Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Fife or Fifeshire

Fife or Fifeshire, a maritime county on the E side of Scotland. It is bounded on the N by the Firth of Tay, on the E by the German Ocean, on the S by the Firth of Forth, and on the W by Perth, Clackmannan, and Kinross shires. Its greatest length, from Fife Ness west-south-westward to Torry, is 41½ miles; its greatest breadth in the opposite direction, from Newburgh on the Tay to Burntisland on the Firth of Forth, is 21 miles; and its area is 5l3 square miles or 328,427 acres, of which 12,338¼ are foreshore and 1082 water. The western boundary, 61 miles long if one follows its ins and outs, is marked here and there, from S to N, by Comrie Burn, Loch Glow, Lochornie Burn, Benarty Hill, and the rivers Leven and Farg, but mostly is artificial. The northern coast, which has little curvature, trends mostly in an east-north-easterly direction, and measures 20¾ miles in length; the eastern is deeply indented by St Andrews Bay or the estuary of the Eden, and in its southern part forms a triangular peninsula, terminating in Fife Ness, on the N of the entrance to the Firth of Forth. The coast measures in a straight line from Tents Moor Point to Fife Ness 14½ miles, but along its curvatures 24 miles. The southern coast, 55 miles long, from Fife Ness to North Queensferry runs generally in a south-westerly direction, and from North Queensferry to the western boundary takes a west-north-westerly turn. The shore-line projects slightly at Elie Ness, Kinghorn Ness, and North Queensferry, and has considerable bays at Largo and Inverkeithing. It offers a pleasing variety of beach and shore, partly rocky and partly sandy, but generally low and gentle. The sea has, from time to time, made great encroachments on the shores of Fife, at Burntisland, Kirkcaldy, Dysart, Crail, St Andrews, and other places, eating away fields, gardens, fences, piers, and even dwelling-houses.

Fife, for its size, has a smaller fresh-water area than has any other Scotch county, smaller indeed than have several Highland parishes. The only streams of any consequence are the Eden, winding 29½ miles east. north-eastward to St Andrews Bay; the Leven, flowing 16¼ miles eastward (the first 1¼ in Kinross-shire) out of Loch Leven to Largo Bay; and the Orr, creeping 17 miles east-by-northward to the Leven a little above Cameron Bridge. The lakes, too, all are small. Kilconquhar Loch (4 x 3 furl.), in the SE; Kinghorn Loch (1¾ x 1½ furl.), Camilla Loch (2 x 1 furl.), Loch Gelly (5¾ x 3½ furl.), Loch Fitty (8 x 2 furl.), and Loch Glow (6 x 31/3. furl.), in the S and SW; and Lindores Loch (6¾ x 3 furl.), in the NW. And the surface, though mostly undulating or hilly, is nowhere mountainous, the principal heights being Lucklaw Hill (626 feet), in the NE; Kellie Law (500) and Largo Law (965), in the SE; Burntisland Bin (632) and Dunearn Hill (671), in the S; East Lomond (1471) and West Lomond (1713), near the middle of the W border; Benarty Hill (1167), Knock Hill (1189), and Saline Hill (1178), in the SW; and Green Hill (608), Black Craig (665), Norman's Law (850), and Lumbenny Hill (889), in the NW. So that Mr Hutchison is fully justified in saying that ` the physical aspect of Fife possesses nothing specially remarkable, and, compared with portions of the contiguous counties, may be described as rather tame. Geologically, it consists of one or two extensive open valleys and some smaller ones, with the alternating high lands, and then a gradual slope all round the coast towards the sea. Lofty mountains there are none; only hills, of which the principal are Wilkie's ` ` ain blue Lomonds, " Largo Law, and Norman's Law. The Eden and the Leven, with some tributary streams, are the only rivers in the interior; but the absence of any imposing volume of water inland is amply atoned for by the two noble estuaries of the Forth and the Tay, which, with the German Ocean, surround three-fourths of the county. Fife, as a whole, although the surface is nowhere flat, but pleasantly undulating all over, except, perhaps, in what is called the ` ` Howe of Fife, " is lacking in both the picturesque and the sublime, and it has never been regarded as a hunting-field for tourists. Its grand attractive feature, however, in the way of scenery, is the sea-coast. ` ` He, " says Defoe, ` ` that will view the county of Fife, must go round the coast; " and Mr Billings remarks that ` ` a ramble amongst the grey old towns which skirt the ancient Kingdom of Fife might well repay the architectural or archaeological investigator. " We might add that the tourist who was daring enough to abjure Schiehallion and Loch Maree for a season, and ` ` do " the coast of Fife instead, would be equally surprised and delighted with his vacation trip; a seaboard which is begirt with a score or more of towns and townlets, nearly as many ruined castles, several islands, and bays and creeks and picturesque projections innumerable. '

Geology.—The oldest rocks in the county belong to the volcanic series of the Lower Old Red Sandstone. The members of this series, consisting of a great succession of lavas and tuffs, can be traced from the Ochils where they are folded into a broad anticline NE by the Sidlaws to Dunnottar in Kincardineshire. The high grounds bounding the Howe of Fife on the N side are composed of these igneous materials, indeed they cover the whole area between Damhead and Tayport. They are inclined to the SSE at gentle angles, so that we have only the southern portion of the anticlinal arch represented in the county. Lithologically these ancient lavas are composed of red and purple porphyrites, which, at certain localities, are associated with extremely coarse agglomerates. In the neighbourhood of Auchtermuchty, and even to the E of that locality, the agglomerates present appearances indicating partial rearrangement by water; indeed in some places they are indistinguishable from conglomerates formed by aqueous action. When we come to describe the prolongations of these rocks in Forfarshire and Kincardineshire it will be seen that the volcanic accumulations, which, in Perthshire and Fifeshire, have hardly any intercalations of sedimentary material, are associated in the former counties with conglomerates, sandstones, and shales, till at Dunnottar they are represented by a few thin sheets of porphyrite. It is probable, therefore, that the partially waterworn agglomerates at Auchtermuchty are indications of the change of physical conditions. On the slope overlooking the Tay, near the village of Balmerino, some thin beds of sandstone and shales are intercalated with the porphyrites which have yielded remains of fishes similar to those obtained in the Forfarshire flagstones.

