Balmullo (

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

: ''Baile Mhullaich'') is a village in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Scotland. It is from the town of

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

and near to the villages of

Lucklawhill Lucklawhill is a hamlet one mile (1.6 km) northwest of the village of Balmullo in Fife, Scotland. Historically, Lucklawhill belonged to the Logie parish.Westwood's Parochial Directory for the Counties of Fife and Kinross'. 1862. pp. 166-1 ...

Guardbridge Guardbridge ( sco, Gairbrig) is a village in the north-east of Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is approximately north-west of St Andrews, and is situated on the estuary of the River Eden, at the junction of the A91 road between St Andre ...

Dairsie Dairsie, or Osnaburgh, is a village and parish in north-east Fife, Scotland. It is south-southwest of Leuchars Junction, and east-northeast of Cupar on the A91 Stirling to St Andrews road. The village grew out of two smaller settlements (calle ...

and

Leuchars Leuchars (pronounced or ; gd, Luachar "rushes") is a small town and parish near the north-east coast of Fife in Scotland. The civil parish has a population of 5,754 (in 2011) Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Populat ...

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

base

Leuchars Station Leuchars Station is a British Army installation located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland, near to the historic town of St Andrews. Formerly RAF Leuchars, it was the second most northerly air defence station in the United King ...

is also nearby.

History

The name ''Balmullo'' derives from

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

''bāile'' "village" with ''mullaich'' "top". The village name was recorded as ''Beilmullhoh'' in 1282. Now largely a

dormitory settlement A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

, it was once a weaving village. Balmullo was the home of the picture postcard cartoonist Martin Anderson ('Cynicus') whose red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

Cynicus Castle was demolished in 1939, seven years after his death.

Balmullo today

Balmullo benefits from a

Spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...

grocery store which also doubles as a

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. Balmullo also has a pub; The Balmullo Inn

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. The Balmullo Primary School is located in the heart the village. A village newsletter is also published online. In 2002, the village appeared in news articles after a

big cat The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus '' Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. Despite enormous differences in size, various cat species are quite similar ...

was allegedly spotted nearby.

Industry

Balmullo quarry from the A914 south of Balmullo - geograph

The quarry at Balmullo extracts orange-pink

felsite Felsite is a very fine-grained volcanic rock that may or may not contain larger crystals. Felsite is a field term for a light-colored rock that typically requires petrographic examination or chemical analysis for more precise definition. Color i ...

(red pathway chippings), and lies to the west of the village. Minerals found here include

azurite Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the Type locality (geology), type locality at Chessy, Rhône, Chessy-les-Mines near ...

baryte Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate ( Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), ...

malachite Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fractures ...

metatorbernite Metatorbernite (or meta-torbernite) is a radioactive phosphate mineral, and is a dehydration pseudomorph of torbernite. Chemically, it is a copper uranyl phosphate and usually occurs in the form of green platy deposits. It can form by direct depos ...

, and

pseudomalachite Pseudomalachite is a phosphate of copper with hydroxyl, named from the Greek for “false” and “malachite”, because of its similarity in appearance to the carbonate mineral malachite, Cu2(CO3)(OH)2. Both are green coloured secondary minerals ...

Transport

Nearby travel links are: *

Leuchars railway station Leuchars railway station ( ) serves the towns of Leuchars and St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The station is the last northbound stop before Dundee. The station was built as Leuchars Junction station for the route over the Tay Bridge to Dundee, t ...

, *

Cupar railway station Cupar railway station is a railway station that serves the town of Cupar in Fife, Scotland. The station has two platforms, of which the southbound one (for trains to Edinburgh) is now wheelchair accessible. Services are provided by ScotRail. H ...

, *

Dundee Airport Dundee Airport ( gd, Port-adhair Dhùn Dèagh) is located from the centre of Dundee, Scotland or, for navigation purposes, south of the city. It lies on the shore of the Firth of Tay and overlooks the Tay Rail Bridge. It is a popular transpo ...

References

External links

Balmullo Community Council's Own Site

Balmullo Community Council

Balmullo Community Council's Newsletter
Villages in Fife {{Fife-geo-stub