burn. According to treasurer's accounts of the early 16th century, timber imported via the harbour—possibly from the Baltic countries—was used at Falkland Palace
and Edinburgh Castle
, as well as in shipbuilding
. Raw materials such as hides, wool, skins, herring
, salmon
, coal and salt were exports of the town, until well into the seventeenth century.
A charter issued by Charles I
granting royal burgh
status in 1644 led to the full independence of the town. As a gesture, the king gave 8.12 acres (32,860.5 m²) of common moor suitable for dying and bleaching of linen, drying of clothes, recreation and perpetuity to the town.
The town suffered a setback during the political crises of the seventeenth century. The National Covenant was subscribed in the town in 1638 to prevent the introduction of bishops, episocopacy and patronage in the presbyterian church, under the reign of Charles I
. The appointment of General Leslie
, an elder of the Kirkcaldy presbytery, as commander of the Scots Army may have encouraged local support. All freemen and burgesses were trained in drilling and the use of arms in order to defend their faith. In the Covenanting Wars
, the town is believed to have lost as many as 480 men.
Many trading vessels were also either destroyed or stolen and the town's treasure was seized by General Monck in 1651 after being sent to Dundee
for safekeeping. The town was invaded, burned and looted by Highland Jacobites during the Jacobite Rising of 1715
.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century, manufacturing began to prosper, transforming the economy of the town. During this period, Kirkcaldy was described by Daniel Defoe
as a larger, more populous, and better built town than...any on this coast. Handloom weaving, which had been introduced in 1672, flourished between 1733 and 1743; the output of linen increased from 177,000 to 316,000 yards. Cotton spinning started in the town in 1784, and within eight years was employing 110 men, women and children. The spinning of cotton supplied the local industries of coal mining and salt panning and boosted trade with the Baltic region and the Low Countries. By the nineteenth century, whaling
also became important to the town. Between 1813 and 1866, sixteen whalers sailed from both Kirkcaldy and nearby Burntisland
. The first Kirkcaldy whaling ship, The Earl Percy, sailed north to the Davis Strait
and the last whaler based in the town, The Brilliant, was sold in 1866 to Peterhead
, bringing an end to the industry. The revival of shipbuilding in the late 1770s was also of some significance to the town, when up to thirty-eight vessels were built between 1778 and 1793. Construction of a new turnpike road from Pettycur to Newport-on-Tay
via Cupar
in 1790, while improving only one piece of Fife's isolated road system, brought a huge increase in traffic along the High Street and helped to strengthen Kirkcaldy's position in Fife.
spinning and linen
weaving. In 1831 Kirkcaldy was described as 'the most thriving town on the north coast of the Firth of Forth', which reflected its range of public facilities such as banks, schools, church, and libraries, and its widened and repaved streets. The arrival of the Kirkcaldy and District Railway—later to become part of the North British Railway
— to the town in 1847 led to an increasingly industrialised townscape. The connection of the railway to the harbour in 1849 benefited older industries of the town, in particular the coal industry. A new wet dock and pier were built between 1843 and 1846 at a cost of £43,000 (£ as of ) to cope with increasing demand for imports of flax
, timber and hemp and exports of coal, salt and linen. Subsequent demand for linoleum and coal resulted in a further expansion of the harbour and reconstruction of the East Pier to allow space for a new dock between 1906 and 1908 at a cost of £140,000 (£ as of ). In 1847 the canvas
manufacturer, Michael Nairn, inspired by a trip to Bristol
, opened a factory in Pathhead for the production of floorcloth
'according to the most approved methods then practised'. He took out a licence on Frederick Walton
's patent for linoleum
. After the patent expired in 1876, the process for linoleum was adopted by Nairn and other floorcloth manufacturers. Floorcloth and linoleum were being made in seven factories in the town by 1883, employing 1,300. The manufacturing of linen was also prospering in the 1860s, with eighteen factories employing 3,887 by 1867.
The expansion of the town led in 1874 to the extension of the royal burgh's boundaries. The town absorbed its neighbouring settlements of Linktown, in the parish of Abbotshall; Invertiel in the parish of Kinghorn and the Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown in the parish of Dysart. These once-separate communities which had effectively merged into the town, were once forbidden from selling their goods in Kirkcaldy at the mercat cross
, according to the old guild rights.
In 1922–1923 a sea wall and esplanade were constructed, funded by the Unemployment Grants Commission and built by unemployed men living in the town. Prior to the construction of the sea wall, the sea would wash along the shore, which was known as the Sands Road.
New housing estates built to the north-west of the town and older areas of Sinclairtown, Gallatown and Linktown were redeveloped in the 1950s and 1960s. This was followed by the redevelopment of the town centre in the 1960s, lasting right until the 1970s, which saw the destruction of much of the old High Street. There was speculation that the town could grow to a population of 55,000 to 60,000 by 1970. This never materialised, as a decline in the linoleum industry in the mid-1960s meant a decrease in population from a peak of 53,750 in 1961 to 47,962 in 1981.
Today, Kirkcaldy remains a busy town for the surrounding areas. The town is home to a Museum and Art Gallery
; three public parks and shopping facilities in the town centre. The town also hosts the annual Links Market commonly known as Europe's longest street fair. The production of linoleum still continues to this day, despite being on a vastly reduced scale and now in Swiss ownership. The company which later became 'Forbo-Nairn', diversified into the production of vinyl
floor tiles and speciality, marmoleum since 1994. Kirkcaldy Harbour which closed in 1992 is to re-open to cargo ships for the first time in 20 years. The project between Carr's Flour Mills, the parent of Hutchison's, Forth Ports (owners of the harbour) and Transport Scotland, will allow Carr's to bring in wheat to the harbour and remove a quarter of their lorries from the roads every year.
meant the town was able to deal with its own administrative issues and fiscal policies for the first time. The first mention of a town council was made around 1582. The head courts of the burghs would meet either in the common muir (now known as Volunteers' Green) or the Tolbooth on Tolbooth Street, particularly in the summer months. When Kirkcaldy was awarded royal burgh status in 1644, the duties of the provost were initially completed by bailies, councillors, and magistrate
s. The first Lord Provost
, Robert Whyt, was elected to the post around 1658. The burgh was one of four in Scotland to use two coat of arms
, introduced in 1673. One bears the motto Vilgilando Munio ("I Stand by Watching"), and the other displays the figure of St Bryce, Kirkcaldy's patron saint.
Kirkcaldy enjoyed royal burgh status until this rank was abolished in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
in favour of a three-tier system of regions and districts
. The royal burgh merged into Kirkcaldy District, which was one of three districts within the Fife region. The district council was abolished in 1996 under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 when the region became a unitary council area. The new unitary Fife Council adopted the areas of the former districts as council management areas and created area committee
s to represent each.
Today, Kirkcaldy is represented by several tiers of elected government. Kirkcaldy North Community Council and Kirkcaldy West Community Council together form the lowest tier of governance, whose statutory role is to communicate local opinion to the local and central government. Fife Council, based in Glenrothes
, the unitary local authority for Kirkcaldy, is the executive, deliberative
, and legislative body responsible for local governance. Kirkcaldy Town House
is the main administrative headquarters for the Kirkcaldy area within the local authority. Forth House on Abbotshall Road is the main planning and building control headquarters in Central Fife. The main Fife library and museum headquarters are on East Fergus Place. The Kirkcaldy area also supports three multi-member wards, with eleven councillors sitting on the committee of Fife Council. The Scottish Parliament
is responsible for devolved matters
such as education
, health, and justice
, while reserved matters
are dealt with by the Parliament of the United Kingdom
.
The first Member of Parliament to be elected to the House of Commons from Kirkcaldy was Colonel Abercrombie in 1710. The town had joined with Dysart, Fife
, Kinghorn
, and Burntisland
to form the constituency of Dysart Burghs in 1707, with each of the four burghs being entitled to a vote. Prior to the Act of Union, Kirkcaldy sent a Member of Parliament to the Scottish Parliament
, which would usually meet in Edinburgh
. Under the Reform Act of 1832, the constituency of Kirkcaldy Burghs was introduced, with Robert Ferguson of Raith elected as Member of Parliament. Today, Kirkcaldy forms part of the county constituency
of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
, electing one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post
system. Gordon Brown
of the Labour Party
is the Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. Before the constituency's creation in 2005, Kirkcaldy lay in the Kirkcaldy
constituency, represented by Lewis Moonie. For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Kirkcaldy forms part of the Kirkcaldy
constituency. The Kirkcaldy Scottish Parliament (or Holyrood) constituency, created in 1999, is one of nine within the Mid Scotland and Fife
electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament
by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional members to produce a form of proportional representation. The seat was won at the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections by David Torrance
for the Scottish National Party (SNP). Following a review of the review of Scottish Parliament constituency boundaries
, the Kirkcaldy constituency was extended along the coast, taking in the Buckhaven, Methil, and Wemyss Villages ward, ahead of the 2011 elections.
At European Union
level, Kirkcaldy is part of the pan-Scotland European Parliament constituency
, which elects seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) using the d'Hondt method
of party-list proportional representation
. Scotland returns two Labour
MEPs, two SNP
MEPs, one Conservative and Unionist
MEP, and one Liberal Democrat
MEP to the European Parliament
.
at 56°6′40.28"N 3°9′59.7"W (56.111°, −3.166°). The town lies 9.3 miles (15 km) SSE
of Glenrothes
, 11.8 miles (19 km) ENE
of Dunfermline
, 44.4 miles (71 km) WSW
of Dundee
and 18.6 miles (30 km) NNE
of Edinburgh
. The town adopted its nickname of the lang toun from the 0.9 miles (1.4 km) single street, recorded on early maps of the 16th and 17th centuries. The street would eventually reach a length of nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) linking the burgh to its neighbouring suburbs of Linktown, Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown.
Areas in and around the town centre, at 50 feet (15.2 m) above sea level, contain clay, sand, and gravel. Most of Pathhead, Ravenscraig Park, and older parts of Dysart, at 100 feet (30.5 m), contain sandy gravel and shaly soil. The highest piece of ground, at 500 feet (152.4 m), is west of the Raith Estate; the soil contains hard volcanic ash. To the north of the estate (Sauchenbush and south-east Chapel) are dolerite rock outcrops. The steep rise of the 25 feet (7.6 m) raised beach to the west of the High Street, over a distance of less than 150m, (a result of sea level changes 5–10,000 years ago) is thought to have had a significant constricting influence on the town's layout in the mediaeval period.
The centre of medieval Kirkcaldy may have been located at the corner of Kirk Wynd and the High Street. This would have been the site of the town's Mercat cross
and focus point of the burgh. The linear market was important not only to the town itself but the nearby hinterland. The main thoroughfare was either paved or cobbled, with flags covering small burns running down the hill towards the sea across the High Street. Running back from the High Street were burgage
plots or rigs of the residents. The narrow strips of lands were at the front and to the rear of houses of the burgesses. For houses on the sea side of the High Street these plots may have served as beaching grounds for individual tenements. The plots on the other side of the High Street rose steeply to the terracing of the Lomond foothills. A back lane running behind the plots from Kirk Wynd went to the west end of the High Street in a southerly direction. This lane would in time be developed as Hill Street. At the top of Kirk Wynd, one of the most important of the small closes and wynds which entered the High Street, was the Parish Church of St Bryce (Old Kirk), a dominant landmark overlooking the small settlement.
The small burns that are tributary to the East Burn contributed to the draining of the lands of Dunnikier Estate. The burn emerges from a deep-set culvert to flow under the Victoria Viaduct, down a deep gorge, through the site of Hutchison's Flour Mills before running parallel to the harbour wall and into the sea. From the mid-19th century, the Hutchison's buildings became a significant landmark adjacent to the burn. The flour millers chose this area for the railway connection which linked the main station to the harbour, rather than for the need to use the burn to power the mills. The West (or Tiel) Burn, was also important, providing power for textile mills. This burn flowed out of the Raith Estate lands where scenically and recreationally it was used to create Raith Lake (with its tributary, the Dronachy Burn) and add difficulty to Balwearie Golf Course. The mill owners in Linktown made use of the burn, before it too flowed into the sea.
As the town expanded to the north, the shape of the settlement has become more triangular. The first development plan in the town, after the Second World War, focused on creating new private sector housing to the north and west. Much of this land was suitable, since there were no man-made or natural barriers in the way. Older areas in the town, such as Gallatown, Sinclairtown, Pathhead, and Linktown, would later be redeveloped under the plan. The construction of the first multi-storey flats began with Viewforth to the south-west (built in 1958) and Ravenscraig to the east (built between 1963–1964).
In the early 1980s, a local plan replaced the first development plan under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972 and Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. This new plan highlighted potential development sites for local authorities, private organisations, and individuals, while looking at the availability and best use of greenfield
sites around the town. Brownfield land
within Kirkcaldy was also considered. New housing developments were created to the south-west and north-west of the town. The 1980s Local Plan included upgrades to many roads within and surrounding the town. The Thornton by-pass (Glenrothes–Kirkcaldy Road) was completed in 1980 and the East Fife Regional Road (A92
) in 1990 – the latter which led to the town being connected to the motorway system, which brought viable growth and new development. Another local plan, developed in the early 1990s, was intended to create new employment opportunities in the north of the town and called for the creation of a variety of housing types. A major objective was to improve the state of residential areas by promoting suitable development land within the town. The majority of new housing was created by private developers in the south-east (Seafield) and north-west (Chapel Farm site). The plan allowed out-of-town shopping facilities, which were located adjacent to the new A92 junction at Chapel. The Kirkcaldy Area Local Plan, which was adopted in March 2003, focused on investment in the town centre, the development of employment opportunities at Kingslaw to the north-west, and restrained out-of-town developments. A Mid-Fife Local Plan, which is to replace the Kirkcaldy Area Local Plan, has identified development land for approximately 2,500 houses to the east and 1,200 houses to the south-west over the next fifteen years. There are also proposals to redevelop brownfield sites, to provide additional employment, and to build a new railway and bus interchange to the east.