A long interval must have elapsed between the close of the Lower and the beginning of the Upper Old Red Sandstone periods, which is indicated by a strong unconformity between the two series. This vast interval was characterised by certain striking physical changes which may be briefly summarised. Between the Ochils and the flanks of the Grampians a great succession of sedimentary deposits, nearly 10, 000 feet in thickness, rests conformably on the volcanic series, which originally extended far to the S of their present limits. Indeed they must have completely buried the volcanic accumulations, though not necessarily to the extent indicated by their thickness N of the Ochils. The Grampian chain formed the northern margin of the inland sea in which these deposits were laid down, and the sediment ay have decreased in thickness in proportion to the distance from the old land surface. At any rate, during the interval referred to, the volcanic rocks and overlying sedimentary deposits were folded into a great anticlinal arch, the latter were removed by denudation from the top of the anticline, and the volcanic series was exposed to the action of atmospheric agencies. Further, the great igneous plateau, during its elevation above the sea-level, must have been carved into hills and valleys ere the deposition of the Upper Old Red Sandstone.

The members of the latter series are traceable from Loch Leven through the Howe of Fife by Cupar to the sea coast. Along this tract they rest unconformably on the volcanic rocks just described, and they pass conformably below the Cementstone series of the Carboniferous system. They consist of honeycombed red and yellow sandstones which become conglomeratic towards the local base, the pebbles being derived from the underlying rocks. On the W side of the Lomonds they dip to the E, while in the neighbourhood of Strathmiglo, where their thickness must be about 1000 feet, they are inclined to the SSE. This series has become famous for the well-preserved fishes obtained in the yellow sandstones of Dura Den, comprising Phaneropleu ron Andersoni, Pterichthys hydrophilus, Glyptolaemus Kinnairdi, Glyptopomus minor, Holoptyehius Andersoni. The last form seems to have been fossilised in shoals. Holoptychius nobilissimud and Pterichthys major are found in the underlying red sandstones.

The Upper Old Red Sandstone is succeeded by the various divisions of the Carboniferous system which are well represented in the county. The succession may be readily understood from the following table of the strata given in descending order:—

Carboniferous System.Coal Measures.Red sandstones.
Sandstones, shales, with several workable coal seams and ironstones.
Millstone Grit.Coarse sandstone and conglomerate.
Carboniferous Limestone.Upper Limestone series.
Middle series with coals and ironstones but containing no limestones.
Lower Limestone series.
Calciferous Sandstones.Cementstone series comprising black and blue shales with marine zones, limestones, sandstones with thin seams and streaks of coal passing conformably downwards into red and yellow sandstones (Upper Old Red Sandstone).

The Cementstone series occupies several detached areas, and presents two distinct types. Along the county boundary between Fife and Kinross there is a small outlier on the N slopes of the Cleish Hills representing the W type. There the strata consist of blue clays and sandstones with cementstone bands and nodules. The members of this series, of a type approaching that to the S of St Andrews, crop out also on the W and N slopes of the Lomonds, and they extend E by Cults and Ceres to the coast. By far the most important development of this series, however, occurs in the triangular area between Elie and St Andrews and round the shore by Fife Ness. The essential feature of the group is the occurrence of a great thickness of shales with marine bands characterised chiefly by Myalina modioliformis and Schizodus Salteri. These shales alternate with sandstones and limestones, the latter being charged with true Carboniferous Limestone forms. About midway between St Monans and Pittenweem on the coast, the members of this series pass conformably below the basement beds of the Carboniferous Limestone with an inclination to the W, and from this point E to Anstruther there is a steady descending series for 2 miles. Upwards of 3900 feet of strata are exposed in this section, and yet the underlying red sandstones are not brought to the surface. At Anstruther the beds roll over to the E, and the same strata are repeated by gentle undulations as far as Fife Ness. It is probable, therefore, that the beds at Anstruther are the oldest of the Cementstone series now exposed at the surface between Elie and St Andrews. From the valuable researches of Mr Kirkby, it appears that all the fossils, save Sanguinolites Abdensis, which are found in the marine bands near the top of the series at Pittenweem, occur also in the Carboniferous Limestone. Not until nearly 3000 feet of strata have been passed over, do we find forms that are peculiar to this horizon, some of which are given in the following list:--Littorina scotoburdigalensis, Cypricardia bicosta, Myalina modioliformis, Sanguinolites Abdensis, Schizodus Salteri, Bairdia nitida, Cythere superba, Kirkbya spiralis. Another distinguishing feature of this type of the Cementstone series is the presence of numerous cases of ostracod crustaceans, of which the most abundant form is Leperditia Okeni var. Seotoburdigalensis. Numerous thin seams and streaks of coal, varying from a few inches to 2 feet in thickness, are exposed in this coast section. They rest on fireclays which are charged with stigmarian rootlets.

The Cementstone group is likewise met with in the neighbourhood of Burntisland, an area which is invested with special importance on account of the great development of volcanic rocks to be described presently. In this district they occupy a semicircular area extending from Inverkeithing Bay to near Kirkcaldy. A line drawn from Donibristle N by Camilla Loch near Auchtertool, thence winding round Raith Park and S to the sea-shore at Seafield Tower, marks the rim of the semicircle. Along this line they pass conformably below the basement beds of the Carboniferous Limestone. The sedimentary strata with the interbedded volcanic rocks are folded into an anticlinal arch, the lowest beds being exposed near Burntisland where they are inclined to the N and NNW. From the presence of marine zones in the Calciferous Sandstones of this area, it is evident that the Burntisland district forms a connecting link between the types represented in Midlothian and between Pittenweem and St Andrews. The Grange limestone at Burntisland is regarded as the equivalent of the Burdiehouse Limestone to the S of Edinburgh.

In the W of Fife the members of the Carboniferous Limestone lap round the anticlinal arch of the Cementstone series at Burntisland, and they cover the whole of the area between that arch and the Cleish Hills. To the E and W they pass below the Dysart and Kinglassie coal-fields respectively, reappearing to the N in the Lomond Hills, and being traceable from thence into East Fife as far as Westfield and Radernie. As in other districts in Scotland this series is divisible into three groups, described in the foregoing table. The limestones of the lowest group occur at Roscobie, Dunfermline, Potmetal, and on the Lomond Hills. The middle division consists of a succession of sandstones and shales with coals and ironstones, comprising the Torryburn, Oakley, Saline, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, and Markinch coal-fields. Indeed, this group forms the chief source of the gas coals and blackband ironstones of Fife. The limestones of the upper group are comparatively insignificant. They crop out on the coast E of Pathhead, where they pass below the Millstone Grit.

