s situated between 56° 3. and 56° 25. N. Lat., and 2° 30. and 3° 50. W. Long., and bounded by the river and Firth of Tay on the north, by the German Ocean on the east, by the Firth of Forth on the south, and by parts of Kinross, Perth, and Clackmannan on the west. Its greatest length from west to east is about 41 miles, and its greatest breadth from north to south about 20 miles; its medium length from east to west is about 35 miles, and its medium breadth from north to south is nearly 13 miles. Its area is 459 square miles, or 293,760 imperial acres. Among the agricultural statistics collected by the Highland Society, and forwarded to the Board of Trade, the number of imperial acres in Fife to which the report is applicable amounts to 279,941. The most prominent features in Fifeshire, when viewed at a distance from the south, are the two Lomond hills in the middle of the county, the Bishop hills farther west, Largo Law farther east, and Normans Law and the Mount hill in the north-west and north of the county. The elevations of these hills have been ascertained by the ordnance surveyors to be above the level of the sea in feet as follows:—West Lomond, 1712-7; East Lomond, 1470-8; the highest Bishop hill, 1490-5; Largo Law, 953-0; Normans Law, 936-0; and the Mount hill, 780-3. Besides these there are numerous other elevations scattered over the county; and indeed it is everywhere found to present a pleasant variety of hill and valley, stretching in general from west to east, parallel to the Tay and the Forth. The principal valley is that through which the Eden flows, and is called the Howe of Fife, or Strath Eden. It lies to the north of the Lomond hills, which, with their western prolongation to the Cleish and Saline hills and their eastern continuation towards St Andrews, divide the county into the northern and southern portions. The valleys of the Leven and Ore are bounded by very gentle elevations, which in many places merge into the plain which may be said to slope from the central range to the Firth of Forth. The hills to the north of the Howe of Fife are a continuation of the Ochils, and are composed of an uninterrupted mass of trap rocks, flanked on either side by the lower beds of the old red sandstone.
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1 Of his departure for Lisbon he has himself left the following melancholy record, in which his situation is painted a thousand times better than could have been done by any pen but his own:—"On this day, Wednesday, June 26, 1754, the most melancholy sun I had ever beheld arose, and found me awake at my house at Fordhook. By the light of this sun, I was, in my own opinion, last to behold and take leave of some creatures on whom I doated with a mother-like fondness, guided by nature and passion, and uncured and unharmed by all the doctrine of that philosophical school, where I had learned to bear pains, and to despise death. In this situation, as I could not conquer nature, I submitted entirely to her, and she made as great a fool of me as she had ever done of any woman whatsoever; under pretence of giving me leave to enjoy, she drew me in to suffer, the company of my little ones during eight hours; and I doubt not whether, in that time, I did not undergo more than in all my distemper. At twelve precisely my coachman opened the door, while my wife, so soon as she met me, than I kissed my children, and went into it with some little resolution. My wife, who behaved more like a heroine and philosopher than at the same time the tenderest mother in the world, and my eldest daughter, followed me. Some friends went with us, others heard our leave; and I heard my behaviour applauded, with many murmurs and praises to which I well knew I had no title." (*Voyage to Lisbon*, p. 1.) This affecting passage remains a singular example of Fielding's natural strength of mind; and, indeed, the whole of the *Journey to Lisbon* shows that, whilst struggling at once with the depression and the irritability of disease, he could still exhibit a few flashes of that bright wit which used to set the world in a roar. "His perception of character, and power of describing it," says Sir Walter Scott, "had not forsaken him in those sad moments; for the master of the ship in which he sailed, the scolding landlady of the Isle of Wight, the military coxcomb who visits their vessel, are all portraits marked with the master-hand which traced Parson Adams and Squire Western." Fifeshire formation. The Howe of Fife is entirely occupied by those upper strata of the old red sandstone to which Dr Anderson of Newburgh has given the name of the yellow sandstone. Mr Maclean, in his work on the Geology of Fife and the Lothians, has named the same deposits the calciferous sandstone. The rocks of the southern division of Fife-shire chiefly belong to the coal formation of geologists, and form a portion of the great coal-field of the Forth. Here glance coal, or blind coal as it is sometimes called, is met with occasionally; slate coal, pitch coal, and cannel coal are occasionally found together in the same bed, and sometimes in separate strata in the same pit. From a charter dated in March 1291, it would appear that coal has been worked in this county for more than five centuries. In this charter William de Oberville grants liberty to the convent of Dunfermline to open a coal-pit in his lands of Pittencrieff. The principal coal-works at present are those in the parishes of Dunfermline, Beath, Dalgetty, Auchterderran, Ballingry, Dysart, Wemyss, and Markinch. In the southern division of the county three different limestone beds are met with, viz., the mountain or encrinitic limestone, the fresh-water limestone, and a stratum occurring in the midst of the coal measures which has received from geologists the name of the middle limestone. The first of these, the mountain limestone, is found in all directions around the outcrop of the coal strata. It is worked extensively at Charleston in the west of Fife, and at Fordell and Culst in the interior of the county. The fresh-water limestone is less extensively distributed, and is chiefly worked at Newbigging, near Burntisland, and used by the Carron Company in smelting iron.
