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BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTES ON KIRKCALDY
by Elizabeth Robertson.

In 1075 Malcolm Canmore granted the Shire of Kirkaladunt to the Abbott of Dunfermline , entitling him to receive taxes from the "shire". This is the first written reference found to the small settlement probably in the area where the harbour is now, perhaps to the foot of Kirk Wynd. A degree of control by Dunfermline continued until the middle of the seventeenth century.

During the next century the town stretched along the coastline to the end of what is now the High Street, becoming known unofficially as the Lang Toun - the name has remained although the shape of the town has altered.

Late in the nineteenth century the villages of Pathhead, Sinclairtown, Gallatown and Linktown were united with Kirkcaldy to form one Burgh. Finally the Burgh of Dysart was incorporated in 1930.

Although the Norman conquest did not have a direct effect on Scotland some Norman barons came north and were granted lands in return for support against Highland incursions. Feudalism resulted, trade increased and by the end of the twelfth century the town had spread along the shore and present High street area. At some point a church was built, probably on the site of the Old Kirk. It was mentioned in the middle of the twelfth century and visited by the Bishop of St. Andrews in 1244.

Early in the 14th century Kirkcaldy had a weekly market and two annual Fairs.(The fair was a week long opportunity to trade with special privileges.)The Burgesses who virtually ruled the town found it a way of controlling trade and buyers and sellers found it convenient.

Kirkcaldy was from time to time drawn into the affairs of the rest of Scotland, notably at Flodden where several noted landowners were killed, and no doubt many unnamed fighting men. The construction of Ravenscraig Castle, defensively built, with gun ports, not easily accessible from the land, was started by James II though not completed until after his accidental death.

At the time of the reformation Kirkcaldy supported the reformers, and some prominent men may have been implicated in the murder of Cardinal Beaton, in 1546.

In the next century Kirkcaldy became involved in the Covenanting Wars and lost many citizens at the Battle of Kilsyth and much property was taken by both of the armies during the Civil War. From a human point of view probably none of these military actions were as disastrous as the effects of the plague which took 700 lives in Kirkcaldy and Dysart towards the end of the sixteenth century.

By the end of the century, however, shipping and trade generally improved and the town prospered, but suffered again, financially, at the time of the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite rebellions. The nineteenth century saw tremendous growth in Trade, transport, road construction and education - and a slower development in the conditions in which its citizens lived.

COAL AND SALT
References to the production of coal date from the fifteenth century. It would have been used for various types of iron works and in the production of salt. Although Dysart was known as the Saut Burgh, Kirkcaldy also had a number of salt pans and for many years salt was exported to Scandinavia and other parts of Europe as well as to the north east fishing ports of Scotland.In the early nineteenth century the trade declined and has disappeared.

Although outwith the main East of Scotland coalfield, coal was extracted in some quantity from the Frances pit in Dysart as well as the nearby Randolph Pit and in smaller quantities in Kirkcaldy in the Smeaton and Denburn Road area and in the 19th Century from the Pannie pit, which was worked until 1929.

Finally the Seafield Colliery was opened, deep under the Forth with the intent to employ 2,500. In fact by 1972 2300 were working and later in the decade Seafield and Frances were linked. In the next decade, the Miner's strike and consequent damage as well as government policy brought about the closure of Seafield, and later Frances.

TEXTILES
Flax was grown in Fife in the fourteenth century and spinning of linen was carried on all over Fife. Handloom weaving existed in Fife from before the fifteenth century.

With the advent of spinning mills and power-looms the trade, like others during the Industrial Revolution changed and became centralised in factories. A number of factories sprang up in Kirkcaldy and Dysart during the nineteenth and continued into the twentieth century. By this time most of the flax used was imported - from Russia initially then Belgium and Holland.

During the first World War, many factories were fulfilling War Office and Admiralty contracts. Because importing flax became more difficult, the price mounted steeply. Between the wars, the price of flax remained high, Belgian and French spinners exported cheaper yarn and the Americans started to spin and weave their own cotton. The Scottish Linen trade slumped. Between the start of the century and the Second World War the number of people employed in the linen trade fell from 3700 to 1500, and little linen production remains to-day.

Other forms of woven material were also produced particularly in Dysart, but this too has now dwindled.

BLEACHING AND DYEING.
Took place alongside the weaving trade and diminished accordingly. Weaving in yet another firm took place in Meikle's Carpet Factory from 1919 in several locations, until 1980, with an interruption after fire destroyed their factory.