According to the Census in 2001
, the census locality of Kirkcaldy has a total resident population of 46,912. There are 21,365 households in Kirkcaldy, 18.8% were married couples living together, 35.5% were one-person households, 7.9% were co-habiting
couples and 10.1% were lone parents. An estimate taken in 2008, revealed that the town had a population of 48,630.
The median
age of males and females living in Kirkcaldy was 37 and 41 years respectively, compared to 37 and 39 years for the whole of Scotland. The age group from 30 to 44 forms the largest portion of the population (22%).
The place of birth of the town's residents was 96.52% United Kingdom (including 87.15% from Scotland), 0.28% Republic of Ireland, 1.18% from other European Union countries, and 1.86% from elsewhere in the world. The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 40.13% in full-time employment, 12.17% in part-time employment, 4.79% self-employed, 5.68% unemployed, 2.57% students with jobs, 3.06% students without jobs, 15.70% retired, 5.51% looking after home or family, 6.68% permanently sick or disabled, and 3.71% economically inactive for other reasons. Compared with the average demography of Scotland, Kirkcaldy has low proportions of people born outside the United Kingdom, and has higher proportions for people over 75 years old.
and Prestonpans
who both had 31 salt pans. Dunnikier Colliery was built on farmland owned by the Oswald family from 1881 onwards. The Pannie Pit, which formed part of the colliery, had deep workings stretching to the north beneath Dunnikier House and to the south around the harbour.
Early manufacturing in the town and in neighbouring Pathhead consisted of coarse cloth and nail making. The latter of which went to the Royal Master of Works for repairs at Holyrood Palace
until the seventeenth century. Linen
weaving, which started in 1672, became important to the town, with yarn
being imported from Hamburg
and Bremen
. The pottery industry of the town, which was originally established in 1714 as an offshoot of the Linktown Brick and Tile Works, was centred around Linktown, Gallatown and Sinclairtown. Of these factories, The Fife Pottery, built by Andrew and Archibald Grey in 1817, produced Wemyss Ware
, which was named after the family who owned Wemyss Castle
.
The production of heavy canvas was started in 1828 by the canvas manufacturer Michael Nairn at a small factory. Influenced by a visit to Bristol
, Nairn started to make floorcloth at his new factory at Pathhead in 1847, where his company pioneered the use of ovens to create hot air to season the floorcloth and reduce production times. When the patent belonging to Frederick Walton
expired, Nairn's were able to manufacture linoleum
from 1877 onwards. Other factories producing floorcloth and later linoleum were established by former employees of Michael Nairn.
Today, the service sector is the dominant employer in the Kirkcaldy area, with some jobs in financial and business services, construction, and retail distribution, making a total of over 20,000 jobs. Major employers in the town include MGT (call centre), Forbo Nairn (linoleum), Adam Smith College, ESA McIntosh (school furniture manufacturer), Paramount Care, and Kingdom Bakeries (food and drink). The principal industrial and business estates include Mitchleston, Randolph, Hayfield, and John Smith Business Park. In October 2011, Kirkcaldy Harbour re-opened to cargo ships for the first time in more than 20 years. The project is a partnership between Forth Ports Ltd (the owners of the harbour), Hutchison's parent company of Carr's Flour Mills, and Transport Scotland, who provided a freight facilities grant of over £800,000. The work included new silos and conveyors in place to allow fast delivery from coastal ships.
Kirkcaldy's town centre, which serves a large catchment area of around 130,000 residents within a 20 minute drive, is the largest in Fife in terms of floor space. Eligible businesses voted in favour of a BID (Business Improvement District) scheme for the town centre in 2010. The High Street which runs parallel to the Esplanade is home to the Mercat Shopping Centre and Postings Shopping Centre. A regeneration programme to upgrade the High Street between Port Brae and Kirk Wynd started in 2008. The second phase, between Kirk Wynd and Charlotte Street started in July 2010 and was completed in October 2011. The work included resurfacing roads and pavements, upgrading street furniture and lighting and the creation of a public Wi-Fi
network. As part of the re-opening ceremony of the High Street, new coloured floodlights will highlight the street's historic buildings. A separate project will create a 'green corridor' for the use of pedestrians and cyclists that will link the main railway station and bus station with the High Street. Work started in May 2011 and is scheduled for completion by the middle of October 2011. The budget for the entire project is £4 million, £2 million of which was provided through the Scottish Government's Town Centre Regeneration Fund.
City Site Estates, owners of the Mercat Shopping Centre, have plans for a 250000 sq ft (23,225.8 m²) extension and the creation of a new waterfront. Plans call for a 100000 sq ft (9,290.3 m²) split-level supermarket containing 450 underground car park spaces. A swimming pool, hotel, bowling alley, civic square, and five-screen cinema would also part of the complex. A proposal calls for the reduction of the Esplanade to one lane to allow for a new glazed entrance to the expanded mall. The recent approval of a rival retail development elsewhere in the town has put the Mercat Centre's expansion proposals into serious doubt.
An out-of-town retail park
constructed in 1997 to the north-west of the town on Chapel Level, off the A92 is home to a number of warehouse retailers. The retail park was purchased by Hammerson, a London-based property developer for £75 million in April 2005.
, which opened in 1925, contains a notable collection of paintings by the Scottish Colourists
and a permanent display of the town's industrial heritage. A library was added to the existing building in 1928. It is to undergo a £2.4 million renovation which will require closure for eighteen months from December 2011. This will include a new cafe which will look out onto War Memorial Gardens; an upgrade of the heating system and essential repairs to the roof. Work is expected to be completed by Spring 2013.
The Adam Smith Theatre on Bennochy Road, which was opened in 1899 by Andrew Carnegie
, hosts theatrical and musical productions as well as showing
films.
The Links Market initially started as a farmers' market in 1304 on Links Street, and moved to Sands Road (later to be known as the Promenade) in 1903. It is regarded as the largest fairground in Scotland. The market visits the town every April and celebrated its 700th anniversary in 2004. The Kirkcaldy Pageant started in 1923 as a fundraiser for several hospitals (later local charities) in the area. The arrival by carriage of a lad and lass was introduced to the proceedings in 1968. Although the event was discontinued in 1977, it was revived from 2001 until 2006 and again from 2010 as part of the Beveridge Park Community Festival. The song "Cry Baby Cry
" on the White Album by The Beatles
refers to a fictional Duchess of Kirkcaldy. John Lennon
may have been inspired to compose the song by the band's visit to the town on a Scottish tour in late 1963. Kirkcaldy has had a twin-town link with Ingolstadt
in Germany since 1962. There are plans for a joint celebration to recognise the 50th anniversary of the town's twinning with Ingolstadt
in 2013.
There are three main public parks in Kirkcaldy. Beveridge Park, to the west of the town is a 104 acres (420,873.4 m²) park created from the existing Robbie's Park, at the top of Nicol Street, and land purchased from the Raith Estate. This was part of a £50,000 bequest from linen manufacturer and provost Michael Beveridge, who died in 1890. On 24 September 1892 a crowd of over 10,000 came to see the opening of the park by his widow, the provost, magistrates, and the town council of the royal burgh. The park includes a boating lake, a formal garden with fountain, a skateboard park, rugby ground and woodland walks. In 2011 Beveridge Park was the winner of a green flag award
for the second year running. Ravenscraig Park to the east of the town was formed from the estate of Dysart House. The grounds were bequeathed to the town by the linoleum manufacturer Sir Michael Nairn in 1929. Dunnikier Park, purchased by the town council in 1945, consists of an area around Dunnikier House to the north of the town, and is home to numerous woodland walkways.
Raith Rovers FC, the town's senior football team, play in the Scottish Football League First Division
at their ground, Stark's Park
. Founded in 1883, the club were elected to the Scottish Football League
in 1902. They reached their highest league position in the 1921–1922 season
, when they placed third in the Scottish Football League
, and achieved a British goal scoring record of 142 goals in 34 matches in the 1937–1938 season
. Under manager Jimmy Nicholl
, the team were promoted to the Scottish Premier Division as Division One champions in the 1994–1995 season
. In 1994
the club won their first national trophy, when they defeated Celtic
6-5 on penalties
after finishing the game 2–2, to win the League Cup
. This gained them qualification to the UEFA Cup
in the following season
. The club reached the second round
before losing to Bayern Munich
.
The junior
football team, Kirkcaldy YM
, play their games at Denfield Park in the East Region Central Division. The senior rugby
team, Kirkcaldy RFC
, play their games at the Beveridge Park in the Scottish Premiership Division Three. Fife Flyers
, established in 1938, are the oldest ice hockey
team in the United Kingdom. The team, who play at the Fife Ice Arena
, will join the Elite League
for the 2011/2012 season. A cricket club plays at Dunnikier Park and a flag football club at Beveridge Park. The town has a range of leisure facilities such as a swimming pool, the ice rink, and two golf courses (Kirkcaldy and Dunnikier).
A new £15 million leisure centre to replace Kirkcaldy Swimming Pool is scheduled to be built on the site of the existing Tolbooth Street car park. However, Kirkcaldy MSP Marilyn Livingstone
claims 92% opposition to the chosen site in a survey she has carried out. The campaign group, Save The Car Park, have collected over 7,000 signatures against the closure of the car park. They fear closure would discourage shoppers from coming to the High Street. Legal objections have also been raised by the group to the council, who are to purchase shop owners' legal rights of access to the car park. This action has been severely criticised in an internal auditors report. Ongoing issues relating to access rights have delayed work on the new leisure centre until late 2011, with a target completion date of spring 2013.
_old_kirk,_kirkcaldy.jpg)
The oldest church in Kirkcaldy is the Category B listed Old Kirk, the old parish church, on Kirk Wynd. The earliest mention of the Old Kirk is the record of its consecration in 1244 to St Brisse and St Patrick by David de Bernham
, Bishop of St Andrews. Adam Smith
was baptised in the Old Kirk in 1723. The building's deterioration in the late eighteenth century was addressed by major renovations to the main body of the church between 1807 and 1808. Only the square western tower, which dates from around 1500, was retained. In 2011 the Old Kirk was purchased by the Old Kirk Trust using a £75,000 loan from businessman John Sim, son of the late Reverend John Sim, minister of the church from 1960 to 1987. The Trust will maintain the building for the use of the community following the closure of the church as a place of worship in November 2010 by the Church of Scotland
.
The Category B listed Kirkcaldy Town House
on Wemyssfield is the centrepiece of the town's civic square. It was designed in the 1930s by David Carr and William Howard of Edinburgh. The Second World War brought work on the building to a halt and this did not resume until 1950. Construction was split into two phases: the west wing, which was completed in 1953, and the east wing, completed in 1956. At the corner of Hunter Street and Wemyssfield is the Category B listed former Kirkcaldy Post Office, built between 1900 and 1902 in a Scottish baronial style
. It was one of the first buildings in Scotland to incorporate the initials and coat of arms of King Edward VII
, monarch of the United Kingdom
(reigned 1901-1910).
The Category B listed Kirkcaldy War Memorial in War Memorial Gardens unveiled in June 1923 was gifted to the town by John Nairn, linoleum manufacturer and grandson of Michael Nairn. This was dedicated to Ian Nairn, the son of John Nairn who died in the First World War. The Second World War memorial, designed by Thomas Hubbard, was unveiled in 1958. Bronze plates depicting a sailor, a soldier, and an airman cover three sides of the central pillar. At the base of the memorial are 36 south-facing plates, 18 on each side of the central piece, which commemorate the lives of 1,012 people from the town who died in the First World War. On the east side is the tomb of the unknown soldier, along with 11 bronze plates which list the 452 men and women who died in the Second World War. As part of the War Memorial, the Category B listed Kirkcaldy Art Gallery, Museum and Central Library building was also donated by Nairn.
At the corner of Bennochy Road and St Brycedale Avenue is the Category B listed Adam Smith Theatre was gifted to the town by linen manufacturer, Michael Beveridge as a memorial intended to mark the 100th anniversary of Adam Smith
. On St Brycedale Avenue is the Category B listed St Brycedale's Church with its 204 feet (62.2 m) spire built between 1877 and 1881 as a free church
. The church was renovated in the late 1980s to make space for a social centre for social and educational groups in the lower area, while the upper area was retained as a traditional church.
In the north-east of the town are two buildings which were the homes of wealthy merchants and shipowners connected with Kirkcaldy's harbour. The Category A listed Merchant's House, or Law's Close, at 339–343 High Street is one of the best surviving examples of a sixteenth-century town house in Scotland. The house was built around 1590 for David Law, a wealthy ship owner and merchant. The Category A listed Sailors' Walk, at 443–449 High Street, consists of a pair of seventeenth-century houses, once divided into four dwellings, which are situated on foundations dating back to around 1460. This is the oldest house in Kirkcaldy. Three of the four dwellings were owned by the Oliphants, a ship-owning family. The fourth was owned by James Ferguson of Raith. In 1650 the newly crowned King Charles II
stayed at the house as a lodger while passing through the town, following his coronation at Scone Palace
. A forward-looking committee saved the house from being demolished in 1934, and it was acquired by the National Trust for Scotland
in 1935. Architects Wheeler and Sproson undertook reconstruction work on the building between 1954 and 1959.
