Crossford is a splendid village in West
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 (population in 2011 was 2358).
It is west of
Dunfermline
Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...
, east of
Cairneyhill
Cairneyhill is a village in West Fife, Scotland. It is 3 miles west of Dunfermline, on the A994, and has a population of around ()
The village's architecture is a mix of old weavers' cottages and modern suburban housing estates. The village is l ...
, astride the A994 (Main Street), at .
The village has mixed housing with large housing estates on the southwest and northwest ends. Most residents work either locally or commute to
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
or
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
.
Crossford lies north of the
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.
Name
''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
and from
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
.
The village sits on the main bus route X24, X26, X27 from Fife to Central Glasgow's
Buchanan Bus Station
Buchanan bus station is the main bus terminus in Glasgow, Scotland.
The bus station is the terminus for journeys between the city and other towns and cities in Scotland, as well as long-distance services to other parts of the United Kingdom ...
.
Bus routes 8 and 9 go to High Vallyfield and Stirling.
Bus route 89 goes to St Margarets Hospital in Dunfermline and then to North Queensferry.
Dunfermline City rail station is away.
Local facilities
School and community
Crossford
Primary School
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
was built in 1973 replacing the old school that was located on the North side of the A994 halfway between
Cairneyhill
Cairneyhill is a village in West Fife, Scotland. It is 3 miles west of Dunfermline, on the A994, and has a population of around ()
The village's architecture is a mix of old weavers' cottages and modern suburban housing estates. The village is l ...
and Crossford.
The school has ten teaching areas in a semi-open plan arrangement, plus a separate nursery class. There is a grass playing field for football and other sports.
At the park there is a Scout hall (with
Scouts
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...
and
Girl Guides
Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...
held weekly).
On the Main Street, the Village Hall is used by a variety of organisations including; Crossford Playgroup, Crossford Ladies Group, SWRI, Zumba classes, religious meetings, Crossford Community Council.
The highlights of the social year in Crossford are probably the Children's Gala events held over the year to raise funds for the November Fireworks and the Gala Week, with daily events, each June. The Children's Gala has been held since 1955 and is organised by the Crossford Gala Committee for children from the village.
Businesses and employment
Businesses in the village include: Pharmacy and
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 ...
, supermarket (Co-operative), bakers (Stephens), hairdresser (Scissors), beauty salon (Aura), chip shop (Masterchef), with garage (D&G Autocare), fireplace sales (A.H Fireplace Installations) situated to the east.
The Adamson Hotel formerly known as The Pitfirrane Hotel is in the centre of the village and is one of the few original Coaching Inns left in Scotland.
The Keavil House Hotel stands in of grounds to the west of Crossford
and its meeting facilities, restaurant and health club with swimming pool are an amenity for the village and surrounding area.
Sport
Crossford boasts the
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
Memorial Park playing fields, opened in 1950 by the Countess of Elgin. The land was gifted by the Halkett family of the Pitfirrane Estate. The community itself paid for the establishing of the facilities together with a Major Fiddes of the
National Playing Fields Association
Fields in Trust, is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green s ...
. New sports facilities in King George V Memorial Park were unveiled on 8 May 2005.
The floodlit, all-weather multi court was proposed by ''Crossford Recreation and the Environment'', and will be used by schools and the community for
five-a-side football
Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four outfield players and a goalkeeper). Other differences from football include a smaller pitch, smaller goals, and a reduced game duration. Matches are ...
,
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
, and
netball
Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...
.
To the southeast of Crossford the Dunfermline Golf Club
has an 18-hole
golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
. The Halkett family owned the Pitfirrane Estate until 1951, living in the Pitfirrane Castle which has become the clubhouse.
Crossford is an ideal centre for walking. Numerous pathways radiate from the village, to Dean Woods and Milesmark in the north, to Pitliver and
Limekilns
Limekilns is a village in Fife, Scotland. It lies on the shore of the Firth of Forth, around south of Dunfermline.
History and economy
Unlike the neighbouring village of Charlestown, Limekilns is an old settlement dating back to the 14th cen ...
/
Charlestown in the south, to
Cairneyhill
Cairneyhill is a village in West Fife, Scotland. It is 3 miles west of Dunfermline, on the A994, and has a population of around ()
The village's architecture is a mix of old weavers' cottages and modern suburban housing estates. The village is l ...
in the west and to
Pittencrieff Park
Pittencrieff Park (known locally as "The Glen") is a public park in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. It was purchased in 1902 by Andrew Carnegie, and given to the people of Dunfermline in a ceremony the following year. Its lands include the historic ...
at
Dunfermline
Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...
, in the east. To the north of the village, near Dean Woods, there is a paved cycle track which extends from
Dunfermline
Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...
to
Clackmannan
Clackmannan ( ; gd, Clach Mhanainn, perhaps meaning "Stone of Manau"), is a small town and civil parish set in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated within the Forth Valley, Clackmannan is south-east of Alloa and south of Tillicoultry. Th ...
.