Blackband ironstone also abounds in the Fife coal-fields, and for the last ten years it has formed one of the chief products of the county. It is raised by the Forth Iron Company at Oakly in the parish of Carnock, Steelend in Saline parish, and Cowden-Beath in the parish of Beath. There are also extensive mines at Lochgelly, Lumphanans, Outh, Inzievar, and Killerie in the west of Fife, and at Wintbank, near St Andrews, in the east of Fife. There are at present (1855) in full operation six smelting furnaces at Oaldy, two at Lochgelly, and one at Lumphanans. At Oakly alone there are more than 2000 workmen employed. The manufacture of malleable iron is now carried on to a considerable extent at the works of the Weardale Iron Company at Transy, near Dunfermline.
Sandstone abounds, and is quarried, in many places of the county, both within and without the bounds of the coal formation. It is sometimes of a fine grain and durable quality, is much used in the county for building, and is often exported for the purpose.
The trap rocks of Fife may be divided into three portions, viz., that extending through the north of Fife, and forming the Ochils; 2dly, that extending through the central part of the county in a long series of hills from Saline to the neighbourhood of St Andrews; and, 3dly, that forming the masses of igneous origin protruding through the coal measures along the shores of the Forth, and rising to considerable elevations in the hilly district near Inverkeithing, and near Burntisland and Kinghorn, forming the Durnearn hill, Orrok hill, Glassmont hill, and the Bin, &c. Clinkstone forms generally the highest summit of the Ochils, greenstone and amygdaloid cap the Lomonds and the other hills of the central range, while basaltic rocks are chiefly perceptible in the detached masses of the trap which lie along the shores of the Forth.
In various parts of the county there are quarries in the trap rocks, from which the whinstone is taken for road metal. At Queensferry it is conveyed by sea to Newcastle and London for paving streets, and to various places on the English coast for the construction of harbours.
Pyrope, resembling the precious garnet, is sometimes found embedded in the trap tuff. At Ely they are gathered on the sea-beach, or picked out of the rocks, and sold to Fife-shire jewellers under the name of Ely rubies. Copper and zinc are also said to have been met with in several places, and lead has been worked in the Lomond hills. Marl is also often found in the lakes, and dug out in dry seasons for agricultural purposes.
There are now no mineral springs of any note in the county. The old ones have disappeared. The chalybeate spring on the east of Dysart is now little frequented for medicinal purposes, and the petroleum or ink Craig of Carnock is seldom visited even by the curious.
The only streams of any note in the county are the Leven and the Eden. The former issues from Lochleven in Kinross-shire, flows eastward from an elevation of about 362 feet above the sea level through a beautiful strath by Leslie, Balgonie, and Balfour, and after a course of about twelve miles falls into the Forth at the town of Leven. The latter river, the Eden, flows from Strathmiglo hills through the Howe of Fife by Cupar to near St Andrews, where it falls into the German Ocean, about 18 miles from its source.
The lakes in the county are numerous, though none of them are very large, such as those at Lindores, Kilconquhar, Kinghorn, Lochgelly, Camilla, Lochfitte, and Lochglow. The county once contained many more, which have been drained at great expense. Of these the most considerable were the lakes of Rossie and Lochore. Their beds are now used in raising valuable crops.
From the extensive drainage of the lakes and marshes, and the general improvement of the fields by cultivation, the climate within the last forty years may now be described as good. The harvests are early, and the snow does not lie long on the ground. As the direction of the hills is from east to west, vegetation is often checked in the spring months by the east winds which then prevail.