The latter series, consisting of coarse sandstone and conglomerate, forms a narrow border round the Dysart coal-field on the W and the Kinglassie coal-field on the S. It is well exposed on the shore to the E of Path head, where it is rapidly succeeded by the true Coalmeasures. The latter are best developed in the Dysart and Leven coal-fields, though a small area is also et with at Kinglassie. This series consists of sandstones, shales, numerous workable coal seams, clayband ironstones, and an overlying group of red sandstones. In the Dysart and East Wemyss coal-field there are no fewer than fourteen seams of coal which are inclined to the E at angles varying from 10o to 20o. A remarkable feature of the Carboniferous system as represented in Fife is the great development of contemporaneous and intrusive volcanic rocks. In this county volcanic activity seems to have begun somewhat later than in the Edinburgh district, and to have been partly coeval with that in West Lothian. In the neighbourhood of Burntisland there must have been a continuation of the volcanic action from the horizon of the Grange Limestone in the Cementstone series to the basement beds of the Carboniferous Limestone. The basaltic lavas and tuffs which were ejected during that period are admirably displayed on the shore section between Burntisland and Seafield Tower near Kirkcaldy, where they are interstratified with marine limestones, sandstones, and shales. But on the Saline Hill in West Fife there is conclusive evidence that volcanoes must have been active even during the deposition of the coal-bearing series of the Carboniferous Limestone. That eminence marks the site of a vent from which tuff was ejected which was regularly interbedded with the adjacent strata. Seams of coal and ironstone are actually worked underneath the tuff on the S side of Saline Hill, and not far to the E a bed of gas coal is mined on the slope of the Knock Hill which forms another ` neck ' belonging to that period.

In East Fife, as the researches of Professor A. Geikie have conclusively shown, there is a remarkable development of volcanic vents which are now filled with tuff or agglomerate. Upwards of fifty of these ancient orifices occur between Leven and St Andrews, piercing the Calciferous sandstones, the upper or true Coal-measures, and even the overlying red sandstones, which are the youngest members of the Carboniferous system. It is evident, therefore, that most of these ` necks ' mast be of later date than the Carboniferous period. Nay, more, from the manner in which they rise along lines of dislocation, and pierce anticlinal arches as well as synclinal troughs, from the way in which the volcanic ejectamenta rest on the denuded edges of the Carboniferous Limestone series, there can be no doubt that they were posterior to the faulting, folding, and denudation of the strata. Professor A. Geikie has suggested that they probably belong to the period of volcanic activity indicated by the ` necks ' of Permian age in Ayrshire. Largo Law is a striking example of one of the coneshaped necks, and so also is the Binn Hill at Burntisland. Another great vent, upwards of ½ mile in length, occurs on the shore at Kincraig Point, E of Largo Bay, which is filled with tuff. In this case the tuff is pierced by a mass of columnar basalt, the columns rising to a height of 150 feet above the sea-level. The occurrence of veins and masses of basalt is a common feature among these necks, but it is seldom that such a remarkable example of columnar structure is displayed in the series. The Rock and Spindle near St Andrews is an excellent instance of the radial arrangement of the columns.

No less remarkable are the great intrusive sheets of basalt and dolerite which are conspicuously developed in the Carboniferous rocks of Fife. Indeed, in none of the other counties in Scotland do they occur in such numbers. From the Cult Hill near Saline, they are traceable E along the Cleish Hills to Blairadam. They cap Benarty and the Lomonds, and from that range they may be followed in irregular masses to St Andrews and Dunino. Another belt of them extends from Torryburn by Dunfermline to Burntisland, thence winding round by Auchtertool to Kirkcaldy. They occur mainly about the horizon of the lowest limestones of the Carboniferous Limestone series, and are, in all probability, the E extension of the intrusive sheets at Stirling Castle and Abbey Craig. But in addition to these great intrusive masses of Carboniferous age, there are various dykes of basalt having a general E and W trend, which may probably belong to the Tertiary period. Of these, the best examples are met with in the Old Red Sandstone area, near Damhead, and W of Strathmiglo.

The direction of the ice flow during the glacial period was SE across the Ochils, but as the ice sheet approached the Firth of Forth it veered round to the E and ENE. An instance of this latter movement occurs near Pettycur N of Burntisland, where the striæ point E 15° N. Throughout the county there is a widespread covering of boulder clay, which, like the deposit on the SE slopes of the Sidlaws, contains an assemblage of boulders derived from the Grampians. A great series of sands and gravels rests on the boulder clay at certain localities, which seems to have a direct connection with the retirement of the ice. Where there are open valleys forming passes across the Ochils, great ridges of gravel are met with parallel to the trend of the valleys. Near the mouths of the passes the material is very coarse, but it gradually becomes finer and more water-worn as we advance southwards. Similar deposits are met with in the E of Fife, which are, to a large extent, of the same origin. There is no trace of the later glaciation within the county. The 100-feet beach is traceable round the greater part of the coast-line, being well developed at Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, and in the Howe of Fife. The arctic shells at Elie occur in the fine clays of this beach, and in a similar deposit of the same age near Cupar, bones of a seal have been exhumed. Along the estuary of the Tay this beach forms but a narrow terrace of gravel, owing to the comparatively steep slope flanking the shore. In that neighbourhood there are indications of an old sea margin at the level of 75 feet, as if there had been a slight pause in the upheaval of the land. The 50 and 25 feet beaches are well represented, the one merging into the other. In the East Neuk of Fife the latter is bounded by an inland cliff, in which sea-worn caves are not uncommon.

The soil—we abridge from Mr Macdonald—to the N of the Eden is quick and fertile, nowhere very deep or very strong, but kindly, highly productive, and specially suited for the cultivation of grass. The Howe of Fife or Stratheden, comprising both sides of the Eden up as far as Cupar, has a rich fertile soil, parts of it being exceedingly productive. S of the Eden the land rises gradually, till, in Cameron parish, it reaches 600 feet. On this high land the soil is cold and stiff and of a clayey character, with a mixture of lime. Round Ladybank it is very light and shingly, as though its richest earthy coating had been swept off by a current of water. The land on the rising-ground in Collessie, Monimail, Cults, and Kettle parishes is heavier and more valuable than in the valley of Ladybank. In the neighbourhood of the Lomonds and on the high land of Auctermuchty, Leslie, and Kinglassie the soil is light, but sharp and valuable for grass; in Beath, Auchterderran, and Ballingry it is principally cold and stiff, though several excellent highly-cultivated farms are in these parishes. A good deal of land on the N side of Dunfermline is strong retentive clay, on the S is thin loam with a strong clayey subsoil. In Saline, Torryburn, and Carnock the soil is mainly a mixture of clay and loam, and is generally very fertile. All along the coast, too, though variable in composition, it is rich and productive. The 'Laich of Dunfermline' has a strong clayey soil, very fertile on the whole, but somewhat stiff to cultivate. The soil between Inverkeithing and Leven varies from light dry to strong clayey loam, rendered highly productive and friable by superior cultivation; it is deep rich loam about Largo, and light in Elie, both equally fertile and productive; and along the E coast it is deep, strong, and excellent, consisting chiefly of clay and rich loam. Near St Andrews the soil is by no means heavy, while the section NE of Leuchars village is sandy and very light, especially on the E coast, where a large tract of land known as Tent's Moor is wholly covered with sand, and almost useless for agricultural purposes. In Forgan and part of Ferryport-on-Craig the soil, though light and variable, is kindly and fertile.

In the whole of Scotland the percentage of cultivated area is only 24·2; in Fife it rises as high as 74·8, a figure approached by only six other counties—Linlithgow (73·1), Berwick (65·4), Haddington (64·4), Kinross (62·8), Renfrew (57·8), and Edinburgh (57·1). This being the case, little has been reclaimed of recent years in Fife, since little was left to reclaim; but great improvements have been effected since 1850 in the way of draining and re-draining, fencing, building, etc. The six-course shift of rotation predominates; leases are nearly always for 19 years; and 'in the matter of land apportionment Fife is almost all that could be desired.' Out of 2392 holdings, there are 1307 of 20 acres and under, 217 of from 50 to 100, 643 of from 100 to 300, 192 of from 300 to 500, 32 of from 500 to 1000, and 1 only of over 1000. In 1875 rents varied between 17s. 6d. and £5 (or in Crail even £8) an acre, but the latter high figures have had to come down in the face of the great recent agricultural depression. Fife, having more to lose, has perhaps suffered more than any other Scotch county; and in the summer of 1880 no fewer than 18 of its farms, extending over 3301 acres, were vacant, whilst several others had been stocked and taken under charge of their landlords. Fife is not a great county for live-stock, and the majority of its cattle are Irish bred. The few cows kept are crosses mostly of somewhat obscure origin; the bulls are almost all shorthorns. Since the dispersion of the famous Keavil herd in 1869, the breeding of pure shorthorns has all but ceased. Neither is sheep-farming practised to the extent one might look for, soil and climate considered. The sheep are almost all hoggs-good crosses between Cheviot ewes and Leicester tups-with a few black-faced in the western and higher parts of the shire. Nearly all the farm-horses are Clydesdales or have a strong touch of the Clydesdale, powerfully built and very hardy, great care having been exercised of recent years in the selection of stallions, with highly successful results. Many good ponies are kept, and hunters and carriage-horses are generally of a superior class. Swine are not numerous, but have been greatly improved by crossing the native sows with Berkshire boars. The following table gives the acreage of the chief crops and the number of live-stock in Fife in different years:—

 1856.1869.1875.1881.
Wheat,. . . .34,099½21,43316,74813,142
Barley,. . . .22,85625,93530,03730,024
Oats, . . . .42,327¾39,27437,64639,111
Sown Grasses, .68,89851,39456,43062,147
Potatoes,. . .17,26918,56617,74619,155
Turnips, . . .29,739¼28,37528,51427,547
Cattle,. . . .40,61136,98639,54039,076
Sheep,. . . .57,30661,13569,60969,275
Horses, . . .12,258*10,4959,69910,166
Swine,. . . .8,7345,9316,0505,366

* Included all horses, not only those engaged in farming.

The yearly rainfall varies considerably, from 21½ inches at Cupar to 36 1/3 at Loch Leven, which, though in Kinross-shire, may be taken as representing the western portion of the Fife peninsula. Still, it is not by any means heavy; and the climate, greatly improved by thorough drainage, and modified by the nearness of the sea, is mild and equable. Westerly winds prevail, and the biting E winds that sometimes sweep the coast are broken inland by the numerous belts and clumps of plantation that stud the fields. Less than one-twentythird of the whole of Scotland is under woods; in Fife the proportion is fully one-seventeenth, viz., 19, 471 acres, a figure surpassing twenty, and surpassed by only twelve, of the Scottish counties. Dr Samuel Johnson remarked in 1773 ' that he had not seen from Berwick to St Andrews a single tree which he did not believe to have grown up far within the present century. ' So far the remark did good, that, widely read by the landed gentry, it stimulated the planting fever to intensity, and hundreds of acres of hillside now are clothed with trees which otherwise might have retained their primeval bareness. It was false, none the less, as shown by five tables in Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society for 1879-81, where sixteen of the ' old and remarkable' trees described are trees of Fife-4 Spanish chestnuts at Aberdour and Balmerino, 2 ash-trees at Otterston and Donibristle, 3 sycamores at Aberdour and Donibristle, 1 oak at Donibristle, and 6 beeches at Otterston, Donibristle, Kellie Castle, Leslie House, and Balmerino. To which might have been added the two famous walnuts of Otterston, planted in l589, and felled by the great gale of January 1882.

