Burntisland ( , sco, also Bruntisland) is a former royal burgh and parish 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, on the northern shore 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 ...

. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 6,269. It was previously known as Wester Kinghorn or Little Kinghorn. It is known locally for its award-winning sandy beach, the 15th-century Rossend Castle, as well as the traditional summer fair and Highland games day. To the north of the town a hill called The Binn is a landmark of the Fife coastline; a

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged mag ...

, it rises above sea level.

History

Burntisland Town Hall (geograph 6121061)

Burntisland docks from the air (geograph 5835088)

Early evidence of human activity in this area has been found in rock carvings on the Binn, thought to be about 4,000 years old. The Roman commander Agricola may have used the natural harbour and set up camp at the nearby Dunearn Hill in AD 83. The earliest historical record of the town was in the 12th century, when the monks of Dunfermline Abbey owned the harbour and neighbouring lands.Lamont-Brown ''Fife in History and Legend'' p.71 The settlement was known as ''Wester Kinghorn'' or ''Little Kinghorn'' and developed as a fishing hamlet to provide food for the inhabitants of Rossend Castle.Burntisland Fishing Port p5 The harbour was then sold to

James V James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, and duri ...

by the abbots of Dunfermline Abbey in exchange for a parcel of land. The land was granted royal burgh status by

in 1541. When the status was confirmed in 1586, the settlement gained independence from the barony of Kinghorn and was renamed Burntisland, possibly a nickname from the burning of fishermens' huts on an islet now incorporated into the docks. However, Ross (2007) considers this explanation of the town's name "implausible" and proposes the origin ''Burnet's Land'' after a local personal name. Substantial remains of the original parish church, built in the late 12th century, survive in a churchyard to the north of the old town on Church Street. The building of a town wall to both north and east in the post-Flodden world of late 16th century Scotland, which placed the old church outwith the protective wall, was one of the several reasons that a new church was built in 1592: Burntisland Parish Church, also known as St Columba's.Wilson ''Old Burntisland'' p.3 This was the first new parish church built in Scotland after the Reformation. It is a unique shape, square with a central tower upheld on pillars, and lined all round with galleries, to allow the greatest number of people to be reached by the minister's words during the service. The church contains some carved wooden panels. In 1601, King James VI chose the town as an alternative site for the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. This was when a new translation of the Bible was first discussed, a project which James brought to fruition a decade later in the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

. The town was part of the lands of Dunfermline belonging to Anne of Denmark. In April 1615 there was a riot against one of her legal officers by a crowd of over a hundred women who took his letters and threw stones at him. The rioters were "of the bangster Amasone kind" led by the wife of the Baillie of Burntisland according to the Chancellor Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline, who supposed the women were acting at the instigation of the townsmen including the minister Mr William Watson. Burntisland developed as a seaport, being second only to Leith in the Firth of Forth, and shipbuilding became an important industry in the town.

improved the harbour in 1540 and named it "Our Lady Port". In 1544 it was defended by three artillery blockhouses. An English report mentions a dock at Burntisland called the Newhaven and says a pier and the three blockhouses were to the west, at "Mill Dame". During the war of the Rough Wooing in 1548 the English commander

Edward Clinton Edward Fiennes, or Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln KG (151216 January 1584/85) was an English landowner, peer, and Lord High Admiral. He rendered valuable service to four of the Tudor monarchs. Family Edward Clinton, or Fiennes, was born a ...

planned to reconstruct the harbour and pier and their defences, employing a military engineer. In 1559, the town came under French occupation when Scottish Protestant leaders opposed the Catholic

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (french: Marie de Guise; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. She ...