North of the harbour area, on The Path, are two examples of distinctive architectural styles. The Category B listed Hutchison's House was designed by George Spears, the owner of the nearby East Bridge distillery, in 1793. The Category A listed Path House, originally known as Dunnikier House, is a three-storey L-plan tower house designed by John Watson in 1692 for his bride, Euphan Orrock. In 1703 Watson sold the house to the Oswald family, who had important links with the town.
To the north of the town is the Category B listed
Dunnikier House, designed by Alexander Laing between 1791–1793 as a family residence for the Oswald family. The category A listed Raith House was built by Sir Alexander Raith, 4th Earl of Raith and Melville, for his bride, Barbara Dundas, in 1694. Today Raith House is owned by the Munro-Ferguson family as a private residence.
The Category A listed Ravenscraig Castle
stands on a rocky spit of land extending into the Firth of Forth to the east of the town. King James II
began construction of the castle in 1460 for his queen, Mary of Gueldres. It was also a means of defending the upper reaches of the Forth, including the port of Dysart. To a lesser extent it protected the harbour of Kirkcaldy against piracy and English rivalry. Ravenscraig is one of the earliest British castles designed to defend against and use artillery, an innovation demonstrated by the massive walls, the regularly placed shot holes, and the deep rock-cut ditch. Following the death of the King at the siege of Roxburgh Castle
(1460), work continued on Ravenscraig, and it became a home for Mary of Gueldres until her death in 1463. In 1470 King James III
granted the castle and lands to William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and Caithness
, in exchange for the castle in Kirkwall
and the right to the Earldom of Orkney
.
The first grammar school was Kirkcaldy Burgh School, established in 1582 with the help of the local minister, Dr David Spens. Until premises were found, pupils were taught in the minister's house. Notable pupils include Robert Adam
and Adam Smith
. The school was located at Hill Street before being replaced by Kirkcaldy Grammar School on St Brycedale Avenue in 1843. A Government list of 1872 described the school as being of 'higher class'. A new building for the school was gifted to the town in 1893 by Michael Barker Nairn, a linen manufacturer, at a cost of £10,000 (£ as of ),. Other schools were established in the town, such as girls schools, subscription schools, and apprentice schools. The town benefited from the will of Robert Philp, a linen manufacturer, who left £75,000 (£ as of ),. This money was used to fund a trust in his name, which ran schools in Kirkcaldy, Linktown, and Pathhead. The passing of the Education (Scotland) Act in 1872 replaced voluntary education in the town with a school-based education for all children between the ages of 5 to 13.
Today Kirkcaldy has four secondary schools and twelve primary schools. Other educational facilities include a private school and a school for children with learning difficulties. Kirkcaldy High School, the oldest secondary school, serves pupils living in the north of the town and has occupied a site on Dunnikier Way since 1958. Balwearie High School opened as a junior secondary school in 1964 and was upgraded to a high school in 1972. The school serves pupils living in the western end of the town and neighbouring Kinghorn
and Burntisland
. Viewforth High School, which opened in 1908, was also initially a junior secondary school, but upgraded to a high school in 1980. A new secondary school for the east of Kirkcaldy will eventually replace the ageing Viewforth High School. Two possible locations are on Windmill Road and at Randolph Playing Fields. The school is expected to be completed in 2019. St Andrews RC High School, which opened in the late 1950s is one of only two Roman Catholic secondary schools in Fife. This caters to pupils living in the eastern half of Fife, from St Andrews
to Burntisland and Lochgelly
.
Further education was first provided by the former Kirkcaldy Technical College, which opened in St Brycedale Avenue in 1929. Initially only evening classes were offered, since the facility was used during the day by Kirkcaldy High School. Plans for an extension to the college were proposed in 1956. The second phase, completed in 1965, involved alterations to the existing building, and the third phase in 1968 entailed the demolition of the old High School building and construction of a nine-storey tower block. In 2003 Fife College of Further and Higher Education, the successor to Kirkcaldy Technical College undertook a £12.5 million redevelopment of the campus, which included the demolition and replacement of the tower block with a new building. Fife College of Further and Higher Education officially merged with Glenrothes College on 1 August 2005, to become known as Adam Smith College
. Adam Smith College has two campuses in the town: St Brycedale Campus on St Brycedale Avenue and the Priory Campus on Victoria Road. The University of Dundee
also have a campus in the town which specialises as a School for Nursing and Midwivery. This campus originally built by the Fife Health Board for the use of Fife College, was taken over by the University in 1996.
scheme in operation in the town. A three-bin collection is in place for the majority of residents living within Fife. Kirkcaldy has one recycling centre and several recycling points, all operated by Fife Council. Non-hazardous waste is sent to landfill at Lochhead near Dunfermline
, and Lower Melville Wood, near Ladybank
.
Health care is supplied by NHS Fife
, who have their headquarters at Hayfield House in the town. The Victoria Hospital
serves as the accident and emergency hospital in the town. A new £152.5 million 530000 sq ft (49,238.6 m²) extension to the hospital is expected to be finished in January 2012. The new extension will contain a maternity unit, eleven operating theatres, 528 new beds, and a relocated Accident and Emergency Department. Within the grounds of the hospital, a Maggie's Centre
, under the name of Maggie's Fife, specialises in care for patients with cancer. The centre, which was completed between 2004 and 2006, was the first building to be designed by Zaha Hadid
, an Iraqi
-born architect in the United Kingdom. Whyteman's Brae Hospital, which is also part of the complex, serves psychiatric and elderly patients.
Statutory emergency fire and rescue service
s in the town are provided by the Fife Fire and Rescue Service from its station on Dunnikier Road. Policing in Kirkcaldy is operated by Fife Constabulary
. The headquarters of the Kirkcaldy area is on St Brycedale Avenue. Kirkcaldy is served by the East Central Region of the Scottish Ambulance Service
, which covers Tayside
, Forth Valley, and the Fife. There are two ambulance stations in the town, one on Whyteman's Brae and the other at the Victoria Hospital on Hayfield Road.
The A92, which connects Dunfermline to the west with Glenrothes
and Dundee
to the north, passes immediately north of Kirkcaldy. The A910 road connects it to the western and central parts of the town. At Redhouse Roundabout the A921 connects the A92 to the eastern side of Kirkcaldy. It continues via St Clair Street and The Esplanade on to Kinghorn
, Burntisland, and Aberdour
to the south-west. The main route through the north of the town, the B981, runs roughly parallel to and one kilometre to the south of the A92. This road also connects to the A910 and the A921, from Chapel Junction via Chapel Level and Dunnikier Way to Gallatown. From here the A915, known locally as the Standing Stane Road, connects the town to St Andrews and Leven
to the north-east. The A955 runs along the coast from Dysart to East Wemyss
and Buckhaven
to the north-east.
The main bus station, adjacent to the Postings Shopping Centre, is between Hill Place and Hunter Street. The Kirkcaldy railway station
is to the north-west of the town centre and is on the route for the Fife Circle Line
and the East Coast Main Line
. Other services run to locations such as Perth
, Aberdeen
, and Inverness
to the north and Newcastle Central, York
, and London King's Cross to the south. Nearby stations such as Burntisland
and Kinghorn
are to the south and west of the town. The nearest international airport is Edinburgh Airport
, 26 miles (41.8 km) away.
, who wrote The Wealth of Nations
at his mother's house at 220 High Street between 1765-1767 ; the architect and designer Robert Adam
(and his father, William), and Sandford Fleming
, the founder of Standard Time
. The explorer John McDouall Stuart
, who led six expeditions into the centre and from the south to north of Australia, was born in nearby Dysart.
Politicians who come from the town include Ronald Munro Ferguson, the Governor-General of Australia
from 1914–1920; David Steel
, leader of the Liberal Party
from 1979–1988 and former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
; and Bertha Wilson
, the first female judge of the Supreme Court of Canada
and Court of Appeal for Ontario.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer
and Prime Minister, Gordon Brown
, was brought up in the town from the age of three. The Scottish crime writer Val McDermid
was born in the town.
Guy Berryman
, bassist of the alternative rock
band Coldplay
, was born and brought up in the town until the age of thirteen.
Richard Park
, the chief executive of Global Radio
and the headmaster on the BBC
talent show Fame Academy
was born in the town, where he attended Kirkcaldy High School.
Sportsmen include the two-time world darts
champion Jocky Wilson
, footballer Colin Cameron, and professional golfer
Peter Whiteford
. David Danskin
, the founder of Dial Square FC (now known as Arsenal FC), the first football team from the south of England to play in the Football League, was brought up in Kirkcaldy. William Arnott
(1827–1901), a biscuit manufacturer in Australia, also came from the town.
Royal burgh
A royal burgh was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished in 1975, the term is still used in many of the former burghs....
in Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, on the east coast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The town lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
; 9.3 miles (15 km) SSE
Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...
of Glenrothes
Glenrothes
Glenrothes is a large town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is located approximately from both Edinburgh, which lies to the south and Dundee to the north. The town had an estimated population of 38,750 in 2008, making Glenrothes the third largest settlement in Fife...
, 11.8 miles (19 km) ENE
Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...
of Dunfermline
Dunfermline
Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to a 2008 estimate, Dunfermline has a population of 46,430, making it the second-biggest settlement in Fife. Part of the town's name comes from the Gaelic word...
, 44.4 miles (71 km) WSW
Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...
of Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
and 18.6 miles (30 km) NNE
Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...
of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. The name of the town is believed to come from the Pictish
Pictish language
Pictish is a term used for the extinct language or languages thought to have been spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland in the Early Middle Ages...
words and and may translate as "place of the hard fort" or "place of Caled's fort". Kirkcaldy had an estimated population of 48,630 in 2008, making it the biggest settlement in Fife. Kirkcaldy has long been nicknamed the Lang Toun ' onMouseout='HidePop("13244")' href="/topics/Scots_language">Scots
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
for "long town") in reference to the 0.9 miles (1.4 km) main street of the early town, as indicated on maps of the 16th and 17th centuries. The street later reached a length of nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) connecting the burgh to its neighbouring settlements of Linktown, Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown. These neighbouring settlements were later incorporated into the town in 1876, when the boundaries were extended.
The town was first recorded in about 1075, when Malcolm III
Malcolm III of Scotland
Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...
granted the shire of Kirkcaladunt to the church of Dunfermline
Dunfermline
Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to a 2008 estimate, Dunfermline has a population of 46,430, making it the second-biggest settlement in Fife. Part of the town's name comes from the Gaelic word...
(later Dunfermline Abbey
Dunfermline Abbey
Dunfermline Abbey is as a Church of Scotland Parish Church located in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. In 2002 the congregation had 806 members. The minister is the Reverend Alastair Jessamine...
) Under King
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
Robert I, in 1327 the township status of Kirkcaldy changed to that of a burgh dependent on Dunfermline Abbey. The award of feu-ferme status
Feu
Feu was previously the most common form of land tenure in Scotland, as conveyancing in Scots law was dominated by feudalism until the Scottish Parliament passed the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. Act 2000...
in 1451 gave the burgh semi-independence from the abbey; full independence was achieved via a charter for royal burgh status, granted by Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
in 1644.
Early industries in the town included the production of textiles, nailmaking and salt panning. The production of floorcloth in the early 19th century contributed to the manufacture of linoleum
Linoleum
Linoleum is a floor covering made from renewable materials such as solidified linseed oil , pine rosin, ground cork dust, wood flour, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing; pigments are often added to the materials.The finest linoleum floors,...
in the town. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Kirkcaldy was a prosperous centre and world producer of linoleum. New housing estates were built north-west of the town and the redevelopment of older areas such as Gallatown, Sinclairtown and Pathhead took place in the 1950s and 1960s. This was followed by a redevelopment of the town centre which started in the 1960s, lasting into the 1970s. The population of the town was expected to reach between 55,000 and 70,000, but this did not happen as the production of linoleum, the town's main industry at the time, waned in the middle of the 1960s.
Today, the town is a major service centre for the central Fife area. Kirkcaldy is home to an art gallery and museum
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery is the main museum and exhibition space in Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland.The land for the town's museum and art gallery was donated by John Nairn on the former site of Balsusney House, the home of John Maxton...
, an ice rink
Fife Ice Arena
Fife Ice Arena opened in 1938. was designed by architects & . Fife Ice Arena is the home venue of the oldest Ice Hockey team in the UK - the Fife Flyers. It is also a venue for public skating, figure skating, speed skating, curling and ice shows...
, three large public parks (Beveridge, Dunnikier, and Ravenscraig), two golf courses, a swimming pool, major shopping facilities, and the yearly Links Market
Links Market
The Links Market in Kirkcaldy, Fife is Europe's longest street fair and the oldest in Scotland. Established in 1304, the annual six-day event attracts between 200,000 and 300,000 visitors to the town. 2004 was the 700th anniversary of the event, with 225 attractions and more than an estimated half...
, which stretches almost a mile along the Esplanade—Europe's longest street fair
Street fair
A street fair is a fair that celebrates the character of a neighborhood. As its name suggests, it is usually held on the main street of a neighborhood....
