Parish of Kinglassie

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.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry Arrow

Links to the Historical Statistical Accounts of Scotland are also available:
(Click on the link to the right, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Browse scanned pages")

1791-99: Kinglassie
1834-45: Kinglassie

Kinglassie, a village and a parish in Kirkcaldy district, Fife. The village, on Lochty Burn, 2½ miles NNE of Cardenden station, 3½ SSW of Leslie, and 6 NNW of Kirkcaldy, has long been inhabited mainly by weavers or handicraftsmen, and acquired in 1873 an extensive power-loom factory. It has a post office under Kirkcaldy, the parish church, a Free church, a curling club, and a fair on the Thursday of October before Falkirk Tryst. The parish church is partly a building of the 15th century, partly a reconstruction of 1773, and contains nearly 350 sittings. Pop. (1861) 420, (1871) 307, (1881) 351.

The parish is bounded N by Leslie, E by Markinch, SE by Dysart, S and SW by Auchterderran, and W and NW by Portmoak m Kinross-shire. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 45/8 miles; its breadth varies between 7 furlongs and 35/8 miles; and its area is 7716½ acres. The river Leven flows 43/8 miles on or close to all the northern boundary, and the Ore 23/8 miles across the southern interior; whilst Lochty Burn, after traversing the central part for 25/8 miles, continues 2¾ along the Dysart border. The land adjacent to these streams is flat, and declines in the E along Lochty Burn to 165 feet above sea-level. Three ridges, of various heights and various gradients, extend parallel to the course of the streams, and culminate in Redwells Hill (605 feet), whose summit, 5 furlongs N by W of the village, is crowned by a conspicuous square tower, erected in 1812, and rising to the height of 52 feet. The rocks are partly eruptive, partly carboniferous. Coal and limestone were formerly worked, ironstone was discovered about 1850, and sandstone is quarried. The soil is partly a deep clay, partly a light loam, partly a mixture of clay or loam with gravel or with sand and moss. The principal antiquities are a sculptured standing stone on Dogton farm and the site of a Danish fort on Goatmilk Hill; and about 1830 the Leven's alluvial deposits yielded a Roman sword, a battle-axe, and several iron spear-heads. Sir William Reid, K.C.B. (1791-1859), was a native; and the Rev. John Currie (1674-1765), author of Vox Populi Vox Dei, was minister for sixty years. The Kinglassie estate-733 acres, of £1100 annual value-was sold in 1883 for £22,140 to John M'Nab, Esq. of Glenmavis. Inchdairnie, noticed separately, is the only mansion; but 7 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 7 of between £100 and £500, and 6 of from £20 to £50. Giving off since 1878 a fragment to the quoad sacra parish of Thornton, Kinglassie is in the presbytery of Kirkcaldy and synod of Fife; the living is worth £280. A public school, with accommodation for 192 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 107, and a grant of £93, 6s. Valuation (1860) £11, 459, 15s., (1883) £11, 828, 14s. 8d. Pop. (1801) 908, (1831) 958, (1861) 1266, (1871) 1082, (1881) 1292, of whom 1222 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., sh. 40, 1867.

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

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better