(. This name derived from the original expansion of the town in a thin strip parallel to the sea front. The town has since developed further up and down the coast, encompassing formerly separate communities, but also extensively inland, so the term "The Lang Toun" is now only a reference to its historical shape.
The name Kirkcaldy is now generally believed to derive from the '' meaning ''church'' and the
Culdee s are less favoured now.
The town lies on the north shore of the
Firth Of Forth . The former
Burgh s of
Dysart , Linktown and
Pathhead , and the villages of Sinclairtown and Gallatown are now incorporated into Kirkcaldy.
Kirkcaldy's size reflects its historical importance as the largest east coast settlement between
Edinburgh and
Dundee . Its location in a relatively sheltered bay in the Firth of Forth enabled the growth of the port, which also supported a sizeable fishing fleet. Its hinterland includes good farmland and mineral wealth in
Coal . The last ship to enter the harbour was in 1991. Much of the quay area has since been built up with flats. The Harbour Master's Office had to be demolished following a fire in 2004. It was a small but prominent building with a slate roof. A housing development firm wishes to recreate the former house.
{Link without Title} .
Between 16-28 July 2007 an experimental
Hovercraft service (marketed as ''Forthfast'') was operated between Kirkcaldy and
Portobello, Edinburgh .
Stagecoach operated the trial service and are considering establishing this link on a permanent basis.
Kirkcaldy was famous throughout much of the 19th and 20th Centuries for
Linoleum manufacturing, notably Nairns, linked with Dundee jute imports; linen produced from local flax; and for its annual week-long
Links Market - Europe's longest street
Fair s - that celebrated its 700th anniversary in
2004 . The town still has one of the longest developed sea-fronts in Europe, overlooking the Firth of Forth. In the
17th Century it boasted one of the earliest
Latvian Consulates , reflecting centuries of trade with Scandinavia, the Baltic States and The Netherlands.
The
Battle Of Raith is said to have been fought near Kirkcaldy in 596 AD.
It was gifted to the monks of
Dunfermline Abbey in
1364 , on condition of a mutual protection pact against sea-raiders, who had already ravaged the East Neuk. The town's status as a royal burgh was confirmed by
Charles I (1625-49) in
1644 . Kirkcaldy grew up around its harbour near the mouth of the East Burn and expanded rapidly in the
19th Century with the development of textile, linoleum and
Coal industries.
It was the administrative centre of Kirkcaldy District from 1975 to 1996.
The District, which includes surrounding towns and villages, has a population of around 150,000 people. The term is still occasionally used today.
Kirkcaldy town centre was designated a conservation area in 1980 and amongst many interesting buildings are the Old Kirk (Old Parish Church) with its late medieval tower, 15th-century Ravenscraig Castle, 17th-century Sailor's Walk,
Kirkcaldy Museum And Art Gallery (1925), the Adam Smith Centre (1894-99), the Nordic style Town House designed in 1937 by David Carr, Dunnikier House (built in the 1790s and now a hotel) and St Brycedale Church (1877-81) which rises to 60 m (200 feet) and takes its name from Kirkcaldy's patron saint.
completed
The Wealth Of Nations , from Kirkcaldy's High Street.]]
In addition to the "Father of Modern Economics" Adam Smith (1723-90), the "Demarcator of Standard Time" (
Universal Standard Time )
Sandford Fleming (
1827 -
1915 ), and one of Scotland's most famous
Architect s,
Robert Adam (1728-92), Kirkcaldy has been the birthplace of a great many famous sons and daughters.
Reformation figures
Henry Balnaves and
George Gillespie both hailed from the town as did, in more recent times,
Frederick Coutts , 8th General of the
Salvation Army .
John Philip , a missionary to
South Africa was born in Kirkcaldy in
1775 .
