Kirkcaldy - Geography

Geography

Kirkcaldy curves around a sandy cove between the Tiel (West) Burn to the north and the East Burn to the south, on a bay facing southeast onto the Firth of Forth. The town lies 9.3 miles (15 km) south-southeast of Glenrothes, 11.8 miles (19 km) east-northeast of Dunfermline, 44.4 miles (71 km) west-southwest of Dundee and 18.6 miles (30 km) north-northeast of Edinburgh. The town adopted its nickname of the lang toun from the 0.9-mile (1.4 km) single street, recorded on early maps of the 16th and 17th centuries. The street eventually reached a length of nearly 4 miles (6.4 km), linking the burgh to its neighbouring suburbs of Linktown, Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown.

Historians are not sure where the medieval centre of Kirkcaldy was located, but it may have been at the corner of Kirk Wynd and the High Street. This would have been the site of the town's Mercat cross and focal point of the burgh. The linear market was important not only to the town itself but to the nearby hinterland. The main thoroughfare was either paved or cobbled, with flagstones covering small burns running down the hill towards the sea across the High Street. Running back from the High Street were burgage plots or "rigs" of the burgesses; these narrow strips of land were at the front and to the rear of the houses. On the sea side of the High Street, plots may have served as beaching grounds for individual tenements. The plots on the other side of the High Street rose steeply to the terracing of the Lomond foothills. A back lane running behind the plots from Kirk Wynd went to the west end of the High Street in a southerly direction. This lane would in time be developed as Hill Street. At the top of Kirk Wynd was the Parish Church of St Bryce, now known as the Old Kirk, overlooking the small settlement.

The small burns that are tributaries to the East Burn contributed to the draining of the lands of Dunnikier Estate. The burn emerges from a deep-set culvert to flow under the Victoria Viaduct, down a deep gorge, through the site of Hutchison's Flour Mills before running parallel to the harbour wall and into the sea. From the mid-19th century, the Hutchison's buildings became a significant landmark adjacent to the burn. The flour millers chose this area for its railway connection which linked the main station to the harbour, rather than for the need to use the burn to power the mills. The West (or Tiel) Burn, was also important, providing power for textile mills. This burn flowed out of the Raith Estate lands where scenically and recreationally it was used to create Raith Lake (with its tributary, the Dronachy Burn). The mill owners in Linktown also made use of the burn.