The damask manufacture of Dunfermline is probably unequalled in the world for excellence of design and beauty of finish. Other linen manufactures, comprising sail-cloth, bed-ticking, brown linen, dowlas, duck, checks, and shirting, together with the spinning of tow and flax, are carried on at Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Dysart, Leslie, Auchtermuchty, Kingskettle, Ladybank, Strathmiglo, Falkland, Ferryport-on-Craig, and other places. The cotton manufacture has never employed much capital, but maintains many workmen in the service of Glasgow houses. Breweries are numerous, and there are several pretty extensive distilleries. The manufacture of floor-cloth (at Kirkcaldy), ironfounding and the making of machinery, the tanning of leather, the manufacture of earthenware and porcelain, paper, and fishing-nets, coach-building, ship-building in iron and wood, and the making of bricks and tiles, are also carried on. The maritime traffic is not confined to any one or two ports, but diffuses itself round nearly all the coasts, at the numerous towns and villages on the Tay, the German Ocean, and the Forth, though chiefly on the latter. It is of considerable aggregate extent, and has grown very rapidly of recent years, according to the statistics of the one headport, Kirkcaldy. Lastly, there are the fisheries, for cod, ling, hake, etc., in the home waters, and for herrings as far afield as Wick and Yarmouth. The following are the fishing towns and villages, with the number of their boats and of their resident fishermen in 1881: Limekilns (5, 12), Inverkeithing (7, 24), Aberdour (5, 8), Burntisland (21, 45), Kinghorn (11, 20), Kirkcaldy (18, 27), and Dysart (6, 10), belonging to Leith district; and Buckhaven (198, 410), Methil (6, 20), Leven (1, 3), Largo (34, 60), Elie and Earlsferry (13, 24), St Monance (147, 405), Pittenweem (91, 240), Anstruther and Cellardyke (221, 573), Crail (34, 50), Kingsbarns (8, 30), Boarhills (3, 8), and St Andrews (57, 145), belonging to Anstruther district. Total, 886 boats and 2114 men and boys. In the Anstruther district the number of barrels of herrings cured was (1866) 19, 618, (1873) 7523, (1881) 10,315½; of cod, ling, and hake taken (1866) 32, 569, (1873) 104, 647, (188l) 209,426. Steam ferries are maintained between Newport and Dundee, between Ferryport-on-Craig (Tayport) and Broughty Ferry, between Burntisland and Granton, and between North Queensferry and South Queensferry. There was formerly a ferry from Dirleton in Haddingshire to Earlsferry, also from Kirkcaldy and Pettycur to Leith and Newhaven; but these have been long since disused.

A main line of railway, connecting by ferry with Granton, commences at Burntisland, goes along the coast to Dysart, strikes thence northward to Ladybank, and forks there into two lines-the one going north-eastward to Tayport (communicating. there by ferry with Broughty Ferry), and the other going north-westward to Newburgh, and proceeding thence into Perthshire towards Perth. One branch line leaves from the Tayport fork, in the vicinity of Leuchars, and goes south-eastward to St Andrews; and another branch leaves the same fork north-westward to the vicinity of Newport, to communicate by the viaduct across the Firth of Tay, now in process of reconstruction, the first Tay Bridge having fallen in 1879. Another line, coming eastward from Stirling, passes Alloa, Dunfermline, Crossgates, and Lochgelly, forming a junction with the main line at Thornton. From the last-named station a railway runs eastward along the coast to Leven, Largo, Elie, and Anstruther; and a line connecting Anstruther with St Andrews is (1882) under construction. From .Alloa and Kinross a railway enters the upper reach of Eden valley, passing to the vicinity of Auchtermuchty, and thence SE to a junction with the main line at Ladybank. A railway from Cowdenbeath goes north-north-westward into Kinross-shire, to join the Alloa and Ladybank line at Kinross. A railway has been constructed, by the owner of the property, from Thornton to Buckhaven and Wemyss. A line from North Queensferry to Dunfermline, worked in connection with the ferry, is intended to afford a through line to the N on the construction of the Forth Bridge, and connecting lines to Perth through Glenfarg, and between Inverkeithing and Burntisland, form part of the scheme. The Cupar district contains 85 miles of turnpike roads and 126 miles of statute labour roads; the Dunfermline district, 45¼ of turnpike roads and 49¼ of statute labour roads; the St Andrews district, 135% of turnpike roads and 73½ of statute labour roads; the Kirkcaldy district, 77 of turnpike roads and 67½ of statute labour roads; the Cupar and Kinross district, 22½ of roads; the Outh and Nivingston district, 27½ of turnpike roads; the Leven Bridge district, 7½ of roads.

The county returns one member to parliament (always a Liberal since 1837); and its constituency was 4845 in 1882. Royal burghs exercising the parliamentary franchise are-Dunfermline (constituency 2330) and Inverkeithing (188), included in the Stirling district of burghs; the Kirkcaldy district of burghs, comprising Kirkcaldy (2018), Burntisland (645), Dysart (1773), and Kinghorn (225), with a total constituency of 4661; and the St Andrews district of burghs, comprising St Andrews (766), Anstruther-Easter (207), Anstruther-Wester (86), Crail (190), Cupar (733), Kilrenny (348), and Pittenweem (304), with a total constituency of 2634. The royal burghs not now exercising the parliamentary franchise are Newburgh, Auchtermuchty, Falkland, and Earlsferry. Leslie, Leven, Linktown, West Wemyss, and Elie are burghs of barony or of regality; and Ladybank and Lochgelly are police burghs. Mansions, all noticed separately, are Balcaskie, Balcarres, Birkhill, Broomhill, Cambo, Charleton, Crawford Priory, Donibristle, Dysart House, Elie House, Falkland House, Fordel, Gibliston, Grangemuir, Inchdairnie, Inchrye Abbey, Kilconquhar, Largo House, Leslie House, Naughton, Otterston, Pitcorthie, Raith, Wemyss Castle, and many others. According to Miscellaneous Statistics of the United kingdom (1879), 304,363 acres, with a total gross estimated rental of £905, 577, were divided among 10, 410 landowners, two together holding 20,595 acres (rental £29,081), five 32,847 (£53,354), fifty-two 92,748 (£187,004), thirty-five 47,724 (£133,689), sixty-five 45, 484 (£80, 435), two hundred and one 51,157 (£117,993), etc.

The county is governed by a lord-lieutenant, a vice-lieutenant, forty-five deputy-lieutenants, a sheriff, two sheriffs-substitute, and 344 commissioners of supply and justices of peace. It is divided into an eastern and a western district, each with a resident sheriff-substitute; and sheriff ordinary and debts recovery courts are held in Cupar, Dunfermline, and Kirkcaldy. Sheriff small-debt courts are also held at Cupar, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, St Andrews, Anstruther, Auchtermuchty, Leven, and Newburgh. There is a burgh police force in Dunfermline (11), and in Kirkcaldy (16); the remaining police in the county comprise 67 men, under a chief constable, whose yearly pay is £375. The number of persons tried at the instance of the police in 1880 was 1049; convicted, 959; committed for trial, 85; not dealt with, 120. The committals for crime in the annual average of 1836-40 were 167; of 1841-45, 147; of 1846-50, 138; of 1851-55, 103; of 1856-60, 125; of l861-65, 142; of 1865-69, 141; of l871-75, 75; of 1876-80, 61. The registration county gives off a part of Abernethy parish to Perthshire; takes in parts of Arngask parish from Perthshire and Kinross-shire; and had in 1881 a population of 172,131. The number of registered poor in the year ending 14 May 1881 was 3293; of dependants on these, 2120; of casual poor, 1876; of dependants on these, 1197. The receipts for the poor in that year were £39,593, l7s. 3½d.; and the expenditure was £38,099, 16s. 6½d. The number of pauper lunatics was 432, their cost of maintenance being £8881, 9s. 6d. The percentage of illegitimate births was 7.5 in 1872, 7.1 in 1878, and 6.8 in 1880.

