Map Of Fife

  A small agricultural hamlet in W Fife, situated close to the Bluther Burn on the B9037 midway between Blairhall and Culross.

  A village in the Howe of Fife, situated to the north of the River Eden 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Cupar.   Said to take its name from the numerous springs that fed into a small lake that once existed at nearby Stratheden, Springfield originally grew up around a corn mill on the River Eden. The village developed after the arrival of the railway in 1847 and became a prosperous industrial centre at various times producing bricks, tiles and textiles. To the north lies Stratheden Hospital (1850).

  The ancient university city of St Andrews, once the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland and now a golfing and tourist mecca, lies at the eastern extremity of the Fife peninsula where the North Sea coastline is characterised by sweeping sandy bays on either side of a rocky headland.
  The city grew from a small religious settlement founded on the headland of Kinrimund ('Head of the King's Mount') where, c. AD 345, St Rule is said to have landed with the bones of St Andrew the patron saint of Scotland. By the mid-8th the site had become a place of pilgrimage and Scotland's leading religious centre. In the 12th century a cathedral was built, in 1411 a University was founded and in the 15th century Pope Sixtus IV erected the see of St Andrews into an archbishopric.  First granted a royal charter by David I c.1140, the town developed as a centre of trade, its merchant burgesses building for themselves fine houses with elegant forestairs, crow-stepped gables and pantiled roofs. In the post Reformation years of the 17th and 18th centuries prosperity declined and the castle and cathedral fell into ruin. But with the development of fishing, agriculture and tourism in the 19th century the town's harbour once more came alive with herring-boats, boats exporting coal and iron as well as grain and potatoes from the farms of Fife, and ferries linking St Andrews with ports such as Dundee and Leith.
  St Andrews is internationally famous as the 'home of golf' and the frequent venue of championship events. The game has been played here at least since 1553 when the Archbishop allowed its townsfolk to play golf and other games on the links and in 1754 the Royal and Ancient Society of St Andrews Golfers was set up to organise an annual competition. There are now five 18-hole courses (Old, New, Strathtyrum, Jubilee and Eden) and one 9-hole course (Balgove) as well as many golf shops, manufacturers of golf clubs and a British Golf Museum.

  A modern residential housing development on the Firth of Forth between Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay, initiated in the 1990s for commuters. The old harbour was formerly an outlet for coal brought by rail from mines at Fordell. It has an adjacent business park and residential development at St David's Bay.

  ( Also known as St Monans) A fishing village in the East Neuk of Fife, situated between Elie and Pittenweem. Originally known as Inverin, Inverie or Inweary, its present name is derived from a shrine to St Moineinn established on the shore by early Christian missionaries. The version of the name ending in 'ce' is a possessive form as in once, twice, etc. In the 1890s there was a dispute as to the most appropriate version of the place-name. St Monance, which appears on Ordnance Survey maps, was favoured until more recent times when St Monans has found its way back into many documents.
  The village grew up around a well which was dedicated to the saint, its water being used to wash fishermen's nets and lines for many centuries. In 1362 King David II gave thanks here after surviving a shipwreck in the Firth of Forth and in gratitude ordered a church to be built. Restored in 1826-28 by William Burn, this building is a prominent feature in the landscape. In addition to many fine pantiled 17th and 18th century houses there are remains of saltpans which are overlooked by a restored windmill that was used to pump water up from the sea.
  On the coastal walk to the west of the settlement are to be found a restored 16th century beehive dovecote and the ruins of Newark Castle which was remodelled by David Leslie (later Lord Newark) in 1649. Salt, coal and fishing were the chief industries of St Monance for many years but during the 20th century it has largely been a centre of tourism and boat building, a trade that has been associated with the town for more than 200 years. Additional small industries such as the production of smoked fish are located on the Netherton Industrial Estate.

  A village in central Fife, situated 2 miles (3 km) north-east of Markinch, and also known as Star of Markinch. Star lies on raised ground at the centre of former swamp land which is said to give the village its name and its crooked main street reflects its evolution from a collection of farm steadings into a nucleated settlement. Its schoolhouse was the home of the Scottish novelist who wrote under the pen name of Annie S. Swan.

  Situated just east of Saline in W Fife, the small mining village of Steelend was created by the Wilson and Clyde Coal Co. which opened a colliery nearby. Its houses are largely of the post-war Cruden Council House style and the village has a Miners' Welfare Club and Football Club. Steelend takes its name from a farm on Saline Hill to the north.

  A town at the western end of the Howe of Fife, situated on the River Eden just south of the A91 to St Andrews. A medieval burgh of barony with districts once owned by the church and the Knights Templar, its merchants once supplied nearby Falkland Palace with goods and services. During the 18th and 19th centuries the town developed as a textile centre but also became famous for its 'Fife Boots' first manufactured by A.T. Hogg (1858-1927).
Strathmiglo High Street is dominated by the Tolbooth with its open forestair and octagonal spire, and outside the parish church stands a Pictish symbol stone dating from c.700 AD.

  A dormitory town on the NE coast of Fife, situated at the mouth of the Firth of Tay 11 miles (18 km) north of St Andrews. Known as Ferryport-on-Craig until 1846, it was for many centuries a ferry port linking Fife with Dundee and Broughty Ferry. The town developed in the 19th century, firstly with the arrival of the railway and the creation of a railway ferry in the 1840s, and secondly with the opening of the Tay Rail Bridge in 1878. In 1847 its harbour was rebuilt by Thomas Grainger for the Northern Railway Co. to accommodate paddle steamers. Tayport has an 18-hole golf course (Scotscraig), and a tower on Hare Law to the west commemorates the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815.

  A town in central Fife, situated between the Lochty Burn and the River Ore to the south of Glenrothes. Formerly an important staging post on a coaching route, it developed during the 19th century at a railway junction associated with the coalfields of Fife. Its station was closed in 1969 and its Rothes Pit abandoned in the early 1970s.
Thornton has an 18-hole golf course.

  A settlement overlooking Torry Bay in W Fife, one of several old ports lying on the coast of the Firth of Forth between Culross and Inverkeithing. It developed as a mining settlement during the late 19th century. The parish church of Torryburn and Newmills, rebuilt c.1800, has an hexagonal corbelled bell tower. One of its ministers in the 17th century gained notoriety by taking on the role of hunting down witches. Torryburn has secondary and primary schools and interesting buildings include Craigflower, a house remodelled in Scottish baronial style by David Bryce in 1862. Alison Cunningham, the nurse of Robert Louis Stevenson was born here in 1822.

  Also known as Dunfermline Coaltown, this former colliery village stands in the parish of Dunfermline, W Fife, two miles to the north of Dunfermline town centre. Known as Moncur in medieval times, its name was changed to Dunfermline Coaltown in the 18th century and then to Townhill in the early 19th century, reflecting its location at the top of a hill leading up from Dunfermline. In 1781-3 a wooden rail track was built to transport coal to Inverkeithing on the Firth of Forth.
  The village was once the site of the Dunfermline town gallows and the Cairncubie Spring north-east of the village was an important source of drinking water for the town. The last remaining pit at Muircockhall was used for training until it closed in 1970.

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