. Adam Smith College
Adam Smith College
Adam Smith College is a Scottish further and higher education college located over various campuses across the county of Fife.-History:The college was formed on August 1, 2005 by the merger of Glenrothes College and Fife College and is named after Adam Smith, the founder of modern economics, who...
has two campuses in town (St Brycedale and Priory). Employment is now dominated by the service sector; the biggest employer is MGT (a call centre). Other big employers in the town include Victoria Hospital
Victoria Hospital (Kirkcaldy)
Victoria Hospital is a large hospital situated to the north of the town centre in Kirkcaldy. As one of two main hospitals in Fife, this serves both the town and surrounding Mid-Fife area...
, Forbo-Nairn (floor coverings), Kingdom Bakeries (food and drink), and Kingdom Homes Ltd (residential and nursing homes).
Toponymy
The name Kirkcaldy means "place of the hard fort" or "place of Caled's fort". It is derived from the Pictish meaning "fort", , which is Pictish "hard" or a personal name, and –in, a suffix meaning "place of". may describe the fort itself or be an epithetEpithet
An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
for a local "hard" ruler. An interpretation of the last element as din (again meaning "fort", but from Gaelic) rather than –in is incorrect. The Old Statistical Account states a derivation from culdee
Culdee
Céli Dé or Culdees were originally members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland and England in the Middle Ages. The term is used of St. John the Apostle, of a missioner from abroad recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 806, and of Óengus...
, which has been repeated in later publications, but is also incorrect.
Early history
The discovery of eleven Bronze AgeBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
cist
Cist
A cist from ) is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East....
burials which date from 2,500 BC and 500 BC may represent the earliest known funerary tradition in the area. The appearance of natural terraces extending away from the sandy bay, as well as the close proximity of the East Burn to the north and the West (Tiel) Burn to the south, perhaps made this an attractive site for these burial plots and served as a focal point in the landscape. Four Bronze Age burials dating from around 4000 BC have also been found around the site of the unmarked Bogely or Dysart Standing Stone to the east of the present A92 road
A92 road
The A92 is a major road in Fife and Angus, Scotland. It runs from Dunfermline to Stonehaven.Starting at its junction with the M90 motorway near Dunfermline, it runs north east past Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Ladybank and Newport-on-Tay...
. Despite the relative absence of Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
sites within the county of Fife, there is evidence of a Roman camp at Carberry Farm on the outskirts of the town, although nothing upstanding remains.
One of the earliest events associated with the town was the Battle of Raith
Battle of Raith
The Battle of Raith is said to have been fought in 596 AD to the west of present day Kirkcaldy. An invading force of Angles defeated an alliance of Scots, Britons and Picts under King Áedán mac Gabráin of Dál Riata....
in 596 AD. The battle, which is believed to have taken place to the west of the town, was fought between the Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
and an alliance , led by King Áedán mac Gabráin
Áedán mac Gabráin
Áedán mac Gabráin was a king of Dál Riata from circa 574 until his death, perhaps on 17 April 609. The kingdom of Dál Riata was situated in modern Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and parts of County Antrim, Ireland...
of Dál Riata
Dál Riata
Dál Riata was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western coast of Scotland with some territory on the northeast coast of Ireland...
, of Scots
Scoti
Scoti or Scotti was the generic name used by the Romans to describe those who sailed from Ireland to conduct raids on Roman Britain. It was thus synonymous with the modern term Gaels...
, Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
and Britons
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
.
Medieval history
The earliest documented reference to Kirkcaldy is dated 1075, during the reign of Malcolm IIIMalcolm III of Scotland
Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...
, King of Scotland (1058-1093), when the king granted the shire of Kirkcaladunt, along with other gifts, to the church of Dunfermline
Dunfermline Abbey
Dunfermline Abbey is as a Church of Scotland Parish Church located in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. In 2002 the congregation had 806 members. The minister is the Reverend Alastair Jessamine...
. The residents were expected to pay dues and taxes for the general upkeep of the church. Two charters, later confirmed by his son, David I
David I of Scotland
David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...
, as Kircalethin in 1128 and Kirkcaladunit in 1130, do not indicate the location of town or shire. A charter which followed in 1182, describing the town as a villa, was the only evidence it was considered a town in the twelfth century.
While Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
was under occupation
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the independent Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries....
between 1296 and 1306, the Abbot of Dunfermline
Abbot of Dunfermline
The Prior, then Abbot and then Commendator of Dunfermline was the head of the Benedictine monastic community of Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland. The abbey itself was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland, but was of earlier origin. King Máel Coluim mac Donnchada had founded a church there...
appealed to King Edward I for a weekly market and annual fair for Kirkcaldy in 1304. During these discussions the town, which had been given to the Abbey
Dunfermline Abbey
Dunfermline Abbey is as a Church of Scotland Parish Church located in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. In 2002 the congregation had 806 members. The minister is the Reverend Alastair Jessamine...
by David I, may have been referred to as one of the most ancient of burghs. This status as a burgh dependent on Dunfermline Abbey was later confirmed in 1327, during the reign of Robert I, King of Scotland (1306-1329). Prior to the King’s charter, Kirkcaldy was recognised as a township.
However, the burgh was soon given the right to trade across the regality of Dunfermline in a special charter by David II
David II of Scotland
David II was King of Scots from 7 June 1329 until his death.-Early life:...
, King of Scotland (1329-1371). This charter allowed the burgesses of Kirkcaldy to purchase and sell goods to the burgesses of the three other regality burghs – Queensferry
South Queensferry
South Queensferry , also called Queensferry, is a former Royal Burgh in West Lothian now part of the City of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located some ten miles to the north west of the city centre, on the shore of the Firth of Forth between the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge, approximately 8...
, Dunfermline
Dunfermline
Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to a 2008 estimate, Dunfermline has a population of 46,430, making it the second-biggest settlement in Fife. Part of the town's name comes from the Gaelic word...
and Musselburgh
Musselburgh
Musselburgh is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, six miles east of Edinburgh city centre.-History:...
, whom belonged to the Abbey. By 1451, Kirkcaldy was awarded feu-ferme status. The routine administration of the burgh, and its fiscal polices became the responsibility of the bailies and council, on condition that an annual payment of 33s 4d was made to the Abbot of Dunfermline.
Sixteenth to eighteenth centuries
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the town became an important trading port. The town had many advantages, one being its location on the east coast, which led to trading contacts with the Low CountriesLow Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, the Baltic region
Baltic region
The terms Baltic region, Baltic Rim countries, and Baltic Rim refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea.- Etymology :...
, England, and Northern France. The feu-ferme charter of 1451 between the Abbot of Dunfermline and the burgesses of Kirkcaldy also mentioned a small but functioning harbour. Although, it is unknown when this harbour was established and whether or not it was always located at the mouth of the East Burn. According to treasurer's accounts of the early 16th century, timber imported via the harbour—possibly from the Baltic countries—was used at Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a former royal palace of the Scottish Kings. Today it is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and serves as a tourist attraction.-Early years:...
and Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
, as well as in shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
. Raw materials such as hides, wool, skins, herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
, salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
, coal and salt were exports of the town, until well into the seventeenth century.
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
granting royal burgh
Royal burgh
A royal burgh was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished in 1975, the term is still used in many of the former burghs....
status in 1644 led to the full independence of the town. As a gesture, the king gave 8.12 acres (32,860.5 m²) of common moor suitable for dying and bleaching of linen, drying of clothes, recreation and perpetuity to the town.
The town suffered a setback during the political crises of the seventeenth century. The National Covenant was subscribed in the town in 1638 to prevent the introduction of bishops, episocopacy and patronage in the presbyterian church, under the reign of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. The appointment of General Leslie
Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven
Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven was a Scottish soldier in Dutch, Swedish and Scottish service. Born illegitimate and raised as a foster child, he subsequently advanced to the rank of a Dutch captain, a Swedish Field Marshal, and in Scotland became lord general in command of the Covenanters,...
, an elder of the Kirkcaldy presbytery, as commander of the Scots Army may have encouraged local support. All freemen and burgesses were trained in drilling and the use of arms in order to defend their faith. In the Covenanting Wars
Covenanter
The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
, the town is believed to have lost as many as 480 men.
Many trading vessels were also either destroyed or stolen and the town's treasure was seized by General Monck in 1651 after being sent to Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
for safekeeping. The town was invaded, burned and looted by Highland Jacobites during the Jacobite Rising of 1715
Jacobite Rising of 1715
The Jacobite rising of 1715, often referred to as The 'Fifteen, was the attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart.-Background:...
.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century, manufacturing began to prosper, transforming the economy of the town. During this period, Kirkcaldy was described by Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
as a larger, more populous, and better built town than...any on this coast. Handloom weaving, which had been introduced in 1672, flourished between 1733 and 1743; the output of linen increased from 177,000 to 316,000 yards. Cotton spinning started in the town in 1784, and within eight years was employing 110 men, women and children. The spinning of cotton supplied the local industries of coal mining and salt panning and boosted trade with the Baltic region and the Low Countries. By the nineteenth century, whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
also became important to the town. Between 1813 and 1866, sixteen whalers sailed from both Kirkcaldy and nearby Burntisland
Burntisland
Burntisland is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland on the Firth of Forth. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 5,940....
. The first Kirkcaldy whaling ship, The Earl Percy, sailed north to the Davis Strait
Davis Strait
Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Nunavut, Canada's Baffin Island. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis , who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage....
and the last whaler based in the town, The Brilliant, was sold in 1866 to Peterhead
Peterhead
Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....
, bringing an end to the industry. The revival of shipbuilding in the late 1770s was also of some significance to the town, when up to thirty-eight vessels were built between 1778 and 1793. Construction of a new turnpike road from Pettycur to Newport-on-Tay
Newport-on-Tay
Newport-on-Tay is a small town in the north east of Fife in Scotland, acting as a commuter suburb for Dundee. The Fife Coastal Path passes through Newport.-History:...
via Cupar
Cupar
Cupar is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland. The town is situated between Dundee and the New Town of Glenrothes.According to a recent population estimate , Cupar had a population around 8,980 making the town the ninth largest settlement in Fife.-History:The town is believed to have...
in 1790, while improving only one piece of Fife's isolated road system, brought a huge increase in traffic along the High Street and helped to strengthen Kirkcaldy's position in Fife.
Modern history
Throughout much of the nineteenth century, the main industries in the town were flaxFlax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
spinning and linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
weaving. In 1831 Kirkcaldy was described as 'the most thriving town on the north coast of the Firth of Forth', which reflected its range of public facilities such as banks, schools, church, and libraries, and its widened and repaved streets. The arrival of the Kirkcaldy and District Railway—later to become part of the North British Railway
North British Railway
The North British Railway was a Scottish railway company that was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923.-History:...
— to the town in 1847 led to an increasingly industrialised townscape. The connection of the railway to the harbour in 1849 benefited older industries of the town, in particular the coal industry. A new wet dock and pier were built between 1843 and 1846 at a cost of £43,000 (£ as of ) to cope with increasing demand for imports of flax
Flax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
, timber and hemp and exports of coal, salt and linen. Subsequent demand for linoleum and coal resulted in a further expansion of the harbour and reconstruction of the East Pier to allow space for a new dock between 1906 and 1908 at a cost of £140,000 (£ as of ). In 1847 the canvas
Canvas
Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...
manufacturer, Michael Nairn, inspired by a trip to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, opened a factory in Pathhead for the production of floorcloth
Floorcloth
A floorcloth, or floor-cloth, is a term for a cloth, normally of flannel, used for cleaning floors. The term was previously used also for materials used in place of carpeting or to protect expensive carpets, such as oilcloth, Kamptulicon or other materials...
'according to the most approved methods then practised'. He took out a licence on Frederick Walton
Frederick Walton
Frederick Edward Walton , was an English manufacturer and inventor who invented Linoleum in Staines and Lincrusta ....
's patent for linoleum
Linoleum
Linoleum is a floor covering made from renewable materials such as solidified linseed oil , pine rosin, ground cork dust, wood flour, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing; pigments are often added to the materials.The finest linoleum floors,...
. After the patent expired in 1876, the process for linoleum was adopted by Nairn and other floorcloth manufacturers. Floorcloth and linoleum were being made in seven factories in the town by 1883, employing 1,300. The manufacturing of linen was also prospering in the 1860s, with eighteen factories employing 3,887 by 1867.
The expansion of the town led in 1874 to the extension of the royal burgh's boundaries. The town absorbed its neighbouring settlements of Linktown, in the parish of Abbotshall; Invertiel in the parish of Kinghorn and the Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown in the parish of Dysart. These once-separate communities which had effectively merged into the town, were once forbidden from selling their goods in Kirkcaldy at the mercat cross
Mercat cross
A mercat cross is a market cross found in Scottish cities and towns where trade and commerce was a part of economic life. It was originally a place where merchants would gather, and later became the focal point of many town events such as executions, announcements and proclamations...
, according to the old guild rights.
In 1922–1923 a sea wall and esplanade were constructed, funded by the Unemployment Grants Commission and built by unemployed men living in the town. Prior to the construction of the sea wall, the sea would wash along the shore, which was known as the Sands Road.
New housing estates built to the north-west of the town and older areas of Sinclairtown, Gallatown and Linktown were redeveloped in the 1950s and 1960s. This was followed by the redevelopment of the town centre in the 1960s, lasting right until the 1970s, which saw the destruction of much of the old High Street. There was speculation that the town could grow to a population of 55,000 to 60,000 by 1970. This never materialised, as a decline in the linoleum industry in the mid-1960s meant a decrease in population from a peak of 53,750 in 1961 to 47,962 in 1981.
