Limekilns

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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Limekilns, a coast village of SW Fife, mainly in Dunfermline, but partly in Inverkeithing parish, 1 mile E by S of Charlestown and 3 miles SSW of Dunfermline town. In 1814 Limekilns had 4 brigs, 1 schooner, and 137 sloops; in 1843 6 brigs, 7 schooners, 16 sloops, and 1 pinnace, these thirty manned by 168 men; but now there is hardly any shipping, owing to altered modes of transit. An old house, called the ` King's Cellar,' bears date 1581, and was possibly the death-place of Robert Pitcairn (1520-84), first commendator of Dunfermline and secretary of state for Scotland. George Thomson (1759-1851), the editor of a well-known Collection of Scottish Songs, was a native. A ` pan house, for saltmaking, long discontinued, was started in 1613; and in 1825 there was built, at a cost of £2000, a U.P. church, with 1056 sittings, whose congregation- celebrated its centenary on 12 Nov. 1882. Limekilns has also a post office under Dunfermline, and a public school. Pop. (1841) 950, (1861) 828, (1871) 758, (1881) 698, of whom 21 were in Inverkeithing.—Ord. Sur., sh. 32, 1857.

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