Although seventeenth in size of the thirty-three Scotch counties, Fife ranks as fifth in respect of rentalroll (only Aberdeen, Ayr, Lanark, and Perth shires surpassing it), its valuation, exclusive of the seventeen royal burghs, of railways, and of water-works, being (1815) £405,770, (1856) $543, 536, (1865) £581,127, (1875) £698, 471, (1876) £686,338, (1880) £700,651, (1882) £697, 448, 17s., or £2, 2s. 6d. per acre. Valuation of railways (1882) £57, 683; of water-works (1882) £4551; of burghs (1866) £146,129, (1879) £246,555, (1882) £288, 472. In point of population it stands seventh, the six higher counties being Aberdeen, Ayr, Edinburgh, Forfar, Lanark, and Renfrew shires. Pop. (1801) 93,743, (181l) 101, 272, (1821) 114, 556, (1831) 128, 839, (1841) l40,l40, (1851) 153,546, (1861) 154,770, (1871) 160, 735, (1881) 171,931, of whom 80,893 were males and 91,038 females, and of whom 88,146 were in 16 towns, 44, 577 in 65 villages, and 39,208 rural, the corresponding figures for 1871 being 76, 449, 43,182, and 41,104. Houses (1881) 36, 854 inhabited, 3079 vacant, 199 building.

The civil county comprehends sixty-one quoad civilia parishes and parts of two others, with the extra-parochial tract of the Isle of May. There are also sixteen quoad sacra parishes and three chapels of ease belonging to the Church of Scotland. The places of worship within it in 1882 were, 86 of the Church of Scotland (35, 071 communicants in 1878), 51 of the Free Church (11,663 communicants in 1881), 41 of United Presbyterians (10,747 members in 1880), 1 of United Original Seceders, 5 of the Congregationalists, 5 of the Evangelical Union, 7 of Baptists, 8 of Episcopalians, and 4 of Roman Catholics. The Established Synod of Fife, meeting at Kirkcaldy on the second Tuesday of April and at Cupar in October, comprehends the presbyteries of Dunfermline, Kinross, Kirkcaldy, Cupar, and St Andrews, and thus takes in Kinross-shire and the Perthshire parishes of Culross, Fossoway, and Muckart. Pop. (1871) 170, 823, (1881) 179,636, of whom 37, 251 were communicants of the Church of Scotland in 1878. The Free Church Synod of Fife, meeting at Kirkcaldy on the second Tuesday of April, and at Cupar, St Andrews, or Dunfermline on the second Tuesday of October, comprises presbyteries identical with those of the Established Church, and had 12 727 communicants in 188l.

It is claimed by the natives of Fife that it has a more peaceful history than most other counties in Scotland, containing no great battlefields, and although prominent in many important events, displaying to view few signal crimes and no great national disasters. Ancient stone circles, standing stones, and cairns or tumuli abounded, but are not now to be found, though remains of hill forts exist in several places. On Dunearn there are remains of such a fort, and another strong one was on Carneil Hill, near Carnock, and stood adjacent to some tumuli which were found in 1774 to enshrine a number of urns containing Roman coins. Traces of two Roman military stations are found near the same locality; and a Roman camp for Agricola's ninth legion was pitched in the vicinity of Loch Orr, confronting Benarty Hill on the right and the Cleish Hills on the left. Human skeletons, found at various periods on the southern seaboard, are regarded as relics of conflicts with invading Danes in the 9th and following centuries. Great monastic establishments were formed at St Andrews, Dunfermline, Balmerino, Lindores, Inchcolm, and Pittenweem, and have left considerable remains. Mediæval castles stood at St Andrews, Falkland, Leuchars, Kellie, Dunfermline, Bambriech, Balcomie, Dairsie, Aberdour, Seafield, Loch Orr, Tarbet, Rosyth, Inverkeithing, Ravenscraig, Wemyss, Monimail, Balwearie, etc., and have left a large aggregate of interesting ruins. Old churches, with more or less of interest, exist at Crail, St Monance, Leuchars, Dysart, Kirkforthar, Dunfermline, Dairsie, and St Andrews.

