KINGHORN, or Kingorne, a parish and burgh (royal), in the district of Kirkcaldy,
and county of Fife; inntaining, with the village I if West Bridge, and the
i-land of Inch-Keith, '2935 inhabitants, of whom 13S9 are in the burgh, 10^ miles
(N.) from Edinl)uri;h. Kinghorn, at a very early period,
was one of the residences of the Scottish kings; and
until of late years, there were to be traced the remains
of an ancient castle, situated on rising ground near the
town, and commaiKling a view of the wliole of the Firth
of Forth. This castle, of which the ])ortion lately existing
was called Glamniis Tower, was probably selected as
a temporary residence for the diversion of hunting in the
extensive forest that lay adjacent, called the West wood
and the Woodfield; and the town is faiwifully .said to
have derived its name from the frequent soundings of
till- horn during the royal sports of the chase; the true
derivation biinj^ siqiposed to be from the (iaelic terms
Keaii or A'ih, a " chief, or headland," and f/'or/i, " green".
The date of the foundation of the town cannot be precisely
ascertained, though, if not at an earlier period the
abode of fishermen and ferrymen, whom its advantageous
situation might have attracted to settle on the coast, it
would naturally have arisen from the proximity of the
castle. Whatever its origin, it appears to have attained
such a degree of importance in the reign of Alexander
III. as induced that monarch on 26th June, 1284, to
grant additional privileges to the burgh; and the charter
then bestowed was afterwards, on 2nd July, 1364, confirmed
by David II. The former king, on returning to
his castle of Kinghorn late in the evening, by a road
winding along some precipitous cliffs, was thrown with
his horse, about half a mile westward of the town, and
killed on the spot, on the l6thof March, 1285. Across
was erected at the place where the king fell, and remained
till the reign of James II.; but no vestiges of it can now
be traced. The castle of Glammis, with the lordship of
Kinghorn, was granted by Robert II., as a marriage portion
with his daughter Janet, to Sir John Lyon, whose
successors were invested by James VI. with the title of
Earls of Kinghorn, which in the reign of Charles II. was
merged in that of the Earls of Strathmore.
The TOWN is situated on the shore of the Firth of
Forth, directly opposite to the port of Leith; on the
great road from Edinburgh to Dundee, and on the Edinburgh,
Perth, and Dundee railway. It is built upon the
slope of some gentlj' rising ground which, towards the
north-west, attains a considerable elevation. The principal
street has lately been much improved, and many of
the houses have been rebuilt in better style; but the inferior
streets have a very indifferent appearance. There
are two public libraries, supported by subscription. The
chief trade carried on here is the spinning of flax, for
which there are three extensive mills; the machinery is
partly impelled by steam, and partly by water-power, the
latter derived from the loch of Kinehorn, about half a
mile from the town. In these mills 4*0 persons are employed,
of whom more than 300 are females. There is
also a bleachfield, in which about seventy persons are
generally engaged; and a considerable number of the
inhabitants are occupied in hand-loom weaving. The
revenue of the town is £600 a year. A harbour which,
from its situation near the church, was called the Kirk
harbour, is now in a ruinous condition; but it is in contemplation
to restore it, for which an estimate of the expense
has been made, amounting to from £20,000 to
£30,000. At present, it gives accommodation only to a
few fishing-boats; but a considerable traffic is maintained
at another harbour, at Pettycur, half a mile west of the
town. The quay at Pettycur afl'ords convenient opportunities
of landing passengers, goods, and cattle, when
the state of the tide will permit vessels to approach.
The harbour and anchorage dues produce to the town a
revenue of about £180 per annum. From Pettycur and
the Kirk harbour a ferry to Leith was maintained even
in the earliest period of Scottish history, and this ferry
has been a constant subject of legislation in the Scottish
and British parliaments. The last act passed for its regulation
exjjired in the year 1845, and was not renewed,
as the new ferry between the low-water piers of Burntisland
and (iranton sup])liesall the acc(unniodation necessary
for tlie trallic formerly carried on at this great ferry.
The I'".(linburp;h, IVrth.and Dundee railway, which passes
along the coast of the parish, and has a station in the
town, was comnuMiccd under an act obtaincil in 1845 j
and in 1846 the company were authorized to make a
branch of about 600 yards to the liarbour of Pettycur.
