Markinch Curling Club is a
curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...
club in
Markinch
Markinch (, (Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village
has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Cens ...
, Scotland that was instituted in 1842.
Markinch
, 1861 Parochial Directory of Fife and Kinross
Membership
Its members were formerly composed largely of employees of John Haig, the whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden c ...
blend whose bottling plant and offices used to be situated in Markinch, workers for Tullis Russell, a paper-mill on the banks of the nearby River Leven - in fact, Mr. Tullis was one of the founding members in 1842 - and a mixture of farmers and local Health Service professionals. With the closure of John Haig, one source of members was stopped; however, the club survives.
Venues
Curling is known to have taken place in Markinch on "The Common", an area in the centre of the town now used as the car park for Markinch Bowling Club
Markinch (, (Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village
has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Cen ...
, Markinch Town Hall
Markinch (, (Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village
has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Cen ...
, Markinch Primary School
Markinch (, (Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village
has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Cen ...
, and the local library, prior to the Club’s founding but there is little known about this. The Club possesses a complete set of hand written minutes from the inaugural meeting to the present day.
There have been three curling ponds in the Club’s history. The first, opened in the winter of 1842, was on the North edge of the town on "the low lying ground at the foot of Archibald’s Park". It was only played on for five years. It had to be closed in 1847 when the North British Railway
The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...
Company’s line to Cupar
Cupar ( ; gd, Cùbar) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fif ...
was built over the site. The Club received £15 in compensation. The second pond at Balfarg farm on Balbirnie estate was the most successful of the Club’s ponds, being played on during the great days of outdoor curling in the cold winters in the latter half of the 19th century. It was opened in 1850 with a match against Stratheden and curled on every winter for 64 years. This pond was the venue for club games, district medals and inter club challenge matches. A fine stone curling house
A curling house was used to store curling stones, brushes and other equipment used to maintain a curling pond and play the game of curling in Scotland and elsewhere.
Introduction
The houses were often purely functional in character, being relat ...
was built with three rooms, the Laird’s room (the Laird being Mr. Balfour, of Balbirnie House
Balbirnie House is an early 19th-century country house in Glenrothes, in central Fife, Scotland. The present house was completed in 1817 as a rebuild of an 18th-century building, itself a replacement for a 17th-century dwelling. The home of the B ...
), the west room and the curling stone room. However, in 1914, the club was again forced to move as the coming of electricity to Balfarg farm saw the mill lade drained and the source of water for the curling pond lost. A site for a new rink was found on "the common" in Markinch
Markinch (, (Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village
has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Cens ...
town itself, and it was opened on 6 January 1914, thus formalising the arrangements which had taken place before the Club's foundation. The days of outdoor curling were beginning to draw to an end, and the opening of Haymarket Ice Rink
Haymarket Ice Rink was a former ice skating and curling venue in Edinburgh, Scotland, which opened in 1912 and closed in 1978.
It was constructed following the availability of land resulting from the relocation of James Swan's cattle market to Ch ...
in 1912 confirmed that outdoor curling was becoming less popular. This rink eventually closed in 1938, bringing to an end 96 years of outdoor curling in Markinch
Markinch (, (Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village
has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Cens ...
.
Club games are now played at Kirkcaldy Ice Rink
Fife Ice Arena (originally known as Kirkcaldy Ice Rink) opened in 1938. Kirkcaldy Ice Rink was designed by architects Williamson & Hubbard. Fife Ice Arena is the home venue of the oldest ice hockey team in the UK – the Fife Flyers. It is als ...
and at Kinross Curling Rink, the ice rink which was previously the property of the Green Hotel, Kinross
Kinross (, gd, Ceann Rois) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the historic county of Kinross-shire.
History
Kinross's origins are connect ...
, but which has been refurbished, and is now run, by Kinross Curling Trust.
Competitions
The Club's main internal competition is the Balbirnie League, contested between the constituent rinks, which are named after historic Markinch
Markinch (, (Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village
has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Cens ...
place-names, Balgonie
Balgonie is a town in southeast Saskatchewan. Situated at the intersection of Highways 10, 46, and the Trans-Canada Highway, the town is part of the White Butte region and neighbours Pilot Butte, White City, and McLean. As well, it is locat ...
, Stob Cross, Dalginch, and Sweetbank.
The Club's annual fixture with Glenrothes Curling Club
Glenrothes (; , ; sco, Glenrothes; gd, Gleann Rathais) is a town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south of Dundee. The town had a population of 39,277 in the 2011 census, making i ...
is for the Davie Napier Trophy
An annual game for the Mounie Trophy against Meldrum & Daviot Curling Club means that the Club may also play at Forfar
Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a p ...
Ice Arena, Curl Aberdeen
cURL (pronounced like "curl", UK: , US: ) is a computer software project providing a library (libcurl) and command-line tool (curl) for transferring data using various network protocols. The name stands for "Client URL".
History
cURL was fi ...
, or Perth Ice Rink
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
.
Swiss Tours
The Club has been involved in three Swiss tours, the first in 1963, the second in 2003, and the latest from 19 to 26 January 2013. These "tours" have all been based in Zermatt
Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
...
, where the local ice rink holds an annual Scottish Curling Week.
References
Markinch Curling Club » History
External links
website
{dead link, date=June 2017 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes on Royal Caledonian Curling Club
1842 establishments in Scotland
Curling clubs established in 1842
Curling clubs in Scotland
Sport in Fife