Today, Kirkcaldy remains a busy town for the surrounding areas. The town is home to a Museum and Art Gallery
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery is the main museum and exhibition space in Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland.The land for the town's museum and art gallery was donated by John Nairn on the former site of Balsusney House, the home of John Maxton...
; three public parks and shopping facilities in the town centre. The town also hosts the annual Links Market commonly known as Europe's longest street fair. The production of linoleum still continues to this day, despite being on a vastly reduced scale and now in Swiss ownership. The company which later became 'Forbo-Nairn', diversified into the production of vinyl
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
floor tiles and speciality, marmoleum since 1994. Kirkcaldy Harbour which closed in 1992 is to re-open to cargo ships for the first time in 20 years. The project between Carr's Flour Mills, the parent of Hutchison's, Forth Ports (owners of the harbour) and Transport Scotland, will allow Carr's to bring in wheat to the harbour and remove a quarter of their lorries from the roads every year.
Governance
During the middle of the 15th century, the passing of feu-ferme statusFeu
Feu was previously the most common form of land tenure in Scotland, as conveyancing in Scots law was dominated by feudalism until the Scottish Parliament passed the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. Act 2000...
meant the town was able to deal with its own administrative issues and fiscal policies for the first time. The first mention of a town council was made around 1582. The head courts of the burghs would meet either in the common muir (now known as Volunteers' Green) or the Tolbooth on Tolbooth Street, particularly in the summer months. When Kirkcaldy was awarded royal burgh status in 1644, the duties of the provost were initially completed by bailies, councillors, and magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
s. The first Lord Provost
Lord Provost
A Lord Provost is the figurative and ceremonial head of one of the principal cities of Scotland. Four cities, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, have the right to appoint a Lord Provost instead of a provost...
, Robert Whyt, was elected to the post around 1658. The burgh was one of four in Scotland to use two coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, introduced in 1673. One bears the motto Vilgilando Munio ("I Stand by Watching"), and the other displays the figure of St Bryce, Kirkcaldy's patron saint.
Kirkcaldy enjoyed royal burgh status until this rank was abolished in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....
in favour of a three-tier system of regions and districts
Regions and districts of Scotland
The local government areas of Scotland were redefined by the Local Government Act 1973 and redefined again by the Local Government etc Act 1994....
. The royal burgh merged into Kirkcaldy District, which was one of three districts within the Fife region. The district council was abolished in 1996 under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 when the region became a unitary council area. The new unitary Fife Council adopted the areas of the former districts as council management areas and created area committee
Area committee
Many large local government councils in the United Kingdom have a system of area committees, with responsibility for services in a particular part of the area covered by the council....
s to represent each.
Today, Kirkcaldy is represented by several tiers of elected government. Kirkcaldy North Community Council and Kirkcaldy West Community Council together form the lowest tier of governance, whose statutory role is to communicate local opinion to the local and central government. Fife Council, based in Glenrothes
Glenrothes
Glenrothes is a large town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is located approximately from both Edinburgh, which lies to the south and Dundee to the north. The town had an estimated population of 38,750 in 2008, making Glenrothes the third largest settlement in Fife...
, the unitary local authority for Kirkcaldy, is the executive, deliberative
Deliberation
Deliberation is a process of thoughtfully weighing options, usually prior to voting. In legal settings a jury famously uses deliberation because it is given specific options, like guilty or not guilty, along with information and arguments to evaluate. Deliberation emphasizes the use of logic and...
, and legislative body responsible for local governance. Kirkcaldy Town House
Kirkcaldy Town House
Kirkcaldy Town House is a Scandinavian influenced town hall located in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. The current town house was begun in 1937, from a competition-winning design by architects David Carr and William Howard of Edinburgh. Only the foundations had been put in place before construction was...
is the main administrative headquarters for the Kirkcaldy area within the local authority. Forth House on Abbotshall Road is the main planning and building control headquarters in Central Fife. The main Fife library and museum headquarters are on East Fergus Place. The Kirkcaldy area also supports three multi-member wards, with eleven councillors sitting on the committee of Fife Council. The Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
is responsible for devolved matters
Devolution
Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. Devolution can be mainly financial, e.g. giving areas a budget which was formerly administered by central government...
such as education
Education in Scotland
Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from the other countries of the United Kingdom...
, health, and justice
Scots law
Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is considered a hybrid or mixed legal system as it traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. With English law and Northern Irish law it forms the legal system of the United Kingdom; it shares with the two other systems some...
, while reserved matters
Reserved matters
In the United Kingdom reserved matters and excepted matters are the areas of government policy where Parliament had kept the power to make laws in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales....
are dealt with by the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
.
The first Member of Parliament to be elected to the House of Commons from Kirkcaldy was Colonel Abercrombie in 1710. The town had joined with Dysart, Fife
Dysart
Dysart is a former town and royal burgh located on the south-east coast between Kirkcaldy and West Wemyss in Fife. The town is now considered to be a suburb of Kirkcaldy. Dysart was once part of a wider estate owned by the St Clair or Sinclair family...
, Kinghorn
Kinghorn
Kinghorn is a town in Fife, Scotland. A seaside resort with two beaches, Kinghorn Beach and Pettycur Bay, plus a fishing port, it stands on the north shore of the Firth of Forth opposite Edinburgh...
, and Burntisland
Burntisland
Burntisland is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland on the Firth of Forth. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 5,940....
to form the constituency of Dysart Burghs in 1707, with each of the four burghs being entitled to a vote. Prior to the Act of Union, Kirkcaldy sent a Member of Parliament to the Scottish Parliament
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...
, which would usually meet in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. Under the Reform Act of 1832, the constituency of Kirkcaldy Burghs was introduced, with Robert Ferguson of Raith elected as Member of Parliament. Today, Kirkcaldy forms part of the county constituency
United Kingdom constituencies
In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...
of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (UK Parliament constituency)
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath is a county constituency representing the areas around the towns of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, in Fife, Scotland, in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
, electing one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post
Plurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
system. Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
is the Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. Before the constituency's creation in 2005, Kirkcaldy lay in the Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy (UK Parliament constituency)
Kirkcaldy was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Fife, returning one Member of Parliament . It existed from the February 1974 election until its abolition in 2005.-Boundaries:...
constituency, represented by Lewis Moonie. For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Kirkcaldy forms part of the Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Kirkcaldy is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...
constituency. The Kirkcaldy Scottish Parliament (or Holyrood) constituency, created in 1999, is one of nine within the Mid Scotland and Fife
Mid Scotland and Fife (Scottish Parliament electoral region)
Mid Scotland and Fife is one of the eight electoral regions of the Scottish Parliament which were created in 1999. Nine of the parliament's 73 first past the post constituencies are sub-divisions of the region and it elects seven of the 56 additional-member Members of the Scottish Parliament...
electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional members to produce a form of proportional representation. The seat was won at the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections by David Torrance
David Torrance (politician)
David Torrance is Scottish National Party member of the Scottish Parliament for the Kirkcaldy constituency, elected at the 2011 election-Background:...
for the Scottish National Party (SNP). Following a review of the review of Scottish Parliament constituency boundaries
Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions from 2011
As a result of the first periodical review of Scottish Parliament constituencies, , new constituencies and additional member regions of the Scottish Parliament are to be introduced for the 2011 Scottish Parliament election...
, the Kirkcaldy constituency was extended along the coast, taking in the Buckhaven, Methil, and Wemyss Villages ward, ahead of the 2011 elections.
At European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
level, Kirkcaldy is part of the pan-Scotland European Parliament constituency
Scotland (European Parliament constituency)
Scotland constitutes a single constituency of the European Parliament. For 2009 it elects 6 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :...
, which elects seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) using the d'Hondt method
D'Hondt method
The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
of party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...
. Scotland returns two Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MEPs, two SNP
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
MEPs, one Conservative and Unionist
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MEP, and one Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
MEP to the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
.
Geography
Kirkcaldy is a linear settlement along a sandy cove between the Tiel (West) Burn to the north and the East Burn to the south, on a bay facing southeast onto the Firth of ForthFirth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
at 56°6′40.28"N 3°9′59.7"W (56.111°, −3.166°). The town lies 9.3 miles (15 km) SSE
Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...
of Glenrothes
Glenrothes
Glenrothes is a large town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is located approximately from both Edinburgh, which lies to the south and Dundee to the north. The town had an estimated population of 38,750 in 2008, making Glenrothes the third largest settlement in Fife...
, 11.8 miles (19 km) ENE
Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...
of Dunfermline
Dunfermline
Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to a 2008 estimate, Dunfermline has a population of 46,430, making it the second-biggest settlement in Fife. Part of the town's name comes from the Gaelic word...
, 44.4 miles (71 km) WSW
Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...
of Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
and 18.6 miles (30 km) NNE
Boxing the compass
Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two points of the compass in clockwise order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading in a general or colloquial fashion, without...
of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. The town adopted its nickname of the lang toun from the 0.9 miles (1.4 km) single street, recorded on early maps of the 16th and 17th centuries. The street would eventually reach a length of nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) linking the burgh to its neighbouring suburbs of Linktown, Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown.
Areas in and around the town centre, at 50 feet (15.2 m) above sea level, contain clay, sand, and gravel. Most of Pathhead, Ravenscraig Park, and older parts of Dysart, at 100 feet (30.5 m), contain sandy gravel and shaly soil. The highest piece of ground, at 500 feet (152.4 m), is west of the Raith Estate; the soil contains hard volcanic ash. To the north of the estate (Sauchenbush and south-east Chapel) are dolerite rock outcrops. The steep rise of the 25 feet (7.6 m) raised beach to the west of the High Street, over a distance of less than 150m, (a result of sea level changes 5–10,000 years ago) is thought to have had a significant constricting influence on the town's layout in the mediaeval period.
The centre of medieval Kirkcaldy may have been located at the corner of Kirk Wynd and the High Street. This would have been the site of the town's Mercat cross
Mercat cross
A mercat cross is a market cross found in Scottish cities and towns where trade and commerce was a part of economic life. It was originally a place where merchants would gather, and later became the focal point of many town events such as executions, announcements and proclamations...
and focus point of the burgh. The linear market was important not only to the town itself but the nearby hinterland. The main thoroughfare was either paved or cobbled, with flags covering small burns running down the hill towards the sea across the High Street. Running back from the High Street were burgage
Burgage
Burgage is a medieval land term used in England and Scotland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town rental property , owned by a king or lord. The property usually, and distinctly, consisted of a house on a long and narrow plot of land, with the narrow end facing the street...
plots or rigs of the residents. The narrow strips of lands were at the front and to the rear of houses of the burgesses. For houses on the sea side of the High Street these plots may have served as beaching grounds for individual tenements. The plots on the other side of the High Street rose steeply to the terracing of the Lomond foothills. A back lane running behind the plots from Kirk Wynd went to the west end of the High Street in a southerly direction. This lane would in time be developed as Hill Street. At the top of Kirk Wynd, one of the most important of the small closes and wynds which entered the High Street, was the Parish Church of St Bryce (Old Kirk), a dominant landmark overlooking the small settlement.
The small burns that are tributary to the East Burn contributed to the draining of the lands of Dunnikier Estate. The burn emerges from a deep-set culvert to flow under the Victoria Viaduct, down a deep gorge, through the site of Hutchison's Flour Mills before running parallel to the harbour wall and into the sea. From the mid-19th century, the Hutchison's buildings became a significant landmark adjacent to the burn. The flour millers chose this area for the railway connection which linked the main station to the harbour, rather than for the need to use the burn to power the mills. The West (or Tiel) Burn, was also important, providing power for textile mills. This burn flowed out of the Raith Estate lands where scenically and recreationally it was used to create Raith Lake (with its tributary, the Dronachy Burn) and add difficulty to Balwearie Golf Course. The mill owners in Linktown made use of the burn, before it too flowed into the sea.
In the early 1980s, a local plan replaced the first development plan under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972 and Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. This new plan highlighted potential development sites for local authorities, private organisations, and individuals, while looking at the availability and best use of greenfield
Greenfield land
Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...
sites around the town. Brownfield land
Brownfield land
Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations. Cf. Waste...
within Kirkcaldy was also considered. New housing developments were created to the south-west and north-west of the town. The 1980s Local Plan included upgrades to many roads within and surrounding the town. The Thornton by-pass (Glenrothes–Kirkcaldy Road) was completed in 1980 and the East Fife Regional Road (A92
A92 road
The A92 is a major road in Fife and Angus, Scotland. It runs from Dunfermline to Stonehaven.Starting at its junction with the M90 motorway near Dunfermline, it runs north east past Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Ladybank and Newport-on-Tay...
) in 1990 – the latter which led to the town being connected to the motorway system, which brought viable growth and new development. Another local plan, developed in the early 1990s, was intended to create new employment opportunities in the north of the town and called for the creation of a variety of housing types. A major objective was to improve the state of residential areas by promoting suitable development land within the town. The majority of new housing was created by private developers in the south-east (Seafield) and north-west (Chapel Farm site). The plan allowed out-of-town shopping facilities, which were located adjacent to the new A92 junction at Chapel. The Kirkcaldy Area Local Plan, which was adopted in March 2003, focused on investment in the town centre, the development of employment opportunities at Kingslaw to the north-west, and restrained out-of-town developments. A Mid-Fife Local Plan, which is to replace the Kirkcaldy Area Local Plan, has identified development land for approximately 2,500 houses to the east and 1,200 houses to the south-west over the next fifteen years. There are also proposals to redevelop brownfield sites, to provide additional employment, and to build a new railway and bus interchange to the east.