In politics, Kirkcaldy counts sixth champion
Jocky Wilson was born in the town and lives in the Lauder Road area. Also, racing driver
Peter Dumbreck was born and grew up in the Dysart area. From popular culture,
Coldplay Bassist Guy Berryman comes from Kirkcaldy.
('Pet Marjorie') (1803-1811) was born, lived and died in Kirkcaldy.
Amateur
Phenologist David Grisenthwaite lives in the area.
Colin Cameron , a professional footballer and Scottish internationalist was also born in the Linktown area of Kirkcaldy, starting his career with
Raith Rovers F.C. .
Bertha Wilson (1923-2007), the first female judge of the
Supreme Court Of Canada and the
Court Of Appeal For Ontario was born in Kirkcaldy.
See Also: Kirkcaldy and District Pipe Band
Kirkcaldy has in its time been home to a number of
Pipe Band s. Currently the town has the Kirkcaldy and District Pipe Band, which has gone under the name of the K.U.S.I. (Kirkcaldy United Services Institute) and the Argos Pipe Band.
The local senior
Football team in the town is
Raith Rovers F.C. , who play at
Stark's Park . The club formed in 1883. They went full time in 1990 under then manager Frank Connor and have played in the Scottish Premier League in 1992/1993 and 1995/1997. They also won the Coca-Cola Cup (now CIS insurance) over Celtic in 1994 and played in the UEFA cup in 1995.
Kirkcaldy has a local
Junior side, known as
Kirkcaldy YM (Young Men) , who play in the
East Region, Central Division .
Kirkcaldy also has an active rugby team, Kirkcaldy RFC, who currently play in the BT Premiership 3 league from their small ground situated in the Beveridge Park. They have managed to gain promotion from Premiership 3 as leaders at the end of the 1996/1997 season and promoted to Premiership 1 in 1999, playing the top rugby sides such as Boroughmuir, Watsonians, Glasgow Hawks, Currie and Hawick. Their player Matthew Harvey has had several appearances for Scotland's under 21s.
The oldest existing
Ice Hockey team in the
United Kingdom , the
Fife Flyers , are based in the town, playing at the
Fife Ice Arena on Rosslyn Street. They played in the now defunct
British National League alongside teams in Guildford, Milton Keynes, Slough, Dundee and Paisley. The team's future was put in jeopardy for the 2005/2006 season after the British National League was disbanded. This resulted in them having to join the Scottish National League, playing teams of a markedly lower standard. They are scheduled to move from their current venue when the new Ice Arena is built in Kirkcaldy. An eletrical fault which sparked a fire in the building on 28th February 2007, results in the outcome of the Flyers move to Edinburgh for a temporary basis for possibily months on end until it is fixed.
However, their rivals, Murrayfield, Dundee and Paisley have all offered the Flyers a loan of their ice rinks for practice[http://www.fifenow.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1014&ArticleID=2106836
Beveridge Park in the town hosted
Motorcycle Racing before the
Knockhill circuit was built in 1974.
Kirkcaldy has two
Golf courses. Kirkcaldy Golf Club commonly known as Balwearie course was established in 1904 and originally designed by
Old Tom Morris . It is an 18-hole course in 150-acres of parkland. The course is maintained on a regular basis, has a clubhouse which serves meals, a bar with alcoholic beverages and a small golf shop. There is also a small putting green for practise prior to the first hole.
Dunnikier Park Golf Course opened in 1963 as an 18 hole parkland course to the north of the town. It is adjacent to Dunnikier House Hotel and Dunnikier Park Golf Club, which acts as the clubhouse. Dunnikier is a municipal course.
Adam Smith College which was formed in August 2005 following the combining of Fife College and Glenrothes College has two main campuses in Kirkcaldy, the main one being the St. Brycedale Campus and the other known as Nairn Campus. They provide training and education for over 15,000 people. Actors
Ewan McGregor ,
Sharon Small ,
Dougray Scott and
Shirley Henderson , DJ
Edith Bowman and the artist
Jack Vettriano are some of the famous people that have attended the College.
