INVERTIEL, or Westbridge, a quoad sacra parish (for a time),
partly in the parish of Abbotshall, and
partly in that of Kinghorn, district of Kirkcaldy,
county of Fife, 1 mile (S. W. by S.) from Kirkcaldy;
containing 1465 inhabitants. This district was estimated
to comprise 1000 acres, of which about 700 are in
tillage, 200 in pasture, and the remainder under plantation.
The substratum consists chiefly of brown sandstone
of the coal formation; and coal was for some
time wrought, but no mines are at present in operation.
About "00 persons are employed in hand-loom weaving;
and there is a flax-spinning mill, in which 100 hands are
engaged. The Firth of Forth lies on the south of the
parish, and the public road between Edinburgh and
Dundee runs close by the village. Invertiel was within
the presbytery of Kirkcaldy and synod of Fife, and the
patronage was vested in the heads of families being communicants:
the stipend of the minister was £80, arising
from seat-rents and collections. The church, a plain
structure, was erected in 1S36-7, by subscription, aided
by a grant of £272 from the Church-Extension fund:
its erection removed, in a great measure, the inconvenience
felt in the parish of Kinghorn from want of accommodation
and pastoral attendance. The members
of the Free Church have now possession of it, and the
village is included within the limits of the Free Church
presbytery of Kirkcaldy and synod of Fife. The
number of sittings in the building is 726. Sir Michael
Scott, a celebrated statesman and philosopher of the
thirteenth century, one of the most learned men of his
age, and called by the people of his times " the Wizard",
was born, and resided, at Balwearie, in this district: he
was knighted by Alexander II., and died in 1296.