Early in the summer of 83 A.D. Agricola had his army conveyed across the Bodotria, or Firth of Forth, and landing, as is said, at Burntisland, gradually but thoroughly made himself master of Fife, whilst his fleet crept round its shores, and penetrated into the Firth of Tay. The eastern half of the peninsula was then possessed by the Vernicomes, and the western by the Damnonii, one of whose three towns, the ' Victoria ' of Ptolemy, was situated at Loch Orr, a lake, now drained, in Ballingry parish. The Damnonii, says Dr Skene, ' belonged to the Cornish variety of the British race, and appear to have been incorporated with the southern Picts, into whose language they introduced a British element. The Frisian settlements, too, on the shores of the Firth of Forth, prior to 441, may also have left their stamp on this part of the nation; and the name of Fothrik, applied to a district now represented by Kinross-shire and the western part of Fife, may preserve a recollection of their Rik or kingdom.' Fife itself is probably the Frisian Fibh, a forest; ' the name Frisian Sea is applied by Nennius to the Firth of Forth; and part of its northern shore was known as the Frisian Shore. By the establishment of the Scottish monarchy in the person of Kenneth mac Alpin (844-60) Fib or Fife, as part of southern Pictavia, became merged in the kingdom of Alban, of which under Constantin III. (900-40) it is described as forming the second of seven provinces, a province comprising the entire peninsula, along with the district of Gowrie. It thus included the ancient Pictish capital, Abernethy, whither in 865 the primacy was transferred from Dunkeld, and whence in 908 it was again removed to St Andrews. In 877 the Danes, expelled by the Norwegians from Ireland, sailed up the Firth of Clyde, crossed the neck of the mainland, and attacked the province of Fife. They routed the ' Scots ' at Dollar, and, chasing them north-eastward to Inverdovet in Forgan, there gained a second and more signal victory, King Constantin, son of Kenneth mac Alpin, being among the multitude of the slain. On two accounts this battle is remarkable, first as the only great conflict known for certain to have been fought on Fife soil; and, secondly, as the earliest occasion when the term ' Scotti ' or Scots is applied to any of the dwellers in Pictavia. According to Hector Boece and his followers, Kenneth mac Alpin appointed one Fifus Duffus thane or governor of the province of Fife, but thanes of Fife there never were at any time, and the first Makduf, Earl of Fife, figures in three successive charters of David I. (1124-53), first as simply ' Gillemichel Makduf, ' next as ' Gillemichel Comes,' and lastly as ' Gillemichel Comes de Fif.' In earlier charters of the same reign we hear, indeed, of other Earls of Fife-Edelrad, son of Malcolm Ceannmor, and Constantin,-but between these and the Macduffs there seems to have been no connection. ' The demesne of the Macduff Earls of Fife appears to have consisted of the parishes of Cupar, Kilmany, Ceres, and Cameron in Fife, and those of Strathmiglo and Auchtermuchty in Fothriff, near which Macduff's Cross was situated. Whether this sept were the remains of the old Celtic inhabitants of the province, or a Gaelic clan introduced into it when its chief was made Earl, it is difficult to say; but it is not impossible that it may have been a northern clan who followed Macbeth (1040-57) when the southern districts were subjected to his rule, and that there may be some foundation for the legend that the founder of the clan had rebelled against him, and adopted the cause of Malcolm Ceannmor, and so maintained his position. Some probability is lent to this supposition by the fact that the race from whom the Mormaers of Moray derived their origin is termed in one of the Irish genealogical MSS. Clan Duff, and that the Earls of Fife undoubtedly possessed from an early period large possessions in the North, including the district of Strathaven. The privileges of the clan, however, stand on a different footing. From the earliest period the territory of Fife comes prominently forward as the leading province of Scotland, and its earls occupied the first place among the seven earls of Scotland. The first two privileges, of placing the king on the Coronation Stone, and of heading the van in the army, were probably attached to the province of Fife, and not to any particular tribe from which its earls might have issued; on the other hand, the third seems derived from the institution connected with the ancient Finé, ' etc. (Skene's Celtic Scotland, iii. 6l-63, 305, 306, 1880).

The history of Fife centres round no one town, as that of Dumfriesshire round Dumfries, but is divided among three at least-St Andrews for matters ecclesiastical; for temporal, Dunfermline and Falkland. Each of the latter has its royal palace; and Dunfermline was the burial-place of eight of Scotland's kings, from Malcolm Ceannmor (1093) to the great Robert Bruce (1329), though not of Alexander II., who met with his death in Fife, being dashed from his horse over the headland of Kinghorn (1286). Duncan, Earl of Fife, was one of the three guardians appointed to rule the southern district of the kingdom in the absence of Alexander's infant daughter, the Maid of Norway; but he was murdered in 1288; and his son, the next earl, was too young to seat John Baliol on the Coronation Stone (1292) or to take any part in the earlier scenes of the War of Independence. During that war, in 1298, the Scottish victory of ' Black Irnsyde ' is said to have been won by Wallace over Aymer de Valence in Abdie parish, near Newburgh. The young Earl was absent at the English court in 1306, but his sister, the Countess of Buchan, discharged his functions at Bruce's coronation, for which, being captured by Edward, she was hung in a cage from one of the towers of Berwick. Presently, however, we find him on Bruce's side; and, according to Barbour, it was he and the sheriff of Fife who, with 500 mounted men-at-arms, were flying before an English force that had landed at Donibristle, when they were rallied by William Sinclair, Bishop of Dunkeld. Another English force under the Earl of Pembroke, in 1327, landed in Fife, and stormed the Castle of Leuchars; and in 1332 Edward Bruce and the 'disinherited barons 'landed at Kinghorn, and marched north-westward to Dupplin, in Strathearn. A parliament was held at Dairsie Castle in 1335, but failed to accomplish its purposes; and another was then held at Dunfermline, and appointed Sir Andrew Moray to the regency. The English immediately afterwards invaded Scotland, sent a powerful fleet into the Firth of Forth, and temporarily overmastered Fife. A Scottish army, soon collected by Sir Andrew Moray to confront them, besieged and captured the town and castle of St Andrews, and, save in some strongly garrisoned places, drove the English entirely from the county. The Steward of Scotland (afterwards Robert II.) succeeded Sir Andrew Moray in the command and direction of that army; and, in the year of his accession to the throne (1371) the earldom of Fife was resigned by the Countess Isabella, last of the Macduff line, to his third son, Robert, Earl of Menteith, whose brother Walter had been her second husband. The new Earl of Fife was created Duke of Albany in 1398, and it is as the Regent Albany that his name is best known in history, whilst the deed whereby that name is most familiar was the murder-if murder it were-of the Duke of Rothesay at Falkland (1402), which figures in Sir Walter Scott's Fair Maid of Perth.

Andrew Wood, in 1480, attacked and repulsed a hostile English squadron, which appeared in the Firth of Forth; and he received, in guerdon of his services, a royal grant of the village and lands of Largo. A body of 13, 000 infantry and 1000 horse, suddenly levied in Fife and Forfarshire, formed part of the Scottish army, which, in 1488, fought in the battle of Sauchieburn. The Douglases, in 1526, after defeating their opponents at Linlithgow, advanced into Fife, and pillaged Dunfermline Abbey and St Andrews Castle. Fife figures prominently in Scottish Reformation history. At St Andrews were burned the English Wiclifite, John Reseby (1408), the German Hussite, Paul Crawar (1432), and Scotland's own martyrs, Patrick Hamilton (1528), Henry Forrest (1533), and George Wishart (1546). Barely two months had elapsed ere the last was avenged by the murder of Cardinal Beaton, and barely thirteen years ere, in the summer of 1559, John Knox's ' idolatrous sermon ' had roused, in Tennant's words-

The steir, strabush, and strife,
whan, bickerin' frae the towns o' Fife.
great bangs o' bodies, thick and rife,
Gaed to Sanct Androis town,
And wi' John Calvin i' their heads,
And hammers i' their hands and spades,
Enraged at idois, mass, and beads,
Dang the Cathedral down.