Demography
| Kirkcaldy compared | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 UK Census United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.... |
Kirkcaldy | Fife | Scotland |
| Total Population | 46,912 | 349,429 | 5,062,011 |
| Foreign Born British nationality law British nationality law is the law of the United Kingdom that concerns citizenship and other categories of British nationality. The law is complex because of the United Kingdom's former status as an imperial power.-History:... |
1.01% | 1.18% | 1.10% |
| Over 75 Years Old | 8.57% | 7.46% | 7.09% |
| Unemployed | 5.68% | 3.97% | 4.0% |
According to the Census in 2001
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, the census locality of Kirkcaldy has a total resident population of 46,912. There are 21,365 households in Kirkcaldy, 18.8% were married couples living together, 35.5% were one-person households, 7.9% were co-habiting
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
couples and 10.1% were lone parents. An estimate taken in 2008, revealed that the town had a population of 48,630.
The median
Median
In probability theory and statistics, a median is described as the numerical value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to...
age of males and females living in Kirkcaldy was 37 and 41 years respectively, compared to 37 and 39 years for the whole of Scotland. The age group from 30 to 44 forms the largest portion of the population (22%).
The place of birth of the town's residents was 96.52% United Kingdom (including 87.15% from Scotland), 0.28% Republic of Ireland, 1.18% from other European Union countries, and 1.86% from elsewhere in the world. The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 40.13% in full-time employment, 12.17% in part-time employment, 4.79% self-employed, 5.68% unemployed, 2.57% students with jobs, 3.06% students without jobs, 15.70% retired, 5.51% looking after home or family, 6.68% permanently sick or disabled, and 3.71% economically inactive for other reasons. Compared with the average demography of Scotland, Kirkcaldy has low proportions of people born outside the United Kingdom, and has higher proportions for people over 75 years old.
Population Change
As more information on the town started to gather, a better understanding on the size of the townscape was made, towards the end of the sixteenth century. The first estimate of the parish in 1639 was between 3,000 and 3,200 and around 3,400 by 1691. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, there was a decline in the population. A census by Webster's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland in 1755, recorded an estimate of 2,296 in the parish.| Population growth Population growth Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement.... in Kirkcaldy Parish since 1801 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | ||
| Population | 3,248 | 3,747 | 4,452 | 5,034 | 5,275 | 5,719 | 6,100 | 7,003 | 8,528 | 9,994 | 14,175 | 45,410 | 45,915 | 46,019 | 50,519 | 53,750 | 47,962 | 47,274 | 46,912 | ||
| Source: | |||||||||||||||||||||
Economy
Coal mining and salt panning were early industries in the town which date back to the early sixteenth century. In 1573, Kirkcaldy had 28 salt pans, second to MusselburghMusselburgh
Musselburgh is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, six miles east of Edinburgh city centre.-History:...
and Prestonpans
Prestonpans
Prestonpans is a small town to the east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the unitary council area of East Lothian. It has a population of 7,153 . It is the site of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans, and has a history dating back to the 11th century...
who both had 31 salt pans. Dunnikier Colliery was built on farmland owned by the Oswald family from 1881 onwards. The Pannie Pit, which formed part of the colliery, had deep workings stretching to the north beneath Dunnikier House and to the south around the harbour.
Early manufacturing in the town and in neighbouring Pathhead consisted of coarse cloth and nail making. The latter of which went to the Royal Master of Works for repairs at Holyrood Palace
Holyrood Palace
The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle...
until the seventeenth century. Linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
weaving, which started in 1672, became important to the town, with yarn
Yarn
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or...
being imported from Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
. The pottery industry of the town, which was originally established in 1714 as an offshoot of the Linktown Brick and Tile Works, was centred around Linktown, Gallatown and Sinclairtown. Of these factories, The Fife Pottery, built by Andrew and Archibald Grey in 1817, produced Wemyss Ware
Wemyss Ware
Wemyss Ware is the brand name of the Griselda Hill Pottery, which is situated in the village of Ceres, Fife, Scotland.It was established in 1985 to produce colourful pottery based on the local Wemyss Ware that was made in Sinclairtown in the 19th century...
, which was named after the family who owned Wemyss Castle
Wemyss Castle
Wemyss Castle is situated on the cliffs between the villages of East Wemyss and West Wemyss in Fife, Scotland.- History :Accounts date the construction of the castle to the year 1421 when Sir John Wemyss decided to build a fortified castle to replace one destroyed by the Duke of Rothesay at...
.
The production of heavy canvas was started in 1828 by the canvas manufacturer Michael Nairn at a small factory. Influenced by a visit to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Nairn started to make floorcloth at his new factory at Pathhead in 1847, where his company pioneered the use of ovens to create hot air to season the floorcloth and reduce production times. When the patent belonging to Frederick Walton
Frederick Walton
Frederick Edward Walton , was an English manufacturer and inventor who invented Linoleum in Staines and Lincrusta ....
expired, Nairn's were able to manufacture linoleum
Linoleum
Linoleum is a floor covering made from renewable materials such as solidified linseed oil , pine rosin, ground cork dust, wood flour, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing; pigments are often added to the materials.The finest linoleum floors,...
from 1877 onwards. Other factories producing floorcloth and later linoleum were established by former employees of Michael Nairn.
Today, the service sector is the dominant employer in the Kirkcaldy area, with some jobs in financial and business services, construction, and retail distribution, making a total of over 20,000 jobs. Major employers in the town include MGT (call centre), Forbo Nairn (linoleum), Adam Smith College, ESA McIntosh (school furniture manufacturer), Paramount Care, and Kingdom Bakeries (food and drink). The principal industrial and business estates include Mitchleston, Randolph, Hayfield, and John Smith Business Park. In October 2011, Kirkcaldy Harbour re-opened to cargo ships for the first time in more than 20 years. The project is a partnership between Forth Ports Ltd (the owners of the harbour), Hutchison's parent company of Carr's Flour Mills, and Transport Scotland, who provided a freight facilities grant of over £800,000. The work included new silos and conveyors in place to allow fast delivery from coastal ships.
Kirkcaldy's town centre, which serves a large catchment area of around 130,000 residents within a 20 minute drive, is the largest in Fife in terms of floor space. Eligible businesses voted in favour of a BID (Business Improvement District) scheme for the town centre in 2010. The High Street which runs parallel to the Esplanade is home to the Mercat Shopping Centre and Postings Shopping Centre. A regeneration programme to upgrade the High Street between Port Brae and Kirk Wynd started in 2008. The second phase, between Kirk Wynd and Charlotte Street started in July 2010 and was completed in October 2011. The work included resurfacing roads and pavements, upgrading street furniture and lighting and the creation of a public Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
network. As part of the re-opening ceremony of the High Street, new coloured floodlights will highlight the street's historic buildings. A separate project will create a 'green corridor' for the use of pedestrians and cyclists that will link the main railway station and bus station with the High Street. Work started in May 2011 and is scheduled for completion by the middle of October 2011. The budget for the entire project is £4 million, £2 million of which was provided through the Scottish Government's Town Centre Regeneration Fund.
City Site Estates, owners of the Mercat Shopping Centre, have plans for a 250000 sq ft (23,225.8 m²) extension and the creation of a new waterfront. Plans call for a 100000 sq ft (9,290.3 m²) split-level supermarket containing 450 underground car park spaces. A swimming pool, hotel, bowling alley, civic square, and five-screen cinema would also part of the complex. A proposal calls for the reduction of the Esplanade to one lane to allow for a new glazed entrance to the expanded mall. The recent approval of a rival retail development elsewhere in the town has put the Mercat Centre's expansion proposals into serious doubt.
An out-of-town retail park
Retail park
In the United Kingdom, a retail park is a grouping of many retail warehouses and superstores with associated car parking. Its North American equivalent is a power centre. Retail parks are found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in highly accessible locations and are aimed at households...
constructed in 1997 to the north-west of the town on Chapel Level, off the A92 is home to a number of warehouse retailers. The retail park was purchased by Hammerson, a London-based property developer for £75 million in April 2005.
Culture
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art GalleryKirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery
Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery is the main museum and exhibition space in Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland.The land for the town's museum and art gallery was donated by John Nairn on the former site of Balsusney House, the home of John Maxton...
, which opened in 1925, contains a notable collection of paintings by the Scottish Colourists
Scottish Colourists
The Scottish Colourists were a group of painters from Scotland whose work was not very highly regarded when it was first exhibited in the 1920s and 1930s, but which in the late 20th Century came to have a formative influence on contemporary Scottish art....
and a permanent display of the town's industrial heritage. A library was added to the existing building in 1928. It is to undergo a £2.4 million renovation which will require closure for eighteen months from December 2011. This will include a new cafe which will look out onto War Memorial Gardens; an upgrade of the heating system and essential repairs to the roof. Work is expected to be completed by Spring 2013.
The Adam Smith Theatre on Bennochy Road, which was opened in 1899 by Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, hosts theatrical and musical productions as well as showing
films.
The Links Market initially started as a farmers' market in 1304 on Links Street, and moved to Sands Road (later to be known as the Promenade) in 1903. It is regarded as the largest fairground in Scotland. The market visits the town every April and celebrated its 700th anniversary in 2004. The Kirkcaldy Pageant started in 1923 as a fundraiser for several hospitals (later local charities) in the area. The arrival by carriage of a lad and lass was introduced to the proceedings in 1968. Although the event was discontinued in 1977, it was revived from 2001 until 2006 and again from 2010 as part of the Beveridge Park Community Festival. The song "Cry Baby Cry
Cry Baby Cry
"Cry Baby Cry" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon, from their 1968 album The Beatles.-Composition:Demos of the song indicate that Lennon wrote the song in late 1967...
" on the White Album by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
refers to a fictional Duchess of Kirkcaldy. John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
may have been inspired to compose the song by the band's visit to the town on a Scottish tour in late 1963. Kirkcaldy has had a twin-town link with Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
in Germany since 1962. There are plans for a joint celebration to recognise the 50th anniversary of the town's twinning with Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
in 2013.
There are three main public parks in Kirkcaldy. Beveridge Park, to the west of the town is a 104 acres (420,873.4 m²) park created from the existing Robbie's Park, at the top of Nicol Street, and land purchased from the Raith Estate. This was part of a £50,000 bequest from linen manufacturer and provost Michael Beveridge, who died in 1890. On 24 September 1892 a crowd of over 10,000 came to see the opening of the park by his widow, the provost, magistrates, and the town council of the royal burgh. The park includes a boating lake, a formal garden with fountain, a skateboard park, rugby ground and woodland walks. In 2011 Beveridge Park was the winner of a green flag award
Green Flag award
The Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. The scheme was set up in 1996 to recognise and reward green spaces in England and Wales that met the laid down high standards...
for the second year running. Ravenscraig Park to the east of the town was formed from the estate of Dysart House. The grounds were bequeathed to the town by the linoleum manufacturer Sir Michael Nairn in 1929. Dunnikier Park, purchased by the town council in 1945, consists of an area around Dunnikier House to the north of the town, and is home to numerous woodland walkways.
Scottish Football League First Division
The Irn-Bru Scottish Football League First Division Championship is the highest division of the Scottish Football League and the second highest in the Scottish football league system....
at their ground, Stark's Park
Stark's Park
Stark's Park is a football stadium in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. It is the home ground of Raith Rovers F.C..-History:The ground was opened in 1891 and seats 10,104. It is located in Kirkcaldy, Fife...
. Founded in 1883, the club were elected to the Scottish Football League
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League is a league of football teams in Scotland, comprising theScottish First Division, Scottish Second Division and Scottish Third Division. From the league's foundation in 1890 until the breakaway Scottish Premier League was formed in 1998, the Scottish Football League...
in 1902. They reached their highest league position in the 1921–1922 season
1921-22 in Scottish football
The 1921–22 season was the 32nd season of competitive football in Scotland. Division Two was reintroduced after having been abandoned due to World War I. Automatic promotion and relegation was introduced this season, as well as goal difference to divide teams who are level on points...
, when they placed third in the Scottish Football League
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League is a league of football teams in Scotland, comprising theScottish First Division, Scottish Second Division and Scottish Third Division. From the league's foundation in 1890 until the breakaway Scottish Premier League was formed in 1998, the Scottish Football League...
, and achieved a British goal scoring record of 142 goals in 34 matches in the 1937–1938 season
1937-38 in Scottish football
The 1937–38 season was the 48th season of competitive football in Scotland.-Scottish League Division One:Champions: CelticRelegated: Dundee, Morton-Scottish League Division Two:Promoted: Raith Rovers, Albion Rovers...
. Under manager Jimmy Nicholl
Jimmy Nicholl
James Michael "Jimmy" Nicholl is a Canadian-born former Northern Ireland international footballer who played for Manchester United.He was mainly a right-back but could also play in other defensive roles...
, the team were promoted to the Scottish Premier Division as Division One champions in the 1994–1995 season
1994-95 in Scottish football
The 1994–95 season was the 98th season of competitive football in Scotland. This season seen the re-introduction of the Scottish 3rd division, after an absence of 26 years, and also the introduction of three points for a win being awarded instead of just two.-Notable events:*Raith Rovers...