. The occupation ended with the arrival of an English fleet in 1560, prompting the occupiers to retreat by land, back to Leith. The harbour at this time was dry at low-tide and ships lay in the "ooze" or mud. In 1622 a leaking Spanish ship entered the harbour and promptly sank. The crew said they were whalers, and they had whaling equipment, but the town baillies were suspicious and imprisoned the officers in the tolbooth and put the rest under house arrest under suspicion of piracy. The lawyer Thomas Hamilton arranged their release, arguing they had committed no crime and there was peace with Spain at the time. The town also became a major embarkation point for Scottish soldiers on their way to fight in the Thirty Years War, in October 1627 the Burgh Council complained to the

Scottish Privy Council The Privy Council of Scotland ( — 1 May 1708) was a body that advised the Scottish monarch. In the range of its functions the council was often more important than the Estates in the running the country. Its registers include a wide range of ...

about the conduct of these troops. In 1633 a barge, the ''

Blessing of Burntisland The ''Blessing of Burntisland'' was a wooden ferry that carried people and goods across the Firth of Forth, Scotland, between Burntisland and Leith in the early 17th century. It sank in 1633 carrying a large amount of royal treasure. The sh ...

'', carrying Charles I and his entourage's baggage from Burntisland to Leith sank with the loss of Charles' treasure. In 1638, the town like much of the country rallied behind the cause of the

National Covenant The National Covenant () was an agreement signed by many people of Scotland during 1638, opposing the proposed reforms of the Church of Scotland (also known as ''The Kirk'') by King Charles I. The king's efforts to impose changes on the church i ...

in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The town with its good harbour became a magazine and supply depot for the

Army of the Covenant 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 ''Covenan ...

. Burntisland was held by the

Jacobite Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...

army for over two months during the rising known as the Fifteen. The Jacobites first of all raided the port on 2 October 1715, capturing several hundred weapons, then occupied it on 9 October. In September 1844 a new pier was completed to form a ferry link to the new harbour at Granton, Edinburgh. It was built by local builder Peter Penny (1803-1866).

Burntisland Burgh Chambers Burntisland Burgh Chambers is a municipal structure in the High Street, Burntisland, Fife, Scotland. The building, which is the meeting place of the Burntisland Community Council, is a Category B listed building. History The first municipal b ...

was designed by John Henderson and completed in 1846. Burntisland became an important port for the local

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

and coal industries, and in 1847 the Edinburgh and Northern Railway opened from Burntisland north to Lindores and Cupar. By 1850 the world's first roll-on/roll-off

rail ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ...

service was crossing the Firth of Forth between Burntisland and Granton, enabling goods wagons to travel between Edinburgh and

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 ...

without the need for unloading and re-loading at the ferries. (Passengers however had to disembark and use separate passenger ferries). This operated until 1890 when the Forth Bridge opened. The

Burntisland Shipbuilding Company The Burntisland Shipbuilding Company was a shipbuilder and repairer in Burntisland, Fife, Scotland that was founded in 1918. In 1969 it was taken over by Robb-Caledon Shipbuilders, which in turn was nationalised in 1977 as part of British Ship ...

at Burntisland West Dock was founded in 1918 as an emergency shipyard for the First World War, specialising in

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

s. In 1929 the yard introduced the "Burntisland Economy" steamship, which was designed to maximise fuel economy. The popularity of this design helped the yard to survive the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. In the Second World War the yard continued to concentrate on merchant ships but also built three

Loch class frigate The Loch class was a class of anti-submarine (A/S) frigate built for the Royal Navy and her Allies during World War II. They were an innovative design based on the experience of three years of fighting in the Battle of the Atlantic and att ...

s: , and . By 1961 the shipyard had 1,000 workers but in 1968 the company got into financial difficulties. The shipyard closed in 1969 and was sold to Robb Caledon of Leith. Burntisland Docks, Fife

Robb Caledon eventually secured orders to for the yard to build modules for the North Sea oil and natural gas industry, and formed its Burntisland Engineering Fabricators (BEF) subsidiary to manage this work. Towards the end of the 1970s orders declined, in 1978 Robb Caledon was nationalised as part of

British Shipbuilders British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The corporation was ...

and in 1979 Burntisland yard was closed. In 1990 under new owners Burntisland West Dock resumed the production of major offshore oil and gas fabrications. Industry related to North Sea oil remains important for the town. In 2001 a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

took over the yard as Burntisland Fabrications or BiFab. BiFab describes itself as the only major fabricator continuing in production in Scotland since 2005. A plant for the refining of alumina was opened by Alcan early in the 20th century and closed in 2002, the land now used for housing.

