Crossgates is a village in

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland. It is located close to the junction of the M90 and A92, about two miles east of

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

and a similar distance south west of

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () 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 1890. According to a 20 ...

. The village name means 'crossroads': it is situated at the point where the main Dunfermline-

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) 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, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

road crosses the old Great North Road from

Inverkeithing Inverkeithing ( ; ) is a coastal town, parish and historic Royal burgh in Fife, Scotland. The town lies on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, northwest of Edinburgh city centre and south of Dunfermline. A town of ancient origin, Inverke ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 2,458. Crossgates has a long history of mining, both deep and opencast. In 2008 ATH Resources opened an opencast mine at Muir Dean to the south of the village, with the intention of removing 2,000,000 tons of coal. Planning permission for the mine was initially refused by Fife Council but the decision was later overturned by the Scottish Government. In April 2011, an application for an extension to the Muir Dean mine was lodged by ATH Resources to extend the surface mine to the south, which was granted. ATH Resources went into administration, leaving an ecological disaster with an uncertain future at the time. The majority of reparation works have now been completed, with the former mine infilled, and the landscape returned to farmland. Crossgates is designated, via a signpost, as "Fife's first energy efficient village", though there is no evidence for this.

Education

The village has one school, Crossgates Primary School, which also contains a nursery and under 3 provision. The school is split into 8 classes with around 210 students in the school. The school originally dates from 1920. Students from Crossgates Primary typically attend, Beath High School in

which is the nearest high school to Crossgates.

Sport

Football

Crossgates is home to the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club Crossgates Primrose, who compete in the East of Scotland League. The club play at

Humbug Park Humbug Park also previously known as Crossgates Greyhound Stadium is a football ground and former greyhound racing track, on Inverkeithing Road in Crossgates, Fife, Scotland. Origins The name Humbug Park derives from a disused pit of the fo ...

in the village. Former Scottish International and

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

player

Jim Baxter James Curran Baxter (29 September 1939 – 14 April 2001) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a left half. He is generally regarded as one of the country's greatest ever players. He was born, educated and started his career ...

started his career with the club before signing for Raith Rovers.

Lawn Bowls

Crossgates has its own Bowling Club which is located to the rear of the Community Centre (Miners' Institute) and has been there since 1940.

Notable residents

* Stuart Adamson, guitarist of

The Skids Skids are a Scottish punk rock and New wave music, new wave band, formed in Dunfermline in 1977 by Stuart Adamson (guitar, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals), William Simpson (bass guitar and backing vocals), Tom Kellichan, Thomas Kelli ...

Big Country Big Country are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band's popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although they have retained a cult following for many years since. The band's music inc ...

and The Raphaels. ''"...Stuart’s from Crossgates,..."'' Bill Simpson (Skids bassist, 2007)

External links

Crossgates Primary School website

References

{{authority control Villages in Fife Mining communities in Fife