The soil above the trap rocks is in general of good quality, and where the subsoil is coal or sandstone it is in general of inferior quality. There is still a considerable portion of moor and moss in the Howe of Fife; and near Dunfermline and Lochgelly—and between St Andrews and Ferryport, and from Leven on the Forth for many miles eastward, as well as in other places, there are considerable tracts covered with drift sand.
The number of farms or holdings in Fife is about 1175; of these 534 contain less than 100 acres and 641 more than 100 acres. The most improved implements of husbandry are everywhere in use. Threshing-mills, moved by horses, by water power, or by steam engines, are to be found on all farms.
The principal manures in use are farmyard dung, seaweed cast ashore and cut from the rocks, bone-dust, and guano. Lime and marl are also in use in certain localities.
All the farm crops common in Scotland are cultivated here, and a great portion of them on a large scale. According to the Highland Society's report to the Board of Trade upon the crop of 1854, the number of acres in tillage was made up thus: wheat 24,252, barley 27,937, oats 43,591, rye 417, bere or bigg 163, beans 3894, pease 7184, vetches 1397, turnips 27,961, potatoes 14,486, mangold 78, carrots 43, cabbage 75, flax 1648, turnip seed 583, bare fallow 3547. The number of acres in grass was made up thus: grass in the rotation of the farm 62,749, permanent pasture 29,931, irrigated meadows 1043, sheep walks 10,378. The acres in buildings, woods, &c., were made up of houses, roads, fences, &c., 5903, waste 4330, and woods 15,548.
The farm stock in Fife, according to the same statistics, is stated to consist of—horses 10,953, milch cows 8586, other cattle 22,371, calves 83,111, ewes, gimmers, and ewe hogs 32,550, tups, wethers and wether hogs 33,866, swine 11,485.
The gross produce of the county was—wheat 697,252 bushels, barley 1,075,603, oats 1,656,467, bere or bigg 540, beans 111,952, turnips 405,445, potatoes 68,087. The average produce per imperial acre in Fife was—wheat 28 bushels and 3 pecks, barley 38 bushels and 2 pecks, oats 38 bushels, bere or bigg 33 bushels and 1 peck, beans 28 bushels and 3 pecks, turnips 14 tons 10 cwt., potatoes 4 tons 14 cwt.
It will be found, from a comparison of the statistics of the Scots counties, as given by the Highland Society, that Fifeshire grows the greatest quantity of wheat and flax. It also grows the largest proportion of barley, its quantity being about one-seventh of the whole of that crop raised in Scotland.
The cattle of the Fife breed are not now in so much repute as formerly. The horses are much the same as those in use in all the lowlands of Scotland. A great many pigs have of late years been reared. Pigeons are still numerous, and the pigeon-houses have been estimated at not less than 300.
There is nothing remarkable in the zoology of Fifeshire. Rabbits abound in certain localities, and hares, pheasants, and partridges are plentiful. There are a few grouse and black cock, and fallow deer are occasionally seen. The flora of the country is nearly the same as that of Mid-Lothian. Extensive plantations have, since the commencement of this century, been made in almost every parish.
Grain is sold extensively in stock and sample at various weekly markets in Fife, of which the most considerable are at Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline, Cupar, and St Andrews; and these and every other town of any consequence have one or two yearly fairs for the sale of horses and cattle and agricultural produce, and for hiring farm servants and the purchase of agricultural implements, &c.
There are three retteries in the county for the manufacture of flax from the straw grown in the county, and about 150 hands are employed in this branch of business.
In 1850 this county possessed forty flax-spinning mills, which turned 52,344 spindles, had a moving steam-power equal to that of 786 horses, and a water-power equal to that of 567 horses. These mills employed 1038 males and 2942 females. Mr Fergus's great flax-spinning mill at Prinlawes, near Leslie, is the largest of the kind in Scotland. The flax power-loom mills in 1850 were reported to be only three in number, to employ 194 looms, to have a steam-power equal to that of 42 horses, and to employ 54 males and 166 females.
The number of hand-loom linen weavers employed at present is estimated at 13,000. About 5000 more hands, chiefly women and children, are engaged by the weavers in the preparation of the yarns for them, and about 400 hands more are employed in the bleaching of these yarns at about twenty separate bleachfields, some of which are on a large scale.
Although a portion of the yarn spun is bleached and made into cloth in the county, a great portion is also exported to the Continent unbleached.
