Torryburn

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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Torryburn, a village and a parish of SW Fife. The village, lying on the shore of the Firth of Forth, 1½ mile SSE of East Grange station, 2½ miles E of Culross, and 4½ WSW of Dunfermline, is a seaport carrying on a small amount of commerce, and was at one time the port of Dunfermline. It has a post office under Dunfermline, with money order and savings' bank departments, and a fair on the second Wednesday of July. Pop. (1871) 723, (1881) 427, of whom 245 were in Low Torry.

The parish, comprising the greater part of the ancient parish of Crombie, and a small part of that of Saline, consists of a main body and a detached portion. The main body is bounded W by Culross in Perthshire (detached), N by Culross and by Saline (detached), E by Carnock and Dunfermline, and S and SW by the Firth of Forth. Its utmost length, from NW to SE, is 4¾ miles; its utmost breadth is 1¾ mile; and its area is 3260 acres. The detached portion, lying 5 miles N of the main body and 8 NW of Dunfermline, is bounded W and N by Fossoway in Perthshire, E by Cleish in Kinross-shire and by Dunfermline, and S by Saline. It measures 2¼ by 2 miles, and has an area of 1734¾ acres. The area of the entire parish is 4995 acres, of which 3 are water and 998¼ foreshore. The coast is mostly low and flat, and. in the main body the highest point is Shaw Hill (250 feet), whilst in the detached portion are Cult Hill (865) and Wether Hill (1100). Coal, ironstone, and sandstone have all been largely worked; and a fine brown clay, suitable for making bricks and tiles, is plentiful. The soil of the arable lands is good and highly cultivated. Antiquities are the ruins of Crombie church and a large stone at Tollzies, supposed to commemorate an ancient battle. Torrie House, a little way N of the village, belongs to R. G. Erskine-Wemyss, Esq. of Wemyss Castle; and 2 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 6 of between £100 and £500. The detached portion is annexed quoad sacra to Salinel; and Torryburn itself is in the presbytery of Dunfermline and the synod of Fife; the living is worth £271. The parish church, at Torryburn village, was built in 1800, and contains 502 sittings. There is also a Free church; and a public school, with accommodation for 175 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 103, and a grant of £87, 1s. 6d. Valuation (1856) £6977, 19s., (1880) £8429, 4s., (1885) £7145, 10s. 10d. Pop. (1801) 1403, (1831) 1436, (1861) l229, (1871) 1051, (1881) 737, of whom 653 were in Torryburn ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 40, 39, 1867-69.

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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