At Crail the crusade began, and from Crail the preacher and his ' rascal multitude ' passed on to Anstruther, Pittenweem, St Monance, St Andrews, the abbeys of Balmerino and Lindores, and almost every other edifice in the county, large or small, that seemed a prop of the Romish religion. Queen Mary, in 1563, spent nearly four months in Fife, moving frequently from place to place, but residing chiefly at Falkland and St Andrews, where Chastelard was beheaded for having burst into her chamber at Burntisland. Next year, she spent some time at the same places; and at Wemyss Castle in Feb. 1565 she first met her cousin, Lord Darnley. Donibristle, in 1592, was the scene of the murder commemorated in the ballad of The Bonnie Earl o' Moray; and Falkland Palace, in 1600, was the scene of the antecedent of the mysterious affair known as the Gowrie Conspiracy. Fife suffered more injury to trade than most other districts of Scotland, from the removal of the court to London, at the accession of James VI. to the crown of England (1603). Its enthusiasm for the Covenant was great, and the seaports put themselves in a state of defence when, on 1 May 1639, the Marquis of Hamilton arrived in the Firth of Forth with 19 Royalist vessels and 5000 well-armed men, of whom, however, only 200 knew how to fire a musket. This alarm passed off with the pacification of Berwick; and the next marked episode is the battle of Pitreavie, fought near Inverkeithing on 20 July 1651, when 6000 of Cromwell's troopers defeated 4000 adherents of Charles II., killing 1600 and taking 1200 prisoners. Then comes that darkest scene in all Fife's history, the murder by men of Fife on Magus Muir of Archbishop Sharp, 3 May 1679, so strongly illustrative of the fanaticism, the superstition, and the unwarlike spirit of its perpetrators. The Revolution (1688) was followed by a long and severe famine, a great depression of commerce, and an exhaustion of almost every resource; the Darien scheme (169599) proved more disastrous to Fife than to most other parts of Scotland; at the Union (1707) legitimate commerce was all but annihilated, its place being taken by smuggling. (See Dysart.) The Earl of Mar landed from London at Elie in Aug. 1715, the month of the famous gathering at Braemar; on 12 Oct. Brigadier MacIntosh of Borlum succeeded in conveying 1600 Jacobites from Fife to East Lothian over the Firth of Forth; and about the same time the Master of Sinclair, proceeding from Perth through Fife with 400 horsemen, surprised two Government vessels at Burntisland, which furnished the rebels with 420 stands of arms. The plundering of the custom-house at Pittenweem by Wilson, Robertson, and other smugglers, is memorable as leading to the Porteous Riot at Edinburgh (1736). Among many illustrious natives are Tennant and Dr Chalmers, born at Anstruther; Lady Ann Barnard, at Balcarres; Alexander Hamilton, at Creich; Sir David Wilkie, at Cults; Lord Chancellor Campbell, at Cupar; Charles I. and Sir Noël Paton, at Dunfermline; Richard Cameron, at Falkland; Adam Smith, at Kirkcaldy; Alexander Selkirk, at Largo; Sir David Lindsay, at Monimail; Major Whyte Melville, at Mount Melville, near St Andrews; and Lady Elizabeth Halket, at Pitreavie.

A characteristic feature of Fife is its large number of small seaport towns, in many places so close as to be practically a continuous town. Buchanan used the expression oppidulis præcingitur to describe it, and James VI. called the county a grey cloth mantle with a golden fringe. The modern demand for harbours capable of admitting large vessels has tended to concentrate the shipping of Fife at Burntisland, and the establishment of large factories has in like manner concentrated population in such places as Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy. Thus, though Fife is rich and fruitful in its land, and has many important industries, as well as large import and export trades, most of the coast towns are so quiet and decayed as to give the casual visitor a much less favourable impression of the county than a complete examination affords.

The county acquired its popular name of the ' Kingdom of Fife,' partly from its great extent and value, and partly from its forming an important portion of the Pictish dominion. It anciently, as we have seen, was much more extensive than it now is, comprehending nearly all the region between the Tay and the Forth, or the present counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan, the detached or Culross district of Perthshire, and the districts of Strathearn and Monteith. Dismemberments of it were made at various periods. In 1426 the county of Kinross was formed; other changes were afterwards made to form the stewartries of Clackmannan and Culross; and in 1685 three parishes were cut off to complete the present county of Kinross. Numerous ancient hereditary jurisdictions existed in the county, and, in common with similar jurisdictions in other parts of Scotland, were abolished, under compensation, in 1747. The chief of these were that of the steward of the stewartry of Fife, for which the Duke of Athole received £l200; that of the bailie of the regality of Dunfermline, for which the Marquis of Tweeddale received £2672, 7s.; that of the bailie of the regality of St Andrews, for which the Earl of Crawford received £3000; that of the regality of Aberdour, for which the Earl of Morton received £93, 2s.; that of the regality of Pittenweem, for which Sir John Anstruther received £282, 15s. 3d.; that of the regality of Lindores, for which Antonia Barclay of Collerny received £215; and that of the regality of Balmerino, which had been forfeited to the Crown through Lord Balmerino's participation in the rebellion of 1745, and so was not valued. See Sir Robert Sibbald's History of Fife (Edinb. 1710; new ed., Cupar, l803); J. M. Leighton's History of Fife (3 vols., Glasgow, 1840); Thomas Rodger's Kingdom of Fife (2 vols., Cupar, 1861); Walter Wood's East Neuk of Fife (Edinb. 1862); M. F. Conolly's Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Men of Fife (Cupar, 1862); his Fifiana (Cupar, 1869); William Ballingall's Shores of Fife (Edinb. 1872); James W. Taylor's Historical Antiquities of Fife (2 vols., Edinb., 1875); James Macdonald's ' Agriculture of Fife, ' in Trans. Highl. and Ag. Soc. (1876); T. Hutchison's ' Kingdom of Fife, ' in Fraser's Magazine (1878); besides works cited under Balmerino, Burntisland, Cellardyke, Crail, Dunfermline, Dura Den, Dysart, Falkland, Inchcolm, Lindores, Isle of May, and St Andrews.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a maritime county"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 2nd order divisions")
Administrative units: Fife ScoCnty
Place names: FIFE     |     FIFE OR FIFESHIRE     |     FIFESHIRE
Place: Fife

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