Coaltown of Balgonie is a village of 1,059 people (2011 census) in south central

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 ...

. It is located on the B9130 road, next to the new town of

Glenrothes 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 it ...

. Coaltown has a premier shop, a pub, the Balgonie Arms, a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

, Balgonie Bowling Club, a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

, the Victoria Hall, an undertakers, and a garage, Balgonie Motors. There is a playpark for children beside the primary school. Opposite the school is the football pitch for local team, Balgonie Scotia AFC.

History

Sports

Balgonie Scotia AFC was founded in 1896. They play at King George V Park. They are one of the oldest amateur teams in Scotland.

Education

Coaltown of Balgonie Primary School was opened in August 1889. It is a village school with two campuses. The main building is at the end of School Road and it sits in a countryside environment. It houses 4 classrooms, toilet block, staff resource base and the usual office provision. The annexe building is the old Miners' Welfare Institute at the top of School Road and houses a classroom along with the kitchen and dining/gym hall. The school has won various ''Eco-school'' awards and they have a large nature area outside both buildings. For secondary education, pupils are catchment allocated to Auchmuty High School, a short distance away, in Glenrothes. There are private bus links to St Paul's Roman Catholic Primary School in Glenrothes and St Andrews R.C. High School in Kirkcaldy.

Transport

Frequent bus services depart the village for

and

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 ...

, with peak time services extended to and from

Leven Leven may refer to: People * Leven (name), list of people with the name Nobility * Earl of Leven a title in the Peerage of Scotland Placenames * Leven, Fife, a town in Scotland * Leven, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England * Leven st ...

. A short walk away is Bankhead Roundabout, and regular express services throughout central Scotland depart from here, as well as local services to destinations within Fife. The majority of bus services are provided by Stagecoach East Scotland, and a few are run by local bus and coach company Moffat & Williamson. Although the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running b ...

runs through the village, Coaltown does not have a railway station. The nearest options are Glenrothes with Thornton railway station, located in Thornton, providing links to the

Fife Circle Line The Fife Circle Line is the local rail service north from Edinburgh. It links towns of south Fife and the coastal towns along the Firth of Forth before heading to Edinburgh. Operationally, the service is not strictly a circle route, but, ra ...

, or Markinch railway station for trains to

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histor ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Perth 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 ...

, and

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 ...

References

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