The Kinghorn station is two miles and a half distant
from that of Burntisland on the west, and three miles
and a half from that of Kirkcaldy on the north.
The BURGH was formerly governed by a provost, two
bailies, a treasurer, and a council comprising thirteen
merchants, sailors, and brewers, and five deacons of the
trades. The magistrates held their various courts, and exercised,
both in civil and criminal cases, all the jurisdiction
of a royal burgh. The incorporated trades consisted
of the hammermen, weavers,
shoemakers, tailors, and bakers, all possessing exclusive
privileges. This state of things continued, with little
alteration, till the year 1830, when most of the incorporated
trades voluntarily abandoned their monopoly of the
respective occupations and other exclusive privileges, so
that tradesmen of all descriptions might thereafter settle
in the place without becoming free of any corporation.
In 1841 also, on the day fixed for the election of the corporation
officers, a quorum of the council could not be
mustered, and the burgh was consequently disfranchised.
Application, under these circumstances, was made to the
court of session for the appointment of three resident
managers to take charge of the patrimonial interests of
the burgh; and three such officers were accordingly appointed,
without judicial authority. The peace of the
town is now under the superintendence of the county
police. The town-hall, to which a gaol is attached, is a
handsome building in the Elizabethan style, in the centre
of the town, erected in 18*26, at an expense of about
£2400, under the direction of Mr. Hamilton of Edinburgh,
who designed the new High School and other
edifices in that city. Kinghorn is associated with Kirkcaldy,
Dysart, and Burntisland, in returning a member
to the imperial parliament.
The PARISH is about four miles in length and three
and a half in extreme breadth, comprismg an area of
5440 acres, of which 4S00 are arable, 250 woodland and
plantations, and the remainder meadow, pasture, and
waste. Its surface is beautifully varied, rising in some
places gradually, and in others more abruptly, from the
firth. There is a number of narrow straths, watered
by small rivulets, and stretching from the shore to the
hill of Glassmount, which has an elevation of 601 feet
above the level of the sea. To the north-west of this
hill, the surface undulates gently, and with occasional
tracts of table-land. The coast is bold, and in some
parts precipitous. Near Burntisland, to the west, is the
projecting cliff memorable for the death of Alexander III.,
whence, towards the harbour of Pettycur, the shore is a
level sand, terminating in a rock of columnar basalt,
forming the headland of Kinghorn ness. From this verdant
headland the burgh is supposed to derive its name.
Thence the bay of Kinghorn curves towards the north,
terminating in the Kirkcraig, a mass of rock near the
church, projecting for a considerable way into the sea,
and constituting a natural breakwater to the Kirk harbour.
The low lands are watered by numerous copious
springs, issuing from the declivities of the highergroundsj
and. to the west is the loch of Kinghorn, covering about
twenty acres, and affording an abundant supply of water
for the town, to which it is conveyed by pipes.
Along the shore, for a considerable distance, the soil
is a deep black loam of great fertility; towards the hills,
of lighter quality; and still further in the direction of
the north-west, more variable, and inclining to clay.
The crops are oats, barley, wheat, turnips, and potatoes.
The system of agriculture is in an advanced state; the
lands have been well drained and inclosed; the farmbuildings
are generally substantial and well arranged,
and the various recent improvements in agricultural implements
have been adopted. The cattle, few of which
are reared in the parish, arc of the Fifeshire and shorthorned
breeds; great numbers are annually bought, and
fattened for the markets, where they sell at from £20 to
£30 per head. A considerable number of sheep are also
pastured, chiefly of the half Cheviot breed. The annual
value of real property in the parish is £7410. The whole
parish lies within the coal basin of the Forth; but the
coalfields are so disturbed by the trap rocks bursting
through them, and overlaying them, that, with the exception
of a few acres on which the town stands, and
about a hundred acres near Auchtertool village, the substratum
appears to be formed of trap. Indeed, the soil,
which is remarkable for fertility, seems as if entirely composed
of the decayed portions of this species of rock.
The bearing of the stratified rocks, where they are least
disarranged, is northward; and the coal-bed is the lowermost
one of the coal-field which stretches from this parish
eastward to Largo. Carboniferous or mountain
limestone is obtained at Invertiel; it lies immediately
under the coal strata, and has been extensively quarried
for many years, both for building and agricultural purposes.