. In 1994
1994-95 in Scottish football
The 1994–95 season was the 98th season of competitive football in Scotland. This season seen the re-introduction of the Scottish 3rd division, after an absence of 26 years, and also the introduction of three points for a win being awarded instead of just two.-Notable events:*Raith Rovers...
the club won their first national trophy, when they defeated Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
6-5 on penalties
Penalty shootout (football)
A penalty shoot-out, referred to as kicks from the penalty mark in the Laws of the Game, is the FIFA official term for a method used in association football to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament following a tied game...
after finishing the game 2–2, to win the League Cup
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup is a football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs. At present it is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup owing to the sponsorship deal in place with the Scottish Government. In the past it has been sponsored by...
. This gained them qualification to the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
in the following season
1995-96 in Scottish football
The 1995–96 season was the 99th season of competitive football in Scotland.-Summary:Rangers won the Premier Division with a record 87 points, finishing four ahead of rivals Celtic. Aberdeen were third with 55 points ....
. The club reached the second round
UEFA Cup 1995-96
The UEFA Cup 1995-96 was won by Bayern Munich on aggregate over Bordeaux. Girondins de Bordeaux went to the finals all the way from the UEFA Intertoto Cup 1995....
before losing to Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....
.
The junior
Scottish Junior Football Association
The Scottish Junior Football Association is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the Junior grade of football in Scotland. The term "Junior" refers to the level of football played...
football team, Kirkcaldy YM
Kirkcaldy YM F.C.
Kirkcaldy YM Junior F.C. are a Scottish football club based in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Formed in 1969 as an amateur club, they became members of the Scottish Junior Football Association in 1970...
, play their games at Denfield Park in the East Region Central Division. The senior rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
team, Kirkcaldy RFC
Kirkcaldy RFC
Kirkcaldy Rugby Football Club are a rugby union side from Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland.The team was established in 1873 and currently play in Scottish Premiership division 3...
, play their games at the Beveridge Park in the Scottish Premiership Division Three. Fife Flyers
Fife Flyers
The Fife Flyers, established in 1938, are the oldest ice hockey team in Scotland, and also in the United Kingdom, beating the Nottingham Panthers by 8 years...
, established in 1938, are the oldest ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team in the United Kingdom. The team, who play at the Fife Ice Arena
Fife Ice Arena
Fife Ice Arena opened in 1938. was designed by architects & . Fife Ice Arena is the home venue of the oldest Ice Hockey team in the UK - the Fife Flyers. It is also a venue for public skating, figure skating, speed skating, curling and ice shows...
, will join the Elite League
Elite Ice Hockey League
Several competitions fall under the jurisdiction of the Elite League. In 2006–07, the EIHL ran a total of four competitions: the league, playoffs, Challenge Cup and Knockout Cup. The league consists of a single division, each team playing three home games and three away games against the other...
for the 2011/2012 season. A cricket club plays at Dunnikier Park and a flag football club at Beveridge Park. The town has a range of leisure facilities such as a swimming pool, the ice rink, and two golf courses (Kirkcaldy and Dunnikier).
A new £15 million leisure centre to replace Kirkcaldy Swimming Pool is scheduled to be built on the site of the existing Tolbooth Street car park. However, Kirkcaldy MSP Marilyn Livingstone
Marilyn Livingstone
Marilyn Livingstone is a Scottish Labour Co-operative politician, who served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Kirkcaldy constituency from 1999-2011....
claims 92% opposition to the chosen site in a survey she has carried out. The campaign group, Save The Car Park, have collected over 7,000 signatures against the closure of the car park. They fear closure would discourage shoppers from coming to the High Street. Legal objections have also been raised by the group to the council, who are to purchase shop owners' legal rights of access to the car park. This action has been severely criticised in an internal auditors report. Ongoing issues relating to access rights have delayed work on the new leisure centre until late 2011, with a target completion date of spring 2013.
Landmarks
David de Bernham
David de Bernham was Chamberlain of King Alexander II of Scotland and subsequently, Bishop of St. Andrews. He was elected to the see in June 1239, and finally consecrated, after some difficulties, in January, 1240. He died in 1253, and was buried at Nenthorn, near Kelso.-References:*Dowden, John,...
, Bishop of St Andrews. Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
was baptised in the Old Kirk in 1723. The building's deterioration in the late eighteenth century was addressed by major renovations to the main body of the church between 1807 and 1808. Only the square western tower, which dates from around 1500, was retained. In 2011 the Old Kirk was purchased by the Old Kirk Trust using a £75,000 loan from businessman John Sim, son of the late Reverend John Sim, minister of the church from 1960 to 1987. The Trust will maintain the building for the use of the community following the closure of the church as a place of worship in November 2010 by the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
.
The Category B listed Kirkcaldy Town House
Kirkcaldy Town House
Kirkcaldy Town House is a Scandinavian influenced town hall located in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. The current town house was begun in 1937, from a competition-winning design by architects David Carr and William Howard of Edinburgh. Only the foundations had been put in place before construction was...
on Wemyssfield is the centrepiece of the town's civic square. It was designed in the 1930s by David Carr and William Howard of Edinburgh. The Second World War brought work on the building to a halt and this did not resume until 1950. Construction was split into two phases: the west wing, which was completed in 1953, and the east wing, completed in 1956. At the corner of Hunter Street and Wemyssfield is the Category B listed former Kirkcaldy Post Office, built between 1900 and 1902 in a Scottish baronial style
Scottish baronial style
The Scottish Baronial style is part of the Gothic Revival architecture style, using stylistic elements and forms from castles, tower houses and mansions of the Gothic architecture period in Scotland, such as Craigievar Castle and Newark Castle, Port Glasgow. The revival style was popular from the...
. It was one of the first buildings in Scotland to incorporate the initials and coat of arms of King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, monarch of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(reigned 1901-1910).
The Category B listed Kirkcaldy War Memorial in War Memorial Gardens unveiled in June 1923 was gifted to the town by John Nairn, linoleum manufacturer and grandson of Michael Nairn. This was dedicated to Ian Nairn, the son of John Nairn who died in the First World War. The Second World War memorial, designed by Thomas Hubbard, was unveiled in 1958. Bronze plates depicting a sailor, a soldier, and an airman cover three sides of the central pillar. At the base of the memorial are 36 south-facing plates, 18 on each side of the central piece, which commemorate the lives of 1,012 people from the town who died in the First World War. On the east side is the tomb of the unknown soldier, along with 11 bronze plates which list the 452 men and women who died in the Second World War. As part of the War Memorial, the Category B listed Kirkcaldy Art Gallery, Museum and Central Library building was also donated by Nairn.
At the corner of Bennochy Road and St Brycedale Avenue is the Category B listed Adam Smith Theatre was gifted to the town by linen manufacturer, Michael Beveridge as a memorial intended to mark the 100th anniversary of Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
. On St Brycedale Avenue is the Category B listed St Brycedale's Church with its 204 feet (62.2 m) spire built between 1877 and 1881 as a free church
Free church
The term "free church" refers to a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separated from government . A free church does not define government policy, nor have governments define church policy or theology, nor seeks or receives government endorsement or funding for its general mission...
. The church was renovated in the late 1980s to make space for a social centre for social and educational groups in the lower area, while the upper area was retained as a traditional church.
In the north-east of the town are two buildings which were the homes of wealthy merchants and shipowners connected with Kirkcaldy's harbour. The Category A listed Merchant's House, or Law's Close, at 339–343 High Street is one of the best surviving examples of a sixteenth-century town house in Scotland. The house was built around 1590 for David Law, a wealthy ship owner and merchant. The Category A listed Sailors' Walk, at 443–449 High Street, consists of a pair of seventeenth-century houses, once divided into four dwellings, which are situated on foundations dating back to around 1460. This is the oldest house in Kirkcaldy. Three of the four dwellings were owned by the Oliphants, a ship-owning family. The fourth was owned by James Ferguson of Raith. In 1650 the newly crowned King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
stayed at the house as a lodger while passing through the town, following his coronation at Scone Palace
Scone Palace
Scone Palace is a Category A listed historic house at Scone, Perthshire, Scotland. It was constructed in 1808 for the Earls of Mansfield by William Atkinson...
. A forward-looking committee saved the house from being demolished in 1934, and it was acquired by the National Trust for Scotland
National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland describes itself as the conservation charity that protects and promotes Scotland's natural and cultural heritage for present and future generations to...
in 1935. Architects Wheeler and Sproson undertook reconstruction work on the building between 1954 and 1959.
North of the harbour area, on The Path, are two examples of distinctive architectural styles. The Category B listed Hutchison's House was designed by George Spears, the owner of the nearby East Bridge distillery, in 1793. The Category A listed Path House, originally known as Dunnikier House, is a three-storey L-plan tower house designed by John Watson in 1692 for his bride, Euphan Orrock. In 1703 Watson sold the house to the Oswald family, who had important links with the town.
To the north of the town is the Category B listed
Dunnikier House, designed by Alexander Laing between 1791–1793 as a family residence for the Oswald family. The category A listed Raith House was built by Sir Alexander Raith, 4th Earl of Raith and Melville, for his bride, Barbara Dundas, in 1694. Today Raith House is owned by the Munro-Ferguson family as a private residence.
Ravenscraig Castle
Ravenscraig Castle is a ruined castle located in Kirkcaldy which dates from around 1460. The castle is an early example of artillery defence in Scotland...
stands on a rocky spit of land extending into the Firth of Forth to the east of the town. King James II
James II of Scotland
James II reigned as King of Scots from 1437 to his death.He was the son of James I, King of Scots, and Joan Beaufort...
began construction of the castle in 1460 for his queen, Mary of Gueldres. It was also a means of defending the upper reaches of the Forth, including the port of Dysart. To a lesser extent it protected the harbour of Kirkcaldy against piracy and English rivalry. Ravenscraig is one of the earliest British castles designed to defend against and use artillery, an innovation demonstrated by the massive walls, the regularly placed shot holes, and the deep rock-cut ditch. Following the death of the King at the siege of Roxburgh Castle
Roxburgh Castle
Roxburgh Castle was a castle sited near Kelso, in the Borders region of Scotland, in the former Roxburghshire.-History:The castle was founded by King David I. In 1174 it was surrendered to England after the capture of William I at Alnwick, and was often in English hands thereafter. The Scots made...
(1460), work continued on Ravenscraig, and it became a home for Mary of Gueldres until her death in 1463. In 1470 King James III
James III of Scotland
James III was King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family.His reputation as the...
granted the castle and lands to William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and Caithness
William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness
William Sinclair , 1st Earl of Caithness , 3rd Earl of Orkney , Baron of Roslin was a Scottish nobleman and the builder of Rosslyn Chapel, in Midlothian....
, in exchange for the castle in Kirkwall
Kirkwall
Kirkwall is the biggest town and capital of Orkney, off the coast of northern mainland Scotland. The town is first mentioned in Orkneyinga saga in the year 1046 when it is recorded as the residence of Rögnvald Brusason the Earl of Orkney, who was killed by his uncle Thorfinn the Mighty...
and the right to the Earldom of Orkney
Earldom of Orkney
The Earldom of Orkney was a Norwegian dignity in Scotland which had its origins in the Viking period. The title of Earl of Orkney was passed down the same family line through to the Middle Ages....
.
Education
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
and Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
. The school was located at Hill Street before being replaced by Kirkcaldy Grammar School on St Brycedale Avenue in 1843. A Government list of 1872 described the school as being of 'higher class'. A new building for the school was gifted to the town in 1893 by Michael Barker Nairn, a linen manufacturer, at a cost of £10,000 (£ as of ),. Other schools were established in the town, such as girls schools, subscription schools, and apprentice schools. The town benefited from the will of Robert Philp, a linen manufacturer, who left £75,000 (£ as of ),. This money was used to fund a trust in his name, which ran schools in Kirkcaldy, Linktown, and Pathhead. The passing of the Education (Scotland) Act in 1872 replaced voluntary education in the town with a school-based education for all children between the ages of 5 to 13.
Today Kirkcaldy has four secondary schools and twelve primary schools. Other educational facilities include a private school and a school for children with learning difficulties. Kirkcaldy High School, the oldest secondary school, serves pupils living in the north of the town and has occupied a site on Dunnikier Way since 1958. Balwearie High School opened as a junior secondary school in 1964 and was upgraded to a high school in 1972. The school serves pupils living in the western end of the town and neighbouring Kinghorn
Kinghorn
Kinghorn is a town in Fife, Scotland. A seaside resort with two beaches, Kinghorn Beach and Pettycur Bay, plus a fishing port, it stands on the north shore of the Firth of Forth opposite Edinburgh...
and Burntisland
Burntisland
Burntisland is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland on the Firth of Forth. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 5,940....
. Viewforth High School, which opened in 1908, was also initially a junior secondary school, but upgraded to a high school in 1980. A new secondary school for the east of Kirkcaldy will eventually replace the ageing Viewforth High School. Two possible locations are on Windmill Road and at Randolph Playing Fields. The school is expected to be completed in 2019. St Andrews RC High School, which opened in the late 1950s is one of only two Roman Catholic secondary schools in Fife. This caters to pupils living in the eastern half of Fife, from St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
to Burntisland and Lochgelly
Lochgelly
Lochgelly is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is located between Lochs Ore and Gelly to the north-west and south-east respectively. It is separated from Cowdenbeath by the village of Lumphinnans. According to the 2007 population estimate, the town has a population of 6,834.-History:From the 1830s...
.
