Kemback is a village and parish in Fife, Scotland, located east of

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 Fi ...

. The present village was developed in the 19th century to house those working the flax mills on the nearby Ceres Burn. From 1681 the minister for the parish was Alexander Edward, until 1689 when he was deprived as a non-juror. He went on to become an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and landscape architect, working on schemes for

Brechin Castle Brechin Castle is a castle in Brechin, Angus, Scotland. The castle was constructed in stone during the 13th century. Most of the current building dates to the early 18th century, when extensive reconstruction was carried out by architect Alexan ...

and

Hamilton Palace Hamilton Palace was a country house in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, it dated from the 14th century and was subsequently much enlarged in the 17th and 19th centuries.Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

''Ceann Bac'' meaning 'End of the Corner', from ''ceann'' meaning 'head' or 'end' and ''bac'' meaning 'hindrance', 'bend' or 'corner', particularly in a field used as a shelter for livestock.

Transatlantic Radiophone Station

;Kemback G.P.O. Transatlantic Radiophone Station (1927–1950s) In 1927 the General Post Office opened a commercial radiophone service between Kemback and an

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...

site in New Jersey, USA. All that remains (2010) is a metal gate into an open field opposite the Kemback graveyard. The field was originally full of wooden huts, and the hill, and surrounding areas in the parish, were covered in aerials. The civilian GPO services were moved when line of sight was needed for television transmissions during the 1950s.

WWII Secret

Access to most of North Fife was restricted. The Kemback Radio Station was a critical link between Britain and the US, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. Classed ULTRA secret, the Kemback station was also needed in the event of a retreat from England, and the loss of the transatlantic cables by the British forces and an equivalent Transatlantic RadioPhone site at Rugby, England. Obviously this eventuality was never needed. Wartime records of the Station's use for radio interception as part of the network of

Y-stations The "Y" service was a network of British signals intelligence collection sites, the Y-stations. The service was established during the First World War and used again during the Second World War. The sites were operated by a range of agencies inc ...

for German Enigma machine transmissions are still restricted, and have not been released into the public domain. It is unclear if the records survive in the National Archives or

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...

. Several staff based in GPO Kemback were transferred to the Far East in the early days of WW2 to Singapore. Some were captured, and held as prisoners of the Japanese for the remainder of the war.

Medical conditions

The extremely marshy land immediately around the old and new Kemback churches was drained in the 17th and 18th centuries. A local condition called ''The Drop'' or ''The Ague'' is recorded in the histories of the Lairds of Kemback, and the archive of the Archbishop John Spottiswoode(1565–1639) which, although cannot be confirmed, is probably a form of malaria, similar to that seen in the Somerset levels.

References

* *Colvin, Howard (1978) ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects'' 1600–1840, James Murray, pp. 282–3 * New York Times, 1927 (subscription required on website) {{authority control Villages in Fife Parishes in Fife