Church

The pre-Reformation church (known as Kirkton church) lies on Church Street and served until 1592, at which point it was abandoned. It was ruinous by 1700 but was used for burials until the mid-20th century. The main body of the church serves as a burial vault to the local family Aytoun (Ayton) of Grange. A new church was built in 1592 by a Dutch architect dedicated to

St Serf Saint Serf or Serbán (''Servanus'') () is a saint of Scotland. Serf was venerated in western Fife. He is called the apostle of Orkney, with less historical plausibility. Saint Serf is connected with Saint Mungo's Church near Simonburn, Northumbe ...

on a small hill overlooking the sea. In 1601 it was the meeting place of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland due to an outbreak of plague in the usual venue in Edinburgh. Many attendees would have come by sea. The Assembly was attended by

King James VI James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

. It is said that it was at this Assembly that the King requested that a new version of the Bible be created: leading to the creation of the 1611 authorised

, which (after the Union of Crowns in 1606 represented both England and Scotland but was requested whilst the King was solely King of Scotland. Ministers of the church in sequence were: John Brown (1567-1589); Andrew Lamb (1593-1596); William Symson (1597-1601); William Watson (1601-1616); John Michaelson (1616-1640 refused to sign the National Covenant); Andrew Lesly (1640-1643); John Smith (1643-1648);

George Nairne George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

(1649-1662 imprisoned); Harry Malcolm (1663); William Livingston (1663-1672 imprisoned); George Clerk of Crowley (1672-1688 suicide); George Johnston (1688-1691); James Pitcairn (c.1691); James Inglis (1692-1699); John Cleghorn (1701-1711); Henry Robin (1714-1718 left due to adultery); James Thomson (1719-1740 moved to

Antiburgher Church The Anti-Burghers were opponents of the Burgher Oath on theological grounds. History First Secession In 1733 the First Secession from the Church of Scotland resulted in the creation of the "Associate Presbytery". This church split in 1747 ove ...

); Robert Spears (1743-1773); James Wemyss (1779-1820); Charles Watson (1820-1837) father of

Robert Boog Watson Robert Boog Watson FRSE (26 September 1823 – 23 June 1910) was a Scottish malacologist and minister of the Free Church of Scotland best known as the author of the report on the Scaphopoda and Gastropoda collected during the H.M.S. ''Cha ...

and

Patrick Heron Watson Sir Patrick Heron Watson (5 January 1832 – 21 December 1907) was an eminent 19th-century Scottish surgeon and pioneer of anaesthetic development. He was associated with a number of surgical innovations including excision of the knee jo ...

; John Aikman Wallace (1827-1833); David Couper (1834-1843 moved to Free Church); Robert William Fraser (1843-4); James MacKintosh (1844-1848); John Robin (1849-1873); James Edgar Hill (1873-1877); Robert James Cameron (1877-9); John MacAlister Thomson (1879-1880 died in pulpit); Joseph Sage Finlayson (1880-1909); John Rogan (1910-?).

Highland games

Burntisland is home to the second oldest highland games in the world starting in 1652. The Games take place on the third Monday of July, the start of the Fife/Glasgow fair fortnight, and a local market and summer fairground takes place on the same day.

Sport and recreation

Burntisland Shipyard Burntisland Shipyard Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Burntisland, Fife. The club competes in the and play their home matches at Recreation Park. They are full members of the Scottish Football Association. Histo ...

is the town's senior football club, currently competing in the – the seventh tier of

Scottish football Association football ( sco, fitbaa, gd, ball-coise) is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scot ...

. The town is home to the eleventh-oldest golf club in the world – Burntisland Golf Club (the 'Old Club', as it is known among its members). Although it is not a course-owning club, its competitions are held over on the local course now run by Burntisland Golf House Club at Dodhead. The Beacon Leisure Centre features a 25-metre swimming pool with a wave machine and flumes, as well as gym facilities. Opened in 1997, this replaced an open-air bathing pool which closed in 1979. One of Scotland's Great Trails, the 187 km

Fife Coastal Path The Fife Coastal Path is a Scottish long distance footpath that runs from Kincardine to Newburgh along the coastline of Fife. The path was created in 2002, originally running from North Queensferry to Tayport. It was extended in 2011 with a n ...