The
University Of Dundee School of
Nursing and
Midwifery has a
Campus in Kirkcaldy, near the Railway Station.
See Also: Balwearie High School
Balwearie, located on Balwearie Gardens, originally opened in 1964 as a junior secondary (for those who had not passed the eleven plus exam). The School became a
Comprehensive in 1974. The 'Wizard of Balwearie',
Michael Scot , is associated in local tradition with a castle in the countryside to the west of the school. Balwearie is one of the biggest High Schools in Scotland with an intake of around 1600 pupils. The School operates an adjacent DSE department. The last few years have seen the school strive to reduce its large intake of pupils.
The catchment areas are: Kirkcaldy West, Dunnikier, Burntisland, Kinghorn and Strathallan.
See Also: Kirkcaldy High School
Kirkcaldy is located on Dunnikier Way. Kirkcaldy was the main high school for pupils that were able to pass their
Eleven Plus Exam . Kirkcaldy High School was extended and the new buildings opened in 1993. The High School also operated a junior building, for junior pupils in Templehall, until the building was disused. The catchment areas are: Capshard, Torbain, Valley, Cardenden, Fair Isle and Dunearn (which used to be spilt between Kirkcaldy and Balwearie, depending on which side of the hill you lived, is now entirely catchment area for Kirkcaldy because of Balwearie's focus on Strathallan and the downgrading of pupil numbers entering the School).
St Andrew's was founded in 1959 and is one of only two Catholic secondary schools in Fife. It is located on Overton Road. The catchment primary schools are St Marie's RC, St Paul's RC (Glenrothes), St Ninian's (Cardenden), St Patrick's (Lochgelly), St Agatha's (Leven), St Columba's (Cupar). It attracts a large number of placing requests each year.
The school's roll is approximately 800. In 2005 it achieved a good
HMIe inspection report
{Link without Title} . In response to this report, Fife Council are currently upgrading parts of the buildings. Its examination results were better than its comparator schools.
St Andrew's has links with schools in Germany, France and Malawi. It is also a
Fairtrade School.
Viewforth is located on Loughborough Road. The catchment areas are: Pathhead, Kirkcaldy North, Sinclairtown and Dysart. Viewforth was founded in the 1910s and has been an important part of the local community of East Kirkcaldy since then. There were however plans to replace the school two years ago as some of the current buildings require upgrading.
- Capshard
- Dunearn
- Dunnikier
- Dysart
- Fair Isle (School was torn down and re-built, it was opened again in January 2007, after being delayed since October 2006)
- Kirkcaldy North
- Kirkcaldy West
- Pathhead
- Sinclairtown
- Strathallan (opened in January 2007, it is the newest addition in Kirkcaldy)
- St Maries R C
- Torbain
- Valley
Some of Kirkcaldy's primary schools have an attached nursery near the main building. These include: Capshard, Fair Isle, Torbain and Kirkcaldy West.
See Also: The Mercat Shopping Centre
The Mercat Shopping Centre (from the Scots for ''market'' and commonly known as just ''The Mercat'') opened in 1973 and is located in the town centre. There was a Mercat cross on the High Street until 1782, a plaque erected by the Civic Society outside the current branch of Marks and Spencer marking its former position.
Kirkcaldy's High Street became partly pedestrianised in 1991 with many familiar chain stores locating here. Whytehouse Avenue, where the A listed Whyte's of Kirkcaldy house is located behind the shops. Kirk Wynd has the Fife Free Press offices and a pub (The Robert Nairn). All these streets are close to the main bus station. Kirkcaldy also has another small shopping centre on Hill Street, known as The Postings, which leads out on the stances for Kirkcaldy's bus station.
Kirkcaldy's swimming pool opened in 1972. Facilities include a small pool for infants, a medium-sized pool and a large pool with a diving board. There is also a small cafe. There is speculation concerning the demolition of the Kirkcaldy Swimming Pool and replacement by one with upgraded facilities, although plans have not yet been brought before the Council.