History
Crossford can trace its history back into the distant past with Bronze Age discoveries having been made on Craigs Farm indicating agricultural activity into antiquity.
Crossford is said to take its name from the ford crossed by
monks
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...
on their way between the
abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
s of
Dunfermline
Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...
and
Culross
Culross (/ˈkurəs/) (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cuileann Ros'', 'holly point or promontory') is a village and former royal burgh, and parish, in Fife, Scotland.
According to the 2006 estimate, the village has a population of 395. Originally, Culross ...
.
and together with the early agricultural activity this seems to form the main part of the activity in the village. In the 16th century the village found a new life as coal and ironstone were mined from the lands of Pitfirrane under a charter granted to the Lairds of Pitfirrane (the Halkett family) by Queen Mary. The produce of this activity was then transported down the Waggon Road to
Limekilns
Limekilns is a village in Fife, Scotland. It lies on the shore of the Firth of Forth, around south of Dunfermline.
History and economy
Unlike the neighbouring village of Charlestown, Limekilns is an old settlement dating back to the 14th cen ...
for shipping via the port there. The Halketts enjoyed a privilege to ship free of duty to all foreign lands until 1788 when the government purchased the right for £40,000. The uppermost 4 inches and lowermost 2 inches of ironstone were said to be of such high quality as to be suitable for the making of cannon, and the produce was shipped to the
Carron Company
The Carron Company was an ironworks established in 1759 on the banks of the River Carron near Falkirk, in Stirlingshire, Scotland. After initial problems, the company was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom. ...
ironworks for that purpose.
The introduction of the
Turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
Act in 1796 brought about the installation of a tollbar on the Waggon Road. The building housing this still exists on the crossroads in the centre of the village.
At the beginning of the 19th century, it is recorded that some 50
handloom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but th ...
s were in use in the village with a population of 380 persons. This follows a pattern in the area for such weaving communities, another example being
Gowkhall
Gowkhall (for a period known as Balclune) is a hamlet in Fife Scotland, 3.6 miles (5.794 km) west of Dunfermline. The nearest village of size is Carnock 0.8 miles (1.287 km) to the west, which has a church and primary school. To the ...
a few miles north.
The
Earls of Elgin
Earl of Elgin is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1633 for Thomas Bruce, 3rd Lord Kinloss. He was later created Baron Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, in the Peerage of England on 30 July 1641. The Earl of Elgin is the h ...
owned land in the Crossford area in connection with the Elgin Colliery (at Parkneuk and Baldridge Burn, northwest of Dunfermline) and the Elgin Railway that ran from the colliery round Crossford and then down beside Waggon Road and on to
Charlestown harbour. The route of the railway and the site of the Elgin Colliery are shown in a map in Chalmers' book, ''Historical and Statistical Account of Dunfermline.'' Photographs are available online of where the railway was.
[See this RailScot website: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Elgin%20Railway ''Retrieved 2012-02-28'']
An 1856 map
[ ] shows a
brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
at the west end of the village, and whinstone quarry to the north of the main road.
During World War I the modern day Keavil House Hotel was used by the Admiralty as a location to base high-ranking officers, the naval base at
Rosyth
Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440.
The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...
(
Rosyth Dockyard
Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation in the 1990s it was fo ...
) being of a much greater size and importance at the time. During 1917 the First Sea Lord, Prince Louis of Battenburg and his son (Earl Mountbatten of Burma) were in residence when their names were officially changed to Mountbatten in order to reduce the Germanic image. This was very common in the UK at the time given the situation of total war being prosecuted against Germany. Prince Louis wrote in the visitors' book at Keavil ''"July 9th: arrived Prince Hyde. July19th: departed Lord Jekyll." '' From 1955 until 1975/6, the building was used as th
Martha Frew Childrens Homefor children placed in care by Dunfermline town council. Responsibility shifted between the newly formed Fife Regional Council and Dunfermline District Councils before being sold privately and renovated as a hotel in 1978/9.
Crossford also boasts th
Pitfirrane Castle a 16th-century 4 storey
Towerhouse
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...
. In modern times this has become home to th
Dunfermline Golf Club The building has been modified and extended in recent years, but still maintains some impressive stained glass and much of its original stature.
Nature
The land around Crossford is fertile and sought after for agriculture. There is a designated
Green Belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...
at the southeast of the village, between Waggon Road and
Dunfermline
Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...
which attracts a variety of birdlife; pheasant, wild geese, curlew, heron, et cetera. On the southwest corner, near Keavil Steadings, is the Crossford sycamore, of about 300 years — a significant ''heritage tree'' which is recorded in the
veteran tree register. The Crossford Burn comes from the Dean Wood, in the north and travels through the village to join the Lyne Burn near the railway at the south. Land to the south of the village is of high risk to river flooding.
Useful Information
* Telephone area code: 01383 (Dunfermline)
* Post Code: KY12 area (Dunfermline)
* SEPA floodmap: http://map.sepa.org.uk/floodmap/map.htm
References
External links
New (as of April 2016) Crossford Gala Website
{{authority control
Villages in Fife