, passes through the town. From Aberdour the route follows the railway line, goes along the High Street, and then heads towards Kinghorn via the beach promenade and A921 road. At low tide it is possible to walk from the beach across the sands to Pettycur before rejoining the route in Kinghorn.

Education

The town currently has one school, Burntisland Primary School, housed in a modern building which opened in August 2014 on the Toll Park. The school roll is around 690, which includes 160 nursery pupils. The adjacent nursery building across the road continues to be used. At its previous site on Ferguson Place the school first opened in 1876, and by 2000 was spread across five separate buildings. The majority of secondary school pupils attend Balwearie High School in nearby

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

. Catholic pupils travel to St Marie's Primary School or St Andrews High School, also in Kirkcaldy.

Burntisland Viaduct

Immediately to the west of Burntisland railway station lies the 9-span

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

forming a significant feature in the harbour area of the town. Built in 1888 to carry the main railway line from Edinburgh to

, it is now a Category C Listed structure, being a rare example of a surviving

Town truss A lattice bridge is a form of truss bridge that uses many small, closely spaced diagonal elements forming a latticework, lattice. The lattice Truss Bridge was patented in 1820 by architect Ithiel Town. Originally a design to allow a substantial br ...

Attractions

From May to August the annual summer fairground, known as the Shows, comes to town and there is also the second oldest highland games in the world, held on the third Monday every July. The Burntisland and District Pipe Band compete in Grade 3B after being promoted from Grade 4B after a successful 2014 season. The band are 2014 British, U.K and European and World Champions. The band is known throughout for its development with children in the local area, creating players that now compete in Grade 1. A free live music festival, Live on the Links, also takes place annually during the summer. First held in 1983 at the bandstand on the Links, it now runs for the whole weekend at different venues in the town on the second weekend in August.

Transport

The A921 coast road runs through the town and connects to the M90 motorway at Inverkeithing in the west and the A92 at Kirkcaldy in the east. The A909 travels inland towards the A92 at Cowdenbeath and the M90 at Kelty. Burntisland railway station is on the Fife Circle Line and provides direct links with Kirkcaldy to the north and Edinburgh to the south. However, only the southbound platform provides step-free access. The town is also served by

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

bus service 7, which runs between

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 west and Leven (via Kirkcaldy) in the east. The circular B1 service covers most areas of the town.

Town twinning

* Flekkefjord, Norway (since 1946).

Notable residents

David Danskin David Danskin (9 January 1863 – 4 August 1948) was a Scottish mechanical engineer and footballer. He was a principal founding member of Dial Square F.C., later renamed Royal Arsenal, the team that are today known as Arsenal. Born in Burntis ...

, mechanical engineer, and first

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of Arsenal football club. *

Aileen Paterson Aileen Francis Paterson (née Henderson) MBE (30 November 1934 – 23 March 2018) was a Scottish writer and illustrator, best known for her series of children's books about Maisie MacKenzie, the kitten. Biography Aileen Paterson was born in t ...

, writer and illustrator *

Robert Pitcairn Robert Pitcairn (May 6, 1836 – July 25, 1909) was a Scottish-American railroad executive who headed the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the late 19th century. He was the brother of the PPG Industries, Pittsburgh Plate Glass ...

, midshipman in the Royal Navy * Anneila Sargent, astronomer *

Mary Somerville Mary Somerville (; , formerly Greig; 26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary ...

, science writer and polymath * Darrell Sweet, drummer *

born in Burntisland *

brother of above *

Edward Wilson Edward Wilson may refer to: *Ed Wilson (artist) (1925–1996), African American sculptor * Ed Wilson (baseball) (1875–?), American baseball player * Ed Wilson (singer) (1945–2010), Brazilian singer-songwriter *Ed Wilson, American television exe ...

, cricketer and badminton player

References

Collinswell Land Ltd
History of closure and redevelopment of Alcan site

External links

Burntisland Online

Burntisland on FifeDirect

Burntisland Highland Games

{{Authority control Towns in Fife Ports and harbours of Scotland Royal burghs Seaside resorts in Scotland Parishes in Fife Populated coastal places in Scotland