There have been many plans to develop both the neglected east and west ends of Kirkcaldy High Street, both suffering from a lack of shops and also out of the way of the main shopping area.
A plan was lodged to build a new shopping mall along the waterfront, across the Esplanade and 70m out into the Firth of Forth, extending from the West End of the High Street to Kirkcaldy harbour.
This application was refused planning permission in 2006 for a number of reasons such as: it was out of context and character with the existing townscape, poor pedestrian linkages would not have allowed the development to complement the existing centre and the applicants failed to demonstrate that the environmental impacts of the development were acceptable. Although, as of April 2007, the Waterfront development may still go ahead (with a multiplex cinema now as the main attraction), in a scaled down form. This has full backing from the former First Minister Jack McConnell to rejuvenate the town centre.[http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/topics/index.cfm?fuseaction=planapps.display&subjectid=104CC166-3ED1-4D22-B9F1E2FB8438478A&bwid=04/00405/CEIA .
Out-of-town Retail units are situated on the former site of Chapel Farm which includes typical UK chain stores. Still in the planning stages, a new road will be built to connect the Retail Park with the new housing estates of Rowanbrae and Hollybrae (built at the bottom end of the farm). This is set to include a major extension onto the site. Four existing units will need to be demolished for this to occur.
Speculation continues regarding the construction of another retail park behind the Hospital and the Nairn's Lino Works Museum scheduled to be built on part of the site of the former Nairn's factory on Nairn Street. Had the Centre gone ahead, it would be anchored by a possible Morrisons Supermarket. The proposal was refused by Fife Council, who concluded that the development would be situated too far away from the town centre to be profitable.
Kirkcaldy may soon be home to a new leisure centre on Kingslaw Park. Due process is underway presently - including the extraction of local coal seams - after which the building work will commence. The local MSP, Marilyn Livingstone, backs this project, as well as the controversial replacement of the town's swimming pool.
{Link without Title}
Employment sites in Kirkcaldy are largely concentrated in the north of the town. Main sites include
Mitchelston ,
Randolph and the
John Smith Business Park . Smaller industrial sites are also located at
Smeaton ,
Hayfield ,
Dysart ,
the harbour and
Invertiel .
Kirkcaldy employs around 21,500 people representing around 16% of employment in Fife. Unemployment in Kirkcaldy is above the national average at 4.9%.
{Link without Title}
There are plans to provide further business space at Kirkcaldy east near the
Kingslaw development site. This forms one of Fife's key Strategic Development Areas. This is aimed at addressing the chronic shortage of jobs in Kirkcaldy and is intended to aid with the high levels of unemployment in the town and its travel-to-work area which has seen Kirkcaldy officially branded as the third poorest town in the UK. [http://www.fifenow.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1015&ArticleID=805894][http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2005/05/19/newsstory7145791t0.asp]
See Also: Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery
The Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery is located on War Memorial Gardens, behind the main Railway Station, and was donated to the town in 1928 by John Nairn the linoleum magnate. The art gallery contains many famous paintings by the
Glasgow Boys and by
Scottish Colourists such as
Samuel Peploe and
John Duncan Fergusson .
The Central Library is housed in the same building as the Museum and Art Gallery. It has a children's section, adult's section and a reference library. There is also a portrait of John Nairn, who gifted the library to the town, located in the adult's section.
There was a plan to move the Kirkcaldy Central Library which had, some say
outgrown the available space in the building. If this had gone ahead the Museum and Art Gallery was to have expanded in to the space thus vacated. One potential new location was a derelict piece of land upon which a part of the Nairn's factory on Nairn Street once stood. The plan has since been scrapped and the museum and library will remain on their existing site, where instead the money will be used for a renovation project for the dual building at a cost of £1 million pounds.[http://www.fifeonline.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1015&ArticleID=2189399 .
