Hill of Beath (; sco, Hill o Beath) is a hill and 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 ...

, Scotland, just outside

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. Acco ...

and joined to

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

. On 16 June 1670 the Hill of Beath was the location of a celebrated meeting of the

Covenanter Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from '' Covena ...

s at which preachers John Blackadder and John Dickson officiated. It was described as "a great gathering of persons who came from the east of Fife and as far West as

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

". At that

conventicle A conventicle originally signified no more than an assembly, and was frequently used by ancient writers for a church. At a semantic level ''conventicle'' is only a good Latinized synonym of the Greek word church, and points to Jesus' promise in M ...

, during the height of the struggle against episcopal rule, the Covenanters brought swords and pistols to defend themselves against attack. The village at this location was built and owned by the

Fife Coal Company The Fife Coal Company was formed in 1872 to acquire the small Beath and Blairadam Colliery with its pits in Kelty. Its head office was in Leven. In addition to coal, the company worked some ironstone. For the whole of its operating life, the co ...

, which rented the cottages to the miners for the duration of their employment in the mine. In 1896 the village population was about 1,300. As an experiment, a public house was started in June 1896 using the Gothenburg system, with any profits to be used for public works. An initial report suggested it was helping to reduce drunkenness despite the ease of access to public houses in nearby Crossgates. In February 1901 an underground fire killed seven men. Accidents, often fatal, were frequent in the years that followed. Hill of Beath is the birthplace of

Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

legend Jim Baxter and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

captain Willie Cunningham and the home town of former Celtic F.C. captain Scott Brown. Football managers Dick Campbell and Ian Campbell were brought up in the village. The village has a primary school and a community centre. File:Jim Baxter statue Hill Of Beath.jpg, Statue of Jim Baxter File:Housing and Hill o' Beath - geograph.org.uk - 739504.jpg, A mixture of housing, public and private, looking towards Hill o' Beath File:Hawthorn Crescent - geograph.org.uk - 48738.jpg, Hawthorn Crescent, Hill of Beath. The 'Hill' of Beath in the background File:Hill of Beath village from Cuttlehill road, just East of farm - geograph.org.uk - 42983.jpg, Hill of Beath from the road just east of Cuttlehill farm. A92 West Fife link road (dual carriageway) in foreground. File:Woodland, Hill of Beath - geograph.org.uk - 1385526.jpg, Woods planted on a restored open cast mining site. File:Leaving Crossgates Hill of Beath ahead - geograph.org.uk - 42978.jpg, B981 towards Cowdenbeath, situated over dual carriageway (A92) just short of bridge over railway. Hill of Beath ahead

References

Villages in Fife Hills of Fife Mining communities in Fife {{Fife-geo-stub

See also

References