A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Abbotshall, a coast parish, S Fifeshire, containing the Linktown or southern suburb of Kirkcaldy (incorporated with that burgh in 1876), and bounded W, NW, and N by Auchterderran, E by Kirkcaldy and for ½ mile by the Firth of Forth, S by Kinghorn, and SW by Auchtertool. Irregular in outline, it has a varying length from E to W of 7 furlongs and 33/8 miles, an extreme breadth from N to S of 3 miles, and an area of 4220 acres, of which nearly 60 are foreshore and 25 water. The surface, low and level near the coast, rises gently, westward and north-westward, to 283 feet beyond Balwearie, 400 near Raith House, 399 near Chapel, 500 near Torbain, and 484 beyond Lambswell, in the furthest west. Streams there are none of any size, only Tiel Burn, tracing the southern boundary, and another, its affluent, feeding the beautiful lake before Raith House, that, covering 21 acres, was formed in 1812. The rocks are partly eruptive, partly belong to the Limestone Carboniferous system: and sandstone and limestone, the latter abounding in fossils, are quarried extensively, but no coalpit was working in 1879. The soil towards the shore is fertile, though light, growing good turnips and barley: further inland is mostly dark or clay loam, well adapted for wheat and beans and other heavy crops: and further still is chiefly of inferior quality, on a cold, tilly subsoil. About four-fifths of the whole area are in tillage, and one-sixth more is under wood. Balwearie Tower is the principal antiquity, only a large yew tree marking the site of the hall or pleasaunce of the abbots of Dunfermline, ¼ mile W of the church, from which the parish received its name. Raith Hill, too, crowned by a conspicuous square tower, has yielded some ancient urns and rude stone coffins. William Adam, architect (flo. 1728), and General Sir Ronald C. Ferguson (1773-1841), were natives, the Fergusons having held the Raith estate since 1707, and the Melvilles before them since 1296 and earlier. Raith House, 1¾ mile W of Kirkcaldy, is a good old mansion, originally built by George, first Earl of Melville, in 1694, with modern Ionic portico and wings, and with finely-wooded grounds and park. The present proprietor owns 7135 acres in the shire, valued at £13,919 (minerals, £1582) per annum: and Mr Davidson of Bogie House, a castellated mansion 2¾ miles WNW of the town, owns 398 acres, valued at £817. Five other proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 15 of between £100 and £500, 12 of from £50 to £100, and 65 of from £20 to £50. In the presbytery of Kirkcaldy and synod of Fife, Abbotshall was disjoined from Kirkcaldy in 1620, but has itself given off a southern portion (with 1084 inhabitants in 1871) to the quoad sacra parish of Invertiel: its minister's income is £327. The parish church (rebuilt 1788: 825 sittings) stands ½ mile W of Kirkcaldy, and there is also a Free church: whilst a public school at Chapel village, 2¾ miles NW, with accommodation for 144 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 110, and a grant of £98, 8s. Valuation of landward portion (1881) £10,341. Total pop. (1821) 3267, (1851) 5030, (1871) 5785, 674 of them in landward portion: for 1881 see Kirkcaldy.—Ord. Sur., sh. 40, 1867.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
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| Feature Description: | "a coast parish" (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions") |
| Administrative units: | Abbotshall ScoP Fife ScoCnty |
| Place: | Abbotshall |
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