Kirkcaldy's local theatre, the Adam Smith Theatre is located on Bennochy Road. Opened on 11 October, 1899, by
Andrew Carnegie , it was originally known as the Adam Smith Halls, until it underwent a major redevelopment, radically altering the internal layout. It is often referred to locally as the Adam Smith Centre.
Over the years, it has hosted regular appearances of the Birmingham Stage Company; annual Christmas
Pantomimes ; plays and stand-up comedians, such as
Tony Robinson 's 'I have a cunning plan' tour, Glasgow based
Billy Connolly ,
Tommy Cooper and
Jim Davidson . The Theatre is also the home to KADS (Kirkcaldy Amateur Dramatic Society) and KAOS (Kirkcaldy Amateur Operatic Society) who perform musicals every year. Their previous productions have been Chess and Cabaret. Other famous names who appeared on the stage include the late
Leslie Crowther ,
Barbara Dickson , Edinburgh King's Theatre Dame
Allan Stewart and
Des O'Connor .
The theatre is the main venue in Kirkcaldy for the annual
Fife Festival of Music , usually held from the third week of January to the first week in February. The aim is to encourage all types of musicianship, inviting participation of local violinists, singers, school choirs and instrumental groups.
The main auditorium acts as the town's only cinema facility.
The
Beveridge Park was bequeathed to the town in 1892 by Provost Michael Beveridge as a tribute to his late wife. The park operates a boating pond, a small skateboard park, bowling green, crazy golf and contains the ground of Kirkcaldy RFC.
Ravenscraig Park is located between Dysart and the Pathhead Sands, stretches along the coast as far as Dysart Habour, a stretch comprising many secluded coves.
Gallatown Park and
Dunnikier Park are both located in the north of the town.
See Also: Kirkcaldy railway station
Kirkcaldy railway station is located on Forth Avenue, close to the School of Nursing and Midwifery and Forth Avenue Industrial Estate.
The existing station building was completed in 1987, the previous one having been destroyed by fire. The building is behind Kirkcaldy Library and Art Gallery. A tunnel connects this side to the other platform and another entrance, by the main station car park.
Until recently there had been problems due to insufficient car parking provision. A large piece of overgrown and neglected grassy land was developed into a new car park extension. This opened in November 2006 and is accessed by the Forth Avenue entrance.
Stations in Dysart and Sinclairtown were closed during
Beeching 's railway cuts.
There has been a proposal to reopen Sinclairtown Station to complement the main station in the town centre.
The town hall is located on Hunter Street and has a distinct green copper spire with a clock face. The building flies the flags of fifteen European countries, including the German, Swiss, Swedish, Polish, Scottish, French, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Greek, Irish, Finnish, Belgian, the
Union Flag and of course that of the
European Union . There was a slight accident during the New Year storms of 2007 when the weather vane was in danger of falling off, leaving the building unsafe for days.
Kirkcaldy has a
Sheriff Court for the whole of the Kirkcaldy district area (including Glenrothes). The court is situated at the top of Whytescauseway.
Forth Park is the maternity hospital in Kirkcaldy, situated at the corner of Bennochy Road/Forth Park Avenue at the Bennochy Road/Hendry Road roundabout. Forth Park is scheduled to remain open, after the removal of the maternity wards which will occur in 2010, focusing on other benefits.
Kirkcaldy is home to Victoria Hospital on Hayfield Road, lying next to what is now the Victoria Gate Housing Development, along from Hayfield Industrial Estate. The Hospital also operates Whytesman's Brae, on the other side, which is primarily catering for the elderly.
The Hospital has been a vital part of Kirkcaldy's history; some parts still retain their 60s office block style. The Hospital caters for Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes and Levenmouth areas.
There has been recently a shortage and demand for more car parking spaces. An adjacent empty field is being developed for additional car parking.
| |
"wikitable"
|