The nature of the cloth manufactured ranges from the coarsest sacking, and light, plain, and fancy dowlas, with ticks and checks, to the finest damask, and is extensively exported to all parts of the world. The fine table linens, damasks, and diapers, used by her Majesty's household at Balmoral and Buckingham Palace, were made in this county, and the reputation of the Fife manufacture of these articles, particularly at Dunfermline, was fully sustained at the London Exhibition in 1851. The other seats of this trade are Newburgh, Kingskettle, Dysart, Kirkcaldy, and Cupar. A considerable part of the linens manufactured in Fife is sent, before being sold, to be bleached in Perthshire and Forfarshire, and even to Ireland. Besides the linen cloth manufacture, the wool-trade, to a small extent, also exists in Fife. The process of spinning and weaving is carried on in two mills, moved by water with a power equal to that of 28 horses, which turn 1480 spindles, and drive 26 looms. These mills employ 25 males and 34 females.
Since the report upon the state of the linen trade was Fifeshire, framed, from which the information above given was taken relative to the number of power-looms employed in the manufacture of cloth, it has been greatly increased, and they have been lately estimated at the number of 700.
Besides the trades and manufactures of the county, shipbuilding is carried on at Dysart, where there is a wet dock and a Morton's slip for raising vessels out of the water for repair, and at Burntisland, where there is a good harbour and dry dock. It is also carried on at other ports in the county. There are also extensive distilleries and breweries of ale, and several paper mills, brick and tile works, potteries, iron foundries, and tanneries, &c.
The shipping of the county is extensive, and its vessels trade to all parts of the world. The state of the harbours and the extent of their trade will be seen in the articles Forth and Tay.
The banking business of the county is extensive; and is conducted in every town of any consequence by upwards of 30 branches of the principal Scots banks.
Private railways of wood and iron have been used for many years in transporting for several miles the produce of coal and lime quarries to the harbours where they are shipped. The most extensive of these railroads is that belonging to the Earl of Elgin. It proceeds from near Dunfermline to Charleston harbour, and has been for many years open to the public for the purpose of carrying passengers.
The great public trunk iron railway, from Burntisland on the Forth to Ferry-Pont-on-Craig on the Tay, was opened throughout in the year 1848. The length of it between these two points is 36 miles. It has a branch from Thornton to Dunfermline of 15½ miles, and from the station at Dunfermline this branch is continued to Stirling by the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway Company. From Ladybank station, on the trunk line, a branch is also carried for 16 miles to its junction with the Scottish Central Railway near Perth. It thus affords direct railway communication between Edinburgh and Dundee, and also to Dunfermline. A single line railway from Thornton station to Leven, 6 miles long, was attached to it in 1854; and a single line railway, from Leuchars station to St Andrews, 5½ miles long, was attached to it in 1852. Bills are at present (1855) before parliament for forming a railway 14 miles long from Ladybank station to Kinross by Auchtermuchty, and to form a railway from Leven to Kilconquhar, in continuation of that from Thornton station.
The Edinburgh and Northern Railway Company, which formed the first of these railways, is now united with the Granton Railway Company, and the united company has assumed the name of the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway Company.
It has acquired stations in Edinburgh and Leith, and at Trinity and Granton, in Mid-Lothian, and formed or connected railways between all these stations. It has also acquired the ferries between Granton and Burntisland, and between Ferry-Pont-on-Craig in Fife and Broughty in Forfarshire. It has also formed branch railways from the trunk line to Pettycur and Kirkcaldy harbours, and purchased the harbours of Kinghorn and Pettycur, Ferryport, and Broughty, and extensive properties at all the harbours and stations where necessary for the undertaking.
The capital expended on these works and purchases, and their appendages, including the plant of the railway, &c., and interest, amounted on 31st January 1855 to £3,277,000, of which £1,661,000 has been paid by the shareholders, and £1,616,000 has been borrowed on debenture or from banks or otherwise. The revenue arising from the traffic amounted for the year ending at the same date to £155,453, 1s. 3d., which was made up as follows:—For 1,216,168 passengers, £65,855, 10s. 2d.; for 292,794 tons of goods, 3z Fifeshire. 231,866 tons of coals, 10,359 cattle, 29,981 sheep, 2,353 pigs, L.87,280, 15s.; and for miscellaneous articles, L.2,287; 6s. ld. The working expenses for the same year amounted to about L.88,613, leaving a surplus for the payment of interest, and towards the liquidation of the debts of the company, of L.66,840, 11s. 3d.