Coal was formerly wrought; but the works have
been discontinued. There are two annual fairs, and a
weekly market is held on Thursdays, under King Alexander's
charter, &c.: the former are for cattle, horses,
&c., and the latter for butter, cheese, and other country
produce; but both are very ill attended, and for the last
thirty or forty years have been falling into disuse. Abden,
the property of Robert Stocks, Esq., is an ancient mansion
originally belonging to the Bishops of St. Andrew's j
and in the charters granting the lands to the predecessors
of the present proprietor, is a distinct reservation that
the king, as coming in place of the bishop, should, in
crossing the ferry to Kinghorn, have lodging and hospitality
at his own charges and expenses in the " mansionhouse
of Abden". The building is a plain structure on
the north of the town, commanding a fine view over the
Firth. Balmuto, the seat of John Boswell, Esq., in whose
family it has been for more than four centuries, is an
ancient mansion consisting of a square tower to which
repeated modern additions have been made; it is finely
situated in a demesne richly planted, and the gardens
and pleasure-grounds are laid out with exquisite taste.
Grangehill is also one of the chief mansions in the parish
of Kinghorn.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposcs the parish is within
the limits of the presbytery of Kirkcaldy, synod of Fife.
The minister's stipend averages about £250, with a
manse, and a glebe valued at £19 per annum; patron,
the Earl of Strathniore. Kinghorn parish church, which
is near the old harbour, was rebuilt in 17*4; it is a
very plain structure, and contains 700 sittings. A
church has been built on the eastern boundary of the
parish, bordering upon Abbotshall, to which a quoad
sacra district was for a time annexed, including portions
of each of the two parishes. There are places of worship
for members of the Free Church and the United
Presbyterian Church. Until 1S30 there was no parochial
school. Iq that j'ear, Mr. Barclay, the town-clerk,
applied to the burgh and the heritors to found a parish
school; and he built the houses and erections for it, on
an acre of waste ground, at his own risk, and at the expense
of £800. They have since repaid him, by subscriptions
and donations, above £.500 of this expenditure;
and they give the minimum salary to the master,
who also receives £50 a year from the fund of the late
Mr. Philp, for teaching fifty children, and £10 annually
for teaching a Sunday school. A wide range of instruction
is provided, in the usual branches, together with
French, Latin, and Greek; and an infant school and a
drawing school are maintained, by subscription, within
the building. There is also an apartment appropriated
to an extensive geological collection, and a small collection
of other objects in natural history, and to a library
consisting of about 800 volumes on historical and scientific
subjects. In the grounds around the school-house
is a shrubbery, where are arranged and named in regular
order more than '250 plants; and the portion allotted to
play-ground contains gymnastic apparatus. In the village
of Invertiel is a good school, where the elementary
branches are taught, the master of which has a house,
and the fees. The late Robert Philp, Esq., of Edensbead,
left his property for the endowment of schools in
various places. One-eighth of the fund it produces is
apportioned for the instruction and clothing of fifty
children, now educated at the parochial school; and the
residue of the eighth is given to the children, on leaving
school, in such portions as the managers of the fund
deem proper. The Rev. Henry James, late minister of
the parish, left £300 to aid in supporting a scholar for
four years in his philosophical studies at the United
College of St. Salvador and St. Leonard, in the university
of St. Andrew's; it yields £15 per annum, and the
appointment is in the Kirk Session of Kinghorn, the
presbytery of Kirkcaldy, and the managers of the burgh
of Kinghorn. An old chapel called St. Leonard's, built
on the rising ground under the castle, and of exquisite
Saxon architecture, in which the courts were once held,
having been struck by lightning, and being likely to fall,
was removed by order of the Supreme Court, to make
way for the present town-hall. On the '2nd of December,
1478, King James III. confirmed a charter establishing
the hospital of St. James' chapel at Kingorne, in
which prayers were to be said daily for the souls of the
departed. At the time of the Reformation these oflices
ceased to be performed, and since then almost all traces
of the hospital have disappeared.
William Kirkaldy of Grange, whoflourished in the reign
of Mary; and Patie Birnie, a famous comic character,
musician, and song-writer, immortalized by Allan Ramsay
in his poems, were natives of this parish. The
former was born in the baronial castle of Kirkaldy
Grange, which stood on a consideriible eminence in the
eastern part of the parish, and of which little now remains
to show what it was in former times, except a
strr)ng flanking tower or staircase, and a massive fragracDt
of wall, whereon a modem bouse is engrafted.