SCOONIE, a parish, in the district of Kirkcaldy,
county of Fife, 9 miles (N. E.) from Kirkcaldy; containing,
with the town of Leveu, 2836 inhabitants.
This place, which is of considerable antiquity, and of
which the church at a very early period was granted by
Malduin, Bishop of St. Andrew's, to the Culdees of Lochleven,
was formerly in part the property of the family
of Gibson, who held the lands of Durie. Of their descendants,
Lord Durie was one of the commissioners
sent in 1652 to treat with the English parliament on the
projected union of the two kingdoms; and another of
the family sat in the first Scottish ])arliament after the
restoration of Charles II. to the throne. The parish is
situated on the Firth of Forth. It extends four miles
in length from north to south, and two miles in breadth
from east to west, and comprises about 4000 acres, of
which 3250 are arable, 250 woodland and plantations,
and 350 pasture and waste. The surface is gently undulated,
rising from the south to the north till it attains
an elevation of about 700 feet above the level of the sea.
From the higher grounds is an extensive prospect of the
Firth and the country on the southern shore, embracing
numtrous objects of romantic appearance, and much
beautifully varied scenery. The river Leven, which waters
the parish on the west, has its source in the celebrated
loch of the same name, and, after flowing through a
luxuriant valley, and receiving manj' streams in its
progress, falls into the bay of Largo near the town of
Leven. It abounds with trout, pike, and eels; and near
its mouth was formerly a lucrative salmon-fishery. The
general scenery is agreeably diversified; the surrounding
country is richly cultivated, and the plantations on the
demesnes of the principal seats add much to its embellishment.
The SOIL of the parish is fertile; and the system of
husbandry, which consists of successive rotations of white
and green crops, is in a high state of improvement. The
crops are wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and turnips, of
which large quantities are grown; and considerable
exports of grain and potatoes are made from Leven for
distant markets. Much attention is paid to the rearing
of cattle, generally of the Fife.shire breed; and formerly
great numbers were sent in a lean state to London: at
present the cattle are all fattened in the parish, and
mostly sent to Edinburgh and Glasgow, with a few occasionally
to London by the Dundee steamers. Several
oxen bred in the parish have gained prizes at the Highland
Society's cattle-shows. Few sheep are reared; but
many are purchased by the farmers at the neighbouring
fairs, and fed on turnips during the winter. In general
the farm-buildings are commodious, and some, of recent
erection, are very superior; threshing-mills are attached
to most of the farms, and the latest improvements in
agricultural implements have been adopted. Great progress
has been made in draining; and from the advanced
state of agriculture, and the vicinity of the town and
port of Leven, which affords facility for disposing of the
produce, the lands have much increased in value. The
annual value of real property in the parish amounts to
£8988. The substratum is chiefly whinstone, of inferior
quality, and consequently not quarried to any extent;
stone for building is generally brought from the quarries
of Inverkeithing and Blair. Strata of coal are found in
various parts, especially on the lands of Durie. The
mines were formerly wrought on a larger scale, and
great quantities were shipped from Leven to Holland
and other continental parts; the quality is very superior,
and it was once in such high repute that the best
description of Scottish coal is still called Durie coal.
After the death of the proprietor in 1802, the works
were discontinued; but they have been re-opened within
the last few years. There is a bed of ochre four feet in
thickness on the lands of Durie; it has been wrought
for many years, and great quantities of the produce are
exported. Several mills are in operation for spinning flax
and tow, a mill for crushing bones for manure, and one
for grinding ochre; and about 150 persons are employed
in weaving with hand-looms at their own dwellings.
The chief scats are, Durie, the property of C. M. Christic,
Esq., a handsome mansion erected in 1762, and
situated in an extensive demesne embellished with thriving
plantations; Kilniux, the residence of J. B. Fernie,
Escj., erected in 1832, situated in grounds tastefully laid
out, and sheltered with some fine trees; and IMontrave,
a handsome mansion erected in 1836, and also pleasantly
situated in improved grounds.
Scoonie is within the presbytery of Kirkcaldy, synoj
of Fife, and in the patronage of the Crown; the minister's
stipend is £'25". I9. 5., with a manse, and a glebe valued
at £50 per annum. The old church, situated about a
quarter of a mile from Leven, has been some time a ruin,
and the only jiart of it which is still preserved forms the
family vault of the proprietor of Durie. The present
church, erected in I776 near the town, and repaired and
enlarged in 1853, is a neat and well-arranged edifice
adapted for a congregation of 1000 persons. There are
places of worship for Independents, the Free Church,
and the United Presbyterian Church. The parochial
school affords a useful education; the master has a
salary of £34, the fees, a good dwelling-house, and an
allowance of £2 for deficiency of garden-ground. A
society for religious purposes, under the management of
a committee of ladies, distributes about £'20 per annum
in promotion of its object; and there is also a ladies'
charitable society, which distributes about £'24 per annum.
Several friendly societies existed formerly; but
from injudicious management few of them were able to
become permanent. Numerous stone coffins, supposed
to have been deposited after a severe conflict between the
Scots and the Danes, have been dug up in various parts
of the parish. Within the last five-and-thirty years, a
cairn on the summit of a hill, about forty yards square at
the base, was opened, and found to contain twenty stone
coffins, rudely formed of slabs placed on their edges
and covered with a superincumbent slab of stone. In
two of the coffins were small urns of clay, rudely ornamented;
and five of them contained each a larger urn,
fourteen inches in diameter and twenty-four inches
high. Great numbers of human bones were scattered
about, and in one of the smallest coffins were found
beads of charred wood. The urns were all in an inverted
position, with their mouths resting upon a square
slab of stone. Mr. Jerome Stone, an eminent linguist,
was born in this parish in 17'27; he died in 17o7, leaving
an unfinished work entitled An Entjuinj into the
Original of the Nation and Language of the Ancient Scots,
and a finished manuscript of an allegory entitled Tiie
Immortalily of Authors.