Further education was first provided by the former Kirkcaldy Technical College, which opened in St Brycedale Avenue in 1929. Initially only evening classes were offered, since the facility was used during the day by Kirkcaldy High School. Plans for an extension to the college were proposed in 1956. The second phase, completed in 1965, involved alterations to the existing building, and the third phase in 1968 entailed the demolition of the old High School building and construction of a nine-storey tower block. In 2003 Fife College of Further and Higher Education, the successor to Kirkcaldy Technical College undertook a £12.5 million redevelopment of the campus, which included the demolition and replacement of the tower block with a new building. Fife College of Further and Higher Education officially merged with Glenrothes College on 1 August 2005, to become known as Adam Smith College
Adam Smith College
Adam Smith College is a Scottish further and higher education college located over various campuses across the county of Fife.-History:The college was formed on August 1, 2005 by the merger of Glenrothes College and Fife College and is named after Adam Smith, the founder of modern economics, who...
. Adam Smith College has two campuses in the town: St Brycedale Campus on St Brycedale Avenue and the Priory Campus on Victoria Road. The University of Dundee
University of Dundee
The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....
also have a campus in the town which specialises as a School for Nursing and Midwivery. This campus originally built by the Fife Health Board for the use of Fife College, was taken over by the University in 1996.
Public services
Waste management is handled by the local authority, Fife Council. There is a kerbside recyclingRecycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
scheme in operation in the town. A three-bin collection is in place for the majority of residents living within Fife. Kirkcaldy has one recycling centre and several recycling points, all operated by Fife Council. Non-hazardous waste is sent to landfill at Lochhead near Dunfermline
Dunfermline
Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to a 2008 estimate, Dunfermline has a population of 46,430, making it the second-biggest settlement in Fife. Part of the town's name comes from the Gaelic word...
, and Lower Melville Wood, near Ladybank
Ladybank
Ladybank is a town and former burgh of Fife, Scotland. It is located about north of Edinburgh, southwest of Cupar, close to the River Eden. Its 2006 population was estimated at 1,582.-History:Prior to the 18th century, this area was mostly marshland...
.
Health care is supplied by NHS Fife
NHS Fife
NHS Fife is one of the fourteen regions of NHS Scotland. It provides healthcare services in the Fife area. NHS Fife is headquartered in Hayfield House, Kirkcaldy.-Fife:*Adamson Hospital, Cupar*Cameron Hospital, Windygates...
, who have their headquarters at Hayfield House in the town. The Victoria Hospital
Victoria Hospital (Kirkcaldy)
Victoria Hospital is a large hospital situated to the north of the town centre in Kirkcaldy. As one of two main hospitals in Fife, this serves both the town and surrounding Mid-Fife area...
serves as the accident and emergency hospital in the town. A new £152.5 million 530000 sq ft (49,238.6 m²) extension to the hospital is expected to be finished in January 2012. The new extension will contain a maternity unit, eleven operating theatres, 528 new beds, and a relocated Accident and Emergency Department. Within the grounds of the hospital, a Maggie's Centre
Maggie's centres
Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres are a network of drop-in centres in Great Britain, whichaim to help anyone who has been affected by cancer. They are not intended as a replacement for conventional cancer therapy, but as a caring environment that can provide support, information and practical advice...
, under the name of Maggie's Fife, specialises in care for patients with cancer. The centre, which was completed between 2004 and 2006, was the first building to be designed by Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
, an Iraqi
Iraqi people
The Iraqi people or Mesopotamian people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq, known since antiquity as Mesopotamia , with a large diaspora throughout the Arab World, Europe, the Americas, and...
-born architect in the United Kingdom. Whyteman's Brae Hospital, which is also part of the complex, serves psychiatric and elderly patients.
Statutory emergency fire and rescue service
Fire service in the United Kingdom
The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales...
s in the town are provided by the Fife Fire and Rescue Service from its station on Dunnikier Road. Policing in Kirkcaldy is operated by Fife Constabulary
Fife Constabulary
Fife Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council area of Fife.The area policed by Fife Constabulary has a resident population of just over 350,000, almost a third of whom live in one of the three principal towns of Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes...
. The headquarters of the Kirkcaldy area is on St Brycedale Avenue. Kirkcaldy is served by the East Central Region of the Scottish Ambulance Service
Scottish Ambulance Service
The Scottish Ambulance Service is part of NHS Scotland, and serves all of Scotland. It is a Special Health Board funded directly by the Scottish Government Health Department....
, which covers Tayside
Tayside
Tayside Region was a local government region of Scotland from 15 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. It was created by the 1973 Act following recommendations made by the 1969 Wheatley Report which attempted to replace the mishmash of counties, cities, burghs and districts, with a uniform two-tier system...
, Forth Valley, and the Fife. There are two ambulance stations in the town, one on Whyteman's Brae and the other at the Victoria Hospital on Hayfield Road.
Transport
Glenrothes
Glenrothes is a large town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is located approximately from both Edinburgh, which lies to the south and Dundee to the north. The town had an estimated population of 38,750 in 2008, making Glenrothes the third largest settlement in Fife...
and Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
to the north, passes immediately north of Kirkcaldy. The A910 road connects it to the western and central parts of the town. At Redhouse Roundabout the A921 connects the A92 to the eastern side of Kirkcaldy. It continues via St Clair Street and The Esplanade on to Kinghorn
Kinghorn
Kinghorn is a town in Fife, Scotland. A seaside resort with two beaches, Kinghorn Beach and Pettycur Bay, plus a fishing port, it stands on the north shore of the Firth of Forth opposite Edinburgh...
, Burntisland, and Aberdour
Aberdour
Aberdour is a scenic and historic village on the south coast of Fife, Scotland. It is on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, looking south to the island of Inchcolm and its Abbey, and to Leith and Edinburgh beyond. According to the 2006 population estimate, the village has a population of...
to the south-west. The main route through the north of the town, the B981, runs roughly parallel to and one kilometre to the south of the A92. This road also connects to the A910 and the A921, from Chapel Junction via Chapel Level and Dunnikier Way to Gallatown. From here the A915, known locally as the Standing Stane Road, connects the town to St Andrews and Leven
Leven, Fife
Leven is a seaside town in Fife, set in the east Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the coast of the Firth of Forth at the mouth of the River Leven, north-east of Kirkcaldy and east of Glenrothes....
to the north-east. The A955 runs along the coast from Dysart to East Wemyss
East Wemyss
East Wemyss is a village situated on the south coast of the Kingdom of Fife, Scotland. In the United Kingdom Census 2001 the population was recorded as 1841.- History :...
and Buckhaven
Buckhaven
Buckhaven is a coastal town on the east coast of Fife, Scotland, on the Firth of Forth between East Wemyss and Methil. Its inhabitants sometimes refer to it as Buckhind or Buckhine...
to the north-east.
The main bus station, adjacent to the Postings Shopping Centre, is between Hill Place and Hunter Street. The Kirkcaldy railway station
Kirkcaldy railway station
Kirkcaldy Railway Station is a railway station in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. The station is managed by First ScotRail and is on the Fife Circle Line and principal NXEC mainline, north east of . British Transport Police maintain a small office on Platform 1.The station is located on...
is to the north-west of the town centre and is on the route for the Fife Circle Line
Fife Circle Line
The Fife Circle is the local rail service north from Edinburgh. It links all the towns of south Fife and the coastal towns along the Firth of Forth before heading to Edinburgh.-Service:...
and the East Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...
. Other services run to locations such as Perth
Perth railway station, Scotland
Perth railway station is a railway station located in Perth, Scotland. The station, designed by Sir William Tite, won an architecture prize. It has seven platforms, five of which are "through" platforms....
, Aberdeen
Aberdeen railway station
Aberdeen railway station is the main railway station in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is the busiest railway station in Scotland north of the major cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.- History :...
, and Inverness
Inverness railway station
Inverness railway station is the railway station serving the Scottish city of Inverness.- History :Opened on 5 November 1855 as the western terminus of the Inverness and Nairn Railway, it is now the terminus of the Highland Main Line, the Aberdeen-Inverness Line , the Kyle of Lochalsh Line and the...
to the north and Newcastle Central, York
York railway station
York railway station is a main-line railway station in the city of York, England. It lies on the East Coast Main Line north of London's King's Cross station towards Edinburgh's Waverley Station...
, and London King's Cross to the south. Nearby stations such as Burntisland
Burntisland railway station
Burntisland railway station is a railway station in the town of Burntisland, Fife, Scotland. The station is managed by First ScotRail and is on the Fife Circle Line.- External links :...
and Kinghorn
Kinghorn railway station
Kinghorn railway station is a railway station in the town of Kinghorn, Fife, Scotland. The station is managed by First ScotRail and is on the Fife Circle Line 37 km north east of Edinburgh Waverley.-Service:...
are to the south and west of the town. The nearest international airport is Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Airport is located at Turnhouse in the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, and was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2010, handling just under 8.6 million passengers in that year. It was also the sixth busiest airport in the UK by passengers and the fifth busiest by aircraft movements...
, 26 miles (41.8 km) away.
Notable people
Kirkcaldy is the birthplace of many notable people such as the social philosopher Adam SmithAdam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
, who wrote The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith...
at his mother's house at 220 High Street between 1765-1767 ; the architect and designer Robert Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
(and his father, William), and Sandford Fleming
Sandford Fleming
Sir Sandford Fleming, was a Scottish-born Canadian engineer and inventor, proposed worldwide standard time zones, designed Canada's first postage stamp, a huge body of surveying and map making, engineering much of the Intercolonial Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway, and was a founding...
, the founder of Standard Time
Universal Time
Universal Time is a time scale based on the rotation of the Earth. It is a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time , i.e., the mean solar time on the Prime Meridian at Greenwich, and GMT is sometimes used loosely as a synonym for UTC...
. The explorer John McDouall Stuart
John McDouall Stuart
John McDouall Stuart was one of the most accomplished and famous of all Australia's inland explorers. Stuart led the first successful expedition to traverse the Australian mainland from south to north and return, and the first to do so from a starting point in South Australia, achieving this...
, who led six expeditions into the centre and from the south to north of Australia, was born in nearby Dysart.
Politicians who come from the town include Ronald Munro Ferguson, the Governor-General of Australia
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
from 1914–1920; David Steel
David Steel
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats...
, leader of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
from 1979–1988 and former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament is the speaker of the Scottish Parliament, elected by the Members of the Scottish Parliament, by means of an exhaustive ballot. He or she also heads the Corporate Body of the Scottish Parliament and as such is viewed as a figurehead for the entire...
; and Bertha Wilson
Bertha Wilson
Bertha Wernham Wilson, CC was a Canadian jurist and the first woman Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.-Early life:...
, the first female judge of the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
and Court of Appeal for Ontario.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
and Prime Minister, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, was brought up in the town from the age of three. The Scottish crime writer Val McDermid
Val McDermid
Val McDermid is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of suspense novels starring her most famous creation, Dr. Tony Hill.-Biography:...
was born in the town.
Guy Berryman
Guy Berryman
Guy Rupert Berryman is a Scottish musician known as the bassist for the groups Coldplay and Apparatjik. Berryman is left-handed but chooses to play the bass right-handed.-Coldplay:...
, bassist of the alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
, was born and brought up in the town until the age of thirteen.
Richard Park
Richard Park
Richard Park is a Korean-born American professional ice hockey forward currently playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League .-Playing career:Park moved to Southern California near Los Angeles with his family at the age of three...
, the chief executive of Global Radio
Global Radio
Global Radio UK Ltd. is a British commercial radio company, the largest in the country following acquisitions of Chrysalis Radio and GCap Media.The company's Chief Executive Officer is Stephen Miron, while the Group Chairman is Charles Allen...
and the headmaster on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
talent show Fame Academy
Fame Academy
Fame Academy is a televised competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner received a chance to become a successful music artist. The prize consisted of a £1m recording contract with a major record company, plus the use of a luxury apartment in London and a sports car for one...
was born in the town, where he attended Kirkcaldy High School.
Sportsmen include the two-time world darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
champion Jocky Wilson
Jocky Wilson
John Thomas Wilson known as "Jocky" Wilson, is a former Scottish darts champion. He retired from the game in 1995.Wilson was twice World professional Darts Champion in 1982 and 1989...
, footballer Colin Cameron, and professional golfer
Professional golfer
In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose his or her amateur status. A golfer who has lost his or her amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated;...
Peter Whiteford
Peter Whiteford
Peter William Whiteford is a Scottish professional golfer.Whiteford was born in Kirkcaldy. He turned professional in 2002....
. David Danskin
David Danskin
David Danskin was a Scottish mechanical engineer and footballer. He was a principal founding member of Dial Square FC, later renamed Royal Arsenal, the team that are today known as Arsenal....
, the founder of Dial Square FC (now known as Arsenal FC), the first football team from the south of England to play in the Football League, was brought up in Kirkcaldy. William Arnott
Arnott's Biscuits Holdings
Arnott's Biscuits Holdings , is a subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Company of the United States.In Australia Arnott's is the largest producer of biscuits and the second-largest supplier of snack food.-History:...
(1827–1901), a biscuit manufacturer in Australia, also came from the town.
External links
- Undiscovered Scotland on Kirkcaldy
- Kirkcaldy Civic Society
- About Kirkcaldy
- Kirkcaldy on FifeDirect
- Kirkcaldy Renaissance on FifeDirert
- Kirkcaldy4all – Business Improvment District (BID)
- Tribute site to the Kirkcaldy Alternative Music Scene of the 1980s
- The Fife Post
- Kirkcaldy Renaissance
- Kirkcaldy Links Market
- Kirkcaldy Golf Club