Ballingry ( or locally or (older) ); sco, Ballingry, Bingry, gd, Baile Iongrach) is a small town 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 ...

, Scotland. It is near the boundary with

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland an ...

, north of

Lochgelly Lochgelly ( ; gd, Loch Gheallaidh, IPA: �ɫ̪ɔxˈʝaɫ̪ai is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is located between Lochs Ore and Gelly to the north-west and south-east respectively. It is separated from Cowdenbeath by the village of Lumphinna ...

. It has an estimated population (2016) of . The once separate villages of Ballingry, Lochore, Crosshill, and Glencraig are now somewhat joined together as the part of the

Benarty Benarty is the name informally used to refer to the ex-mining towns of Ballingry and Lochore and the villages of Crosshill, Lochcraig and Glencraig. The area is situated north of Lochgelly, Fife. The name comes from Benarty Hill, locally simply ...

area. Ballingry, along with its neighbour Lochgelly, is one of Fife's 'regeneration areas' and is classed as in need of regeneration economically and socially.

History

In 1160 the Parish of Ballingry and Auchterderran belonged to the Barony of Lochore. A church was built in the area to attend to the needs of the people. In 1561 Peter Watson was sent to minister to the people of Ballingry. Rev Jamie obtained most facts from old Kirk Session Records, fourteen volumes in various sizes were discovered. These minutes go back to 1669. It is believed that Ballingry is one of the oldest Parishes in Scotland. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, plans went into effect to create a settlement to house the population drawn to this part of Fife by the opportunities created by what was then an expanding coal industry.

Toponymy

The name Ballingry may come from the

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 a ...

''baile iongrach'', meaning "oozing estate", possibly from the springs on the slopes above the town.\It may also be 'the village of Jesus (or, the church') or something similar, in that the name is a combination of the Gaelic 'Ball', or village, and 'INRI' for 'Jesus'.

Schools

It has a large primary school, Benarty Primary School, as well as a smaller

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

primary school, St Kenneth's, one of seven feeder schools to St. Columba's Roman Catholic High School in Dunfermline.

Facilities

Opened in October 2012 to replace a number of facilities in Ballingry, Lochore and Crosshill, the Benarty Centre houses contains Fife Council offices, a library, childcare and catering facilities, a computer suite, gym, meeting room and café. Ballingry is also located very close to Lochore Meadows Country Park which includes the loch itself, as well as a large park for children, a canoe club and a 9-hole golf course. The village had its own junior football team, Ballingry Rovers FC which dissolved in late 2014 after 62 years, they played as part of the East Region Junior League. The village has four shops, a chemist, two pubs (The Craigie and the Cleik), a bookmakers, Chinese and Indian takeaways and two chip shops.

Transport

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 ...

operates the 19 service between Ballingry and Rosyth which runs through Lochore, Crosshill, Glencraig, Lochgelly, Lumphinans,

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...

, Hill of Beath, Crossgates, Halbeath and Dunfermline, operating at up to every ten minutes on week days and Saturdays. The 34 service runs between Ballingry and

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, ...

.The 81 service operates hourly between Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline and Glenrothes, with stops in between in Cowdenbeath and Ballingry. The nearest railway station is

, with services to Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Kinghorn, Burntisland, Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy.

Notable people

*Singer-songwriter and filmmaker Richard Jobson *Footballer Doug Rougvie *Rock’n’Roll/Punk band Paris Street Rebels *

Michael Nardone Michael Nardone (born 20 January 1967) is a Scottish actor. He was raised in Ballingry, Fife and trained in Drama at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. He starred as Mascius in the BBC/HBO/ RAI TV series Rome and appeared as DCI Rich ...

* John George, a miner who became a Unionist MP. *

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wo ...

was minister here from 1774 to 1784

References

{{Authority control Towns in Fife Parishes in Fife Mining communities in Fife