LINOLEUM
Michael Nairn, born of a weaving family set up a successful canvas factory, supplying sailcloth, but having the foresight to see that the market was diminishing with the advent of steam, diversified into the manufacture of floorcloth, which became the start of linoleum manufacture in Kirkcaldy, later to be joined by Barry Ostler and Shepherd, which survived until 1964. With its factory near the station it was the principal source of the "queer-like smell" characteristic of Kirkcaldy for many years. Nairns well-known factory survives as FORBO-NAIRN.

FURNITURE
Just as Nairns under changing times have been the sole survivors among other floorcloth manufacturers in Kirkcaldy, so one major furniture manufacturing company has survived for many years.

Alexander Henry McIntosh a contemporary and friend of Andrew Carnegie moved from Dunfermline to Kirkcaldy in the early 1850s as an upholsterer and in 1869 set up his own business, trading as A.H.McIntosh Cabinetmaker.

Over the years the business flourished, helped by the advent of the railway and moved from the Whytescauseway area to a site in Victoria road,and finally to Mitchelston Industrial Estate, where it survives as ESA McIntosh.

Other furniture businesses have come and gone in Kirkcaldy.

POTTERY
The start of the pottery industry in Kirkcaldy can be traced to the Brick and Tile works existing in the Links area in 1714. From bricks manufacture diversified to the production of chimneys and other outdoor ware .The clay for the pottery was at one time supplied from a clay pit near where Balwearie School now exists.

The Methven family made domestic pottery and finally the brick and tile works closed at the end of the nineteenth century.

The three smaller potteries in the Gallatown area were started during the ninetenth century , first the Fife Pottery, which went on to produce the famous Wemyss Ware, and later the Sinclairtown and Rosslyn Potteries.

The volume of pottery produced in Kirkcaldy between the middle of the nineteenth century and the depression years was considerable, but by 1932 the last of the potteries was closed.

Nowadays the Museum displays a selection of the products of the Kirkcaldy Potteries and a walk along the beach beyond Seafield with eyes down will also show fragments of the products of the nearby Links street factory.

TRANSPORT
In the early days of its development trade in Kirkcaldy was dependent upon shipping and in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries shipping prospered and the harbour was an important part of the town. With the advent of the railway shipping became less important . With tramways installed later, travelling within the expanded town became more common.

Another use of the ships built in Kirkcaldy for about 50 years in the nineteenth century was for whaling in the Arctic. By the time the Arctic supplies had almost disappeared the Antarctic became the favoured venue, and no more ships left from Kirkcaldy.

HEALTH, HOUSING, EDUCATION, ENTERTAINMENT
During the time of Kirkcaldy's growing prosperity inevitably the town grew with much new building, by private owners until after the First World War when councils started providing housing to rent. Public Buildings, the Adam Smith and Beveridge Halls, the Kings Theatre (now the ABC cinema. Other cinemas followed and film going was an important source of entertainment for many years, until the coming of Television reduced its appeal - especially to older people.

The first golf course, Balwearie, was laid out early in the century.

Compulsory elementary education having been introduced, a number of schools were built to cater for the growing population,, although the Philp Trust had provided some education for the poor of the town from earlier in the century.

John Nairn gifted the Museum, as part of the Memorial Gardens , opened in 1925 in remembrance of his son - one of many Kirkcaldy men killed in the First World War. The Library was added a couple of years later.

Inevitably some of the building was of a low standard and the state of the roads drew protest from the FIFE FREE PRESS.

Hospital provision in Kirkcaldy increased during the twentieth century. Before that the Cottage Hospital at the foot of St. Clair St and the Infectious Diseases Hospital provided care. The latter was extended to grow into the present Victoria Hospital. The Cottage Hospital, an Orthopaedic centre for a period, then closed. The Hunter Hospital opened for general care became a convalescent home and has since been closed.

TRANSPORT
The railway line from Edinburgh was opened in 1847, connecting train ferries at Burntisland and Tayport. In the 1880s Tramways were becoming a favourite method of transport and after some years of negotiation, the first route was opened in 1903, and provided public transport throughout the town until 1931.

The Free Press, founded in 1871, remains the main source of local news.

During most of this Century, the fortunes of Kirkcaldy have paralleled that of many medium sized towns in Scotland, growing for some years and declining with demand for many of its products.

REFERENCES

CAMPBELL J., RICHARDSON A., MCGREGOR G., DEAS G., MACBEAN L., Kirkcaldy Burgh and Schyre 1924 Kirkcaldy; Fifeshire Advertiser

LIVINGSTONE P.K. 1952, Flax and Linen in Fife Through the Centuries Kirkcaldy: Fifeshire Advertiser

MCNEILL C. 1998, Kirkcaldy Potteries Kirkcaldy: Kirkcaldy Publicity

REID N. 1999, History Comes of Age Kirkcaldy: Fife Free Press