Parish of Kemback

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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1791-99: Kemback
1834-45: Kemback

Kemback, a parish in the Stratheden district of Fife, containing the conjoint villages of Duraden, Blebo Craigs, and Kemback Mills, 1¾ mile S of Dairsie station, and 3½ miles E of Cupar, under which there is a post office of Duraden. Bounded NW by Dairsie, N by Leuchars, NE by St Andrews, E and S by Ceres, and W by Cupar, it has an utmost length from E to W of 25/8 miles, a varying width of 7 furlongs and 23/8 miles, and an area of 2602 acres, of which 7¾ are water. The Eden winds 3¼ miles north-eastward along all the Dairsie and Leuchars boundary; and its affluent, Ceres Burn, flows 15/8 mile northward through Dura Den, partly along the Ceres boundary, but mainly across the middle of the parish. The surface declines along the Eden to less than 100 feet above sea-level, and rises thence to 547 feet at Clatto Hill on the St Andrews border. The rocks, comprising trap, sandstone, ironstone, and shale, include a vein of lead-ore; and the fossil fishes of their yellow sandstone have been fully noticed under Dura Den and the geology of Fife. The soil is variously strong heavy clay, deep able black loam, peat, gravel, and poor black sand; and agriculture has been carried to high perfection, especially on the Blebo estate, where steam power has been employed for a good many years. About one-seventh of the entire area is under wood, nearly all the remainder being either in tillage or pasture. Mansions are Blebo House, Dura House, Kemback House, and Rumgally; and 4 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 4 of between £100 and £500, and 6 of from £20 to £50. Kemback is in the presbytery of St Andrews and synod of Fife; the living is worth £223. The parish church was built in 1814 at a cost of £700. A public school, with accommodation for 190 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 74, and a grant of £67, 18s. Valuation (1866) £4885, 18s., (1883) £6554, 9s. Pop. (1801) 626, (1831) 651, (1861) 896, (1871) 1056, (1881) 853, of whom 380 were in the three conjoint villages.—Ord. Sur., shs. 48, 49, 41, 1857-68.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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