The value of the different kinds of stock from which the railway was made is according to the stock share list of 13th February 1855, as follows:—Original share, L.26 paid, L.5 now consolidated into capital stock; Granton preference, 4 per cent. do., L.20 paid, L.13, 15s.; preference, 4 per cent. do., L.5 paid, L.3, 2s. 6d.
The capital expended by the St Andrews Railway Company on the formation of that line was L.26,000. It is supplied with plant and worked by the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway Company. The revenue for the year ending 31st January 1855 for 66,403 passengers was L.1,826, 12s. 9d.; for 16,651 tons of goods, 9,970 tons of coal, 1,789 cattle, 2,528 sheep, and 229 pigs, was L.1,355, 3s. 11d.; together, L.3181, 16s. 8d.
The capital of the company which formed the railway from Thornton to Leven is L.28,000. It is supplied with plant and worked by the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway Company, and the revenue and traffic corresponds with the capital expended, so far as it has yet been ascertained.
The great turnpike roads of the county, which are made and maintained by revenue collected at toll-bars, and the cross and bye roads by a tax on householders, on carriages, and on each plough-gate of land, are under the charge of parliamentary trustees, consisting of justices of the peace and commissioners of supply for the county, &c. The accounts of these trustees are printed and published annually. The only pontage or bridge tax levied in the county is that at the bridge over the Leven near the town of that name.
In all parts of the county the dwellings of the nobility, gentry, and agricultural labourers, and those of the other working classes, have been extensively renovated and rebuilt, and a great number of new houses and villages have been erected within the last fifty years.
The most ancient and celebrated buildings in the county are the tower of St Regulus, Cathedral, and Castle, at St Andrews, the Abbeys of Dunfermline and Inchcolm, the Palace of Falkland, the Castle of Ravenscraig, and Macduff's castle at East Wemyss. There are many others of less note.
The county contains thirteen royal burghs, with parliamentary privileges: St Andrews, Cupar, Anstruther Easter and Wester, Pittenweem, Crail, and Kilrenny, send one member to parliament; Kirkcaldy, Dysart, Burntisland, and Kinghorn send another; and Dunfermline and Inverkeithing join with Stirling, Queensferry, and Culross in electing a member to represent them.
The sixty-three parishes within the county are represented by another member.
These parishes form, for ecclesiastical purposes, the Synod of Fife, which is divided into four presbyteries, viz., the presbyteries of Kirkcaldy, Cupar, Dunfermline, and St Andrews.
Before these ecclesiastical divisions of the county (or kingdom of Fife, as it is sometimes called) were in general use for secular purposes, it was split up into petty shires, such as Lochoreshire, Dunfermlineshire, Gaitmillshire or Kinglassie, Wemyss-shire, Kingorshire, &c., &c. It was also divided into regalities, constabularies, and baronies. A map showing these ancient divisions is at present in progress of construction by a learned antiquary, from the information contained in ancient charters.
The regality of stewartry of Fife forfeited to the crown at the condemnation of Murdo Earl of Fife, contained lands lying in no less than nineteen of the modern parishes: the other regalities were not so extensive.
The courts in the county for the trial of crime and civil suits consist—1. of the burgh courts, the magistrates of which have jurisdiction within their respective royalties or burgh Fifth-Mon-territory only; 2. of the sheriffs' ordinary courts, which archy-Men are held at Cupar and Dunfermline, and circuit small debt courts, which are held periodically at Kirkcaldy, Leven, Colinsburgh, St Andrews, Newburgh, and Auchtermuichty; 3. of the justice of peace courts for deciding claims for small debts and petty offences, &c.
The jails of the county are those of Cupar and Dunfermline.
The educational establishments are the parish schools and schools supported by private exertions in considerable number in every populous locality.
The university of St Andrews, and the schools endowed by Dr Bell, are noticed under St Andrews; and the schools endowed by the late Mr Robert Philip, merchant in Kirkcaldy, under Kirkcaldy.
From the population returns in 1851, it appears that the number of schools in Fife is 285, the children attending 23,145; the number of the Sabbath-schools is 183, and the number of children attending 14,753.
The number of places of worship is 199, and the number of attendants at public worship on the morning of Sunday the 30th of March 1851 were 50,622. Of these 21,274 belong to the Established Church, 12,728 to the United Presbyterian Church, and 13,083 to the Free Church.
The population of the county in 1801 was 93,743; in 1811, 101,272; in 1821 it was 114,550; in 1831 it was 128,800; in 1841, 140,140; and in 1851, 153,546.