Oakley 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 located at the mutual border of

Carnock Carnock ( gd, A' Chàrnaich) is a village and parish of Fife, Scotland, west of Dunfermline. It is east of Oakley, Fife. The name of the village derives from Scottish Gaelic, from ''ceàrn'' ("corner"), with a suffix denoting a toponym, thus ...

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 ...

parishes, Fife, 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 ...

on the A907. The village was built in connection with the Forth or Oakley

Ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

(1846), now all gone along with the colliery industry. The ironworks, which ceased production many years ago, had six furnaces, with stacks high, and the engine-house was built with walls to comprise of stone below the surface of the ground. Subsequent to their use in the ironworks, the buildings were used as a sawmill producing rough timber for railway sleepers, fence posts and the like. Comrie Colliery closed in 1986, and the village took many years to recover from this major employer's demise.

Description

Amenities include: three parks, one of which is attached to the local community centre in the north of the village and has astroturf sports pitches available to the surrounding areas; Blairwood Park, Oakley United's football ground; a cycle track which was formerly a railway line that ran from

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 ...

and provides access to the local countryside; a Co-Operative which doubles as a Post Office; two hair salons; a bakers; a butchers; a pharmacy; three hot food takeaways; a café and a few other grocery stores. Two burns merge in the south-west of the village, the Blair and Carnock Burns, providing another scenic walking area. The Blair Burn, which flows on the west side of the village, divides Oakley from the neighbouring village of

Comrie Comrie may refer to: Places *Comrie (crater), a lunar crater *Comrie, Fife, a village in Fife, Scotland *Comrie, Perth and Kinross, a village and parish in Strathearn, Scotland People with the surname *Aaron Comrie (born 1997), Scottish footballer ...

, while the Carnock Burn divides the east part of the village in two north–south. There are religious establishments; the Holy Name Catholic Church was designed by the prolific church architect Charles W Gray and contains magnificent stained-glass windows by

Gabriel Loire Gabriel Loire (April 21, 1904 – December 27, 1996) was a French stained glass artist of the twentieth century whose extensive works, portraying various persons or historical scenes, appear in many venues around the world. He founded the Loire ...

, a French stained glass artist of the 20th century, is well subscribed to. The church was built in 1956–58 for Roman Catholic miners who moved from

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

to work in the more prosperous coalfields of West Fife. The Oakley Parish church is a slightly smaller church for those of Protestant denomination and is also used for various activities aimed at all ages. Most of the houses in Oakley were built in the 1950s for incoming mineworkers from the west coast; these have since been purchased by the occupants. There is a pub, The Greyhound Bar, in the centre of the village, and a Social Club on the main A907. There is a small industrial estate to the north of the village, providing some employment around the area. To the south lies Inzievar House once visited by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

, now converted into flats. There is a thriving broad wood industry operated by Scottish Woods in the estate.

Education

There were two primary schools situated in Oakley, one Roman Catholic named Holy Name, the other Inzievar primary. However, recently a new building, Oakley Campus, has been built which houses the library and both schools.

Public library

The library has limited opening hours and is situated within the Oakley Campus. Information resources including community information and reference materials are also available, as is access to the internet.Oakley Library
fifedirect. Retrieved on 2012-12-07.

Health

Oakley Health Centre provides a wide and comprehensive programme of health care including a dental surgery, podiatry clinic, physiotherapy clinic, and cardiology unit.

Transport

Stagecoach run the services 4 and 4A which run frequently from the new Dunfermline Bus station from around 05:30 until 23:45.

References

External links

Fife Place-name Data: Oakley
{{authority control Villages in Fife Mining communities in Fife