Cowdenbeath - Geography

Geography

Cowdenbeath lies in south-western Fife, near to the larger town of Dunfermline. Its precise coordinates are 56.11°N 3.35°W. The town lies in a low, undulating, arable landscape to the south east of the Ochil Hills. Whilst for the main part Cowdenbeath is fairly level, there are significant portions of the town which have succumbed to subsidence as a result of the network of mineshafts and tunnels underlying the town. Notably, there are photographs of Cowdenbeath High Street published in Stenlake Publications which depict Cowdenbeath High Street circa 1900, and which shows a flat High Street in which it is possible to view its entire length from north to south under the overarching railway bridge. This is impossible today, as the subsidence on the High Street has been so great that the railway bridge now obscures the view from one end to the other.

The south and eastern boundaries of Cowdenbeath are circumscribed by the A92 main road to Kirkcaldy, and beyond that the peat-bog and petrochemichal plant of Mossmorran.

The western perimeter of Cowdenbeath merges into the neighbouring village of Hill of Beath, and is bound by the natural landscape of the gentle slopes of the hill itself, and by Loch Fitty. The proximity of the M90 motorway to the south of Cowdenbeath, and to the east at a lesser extent also serves to define its lower boundary.

The northern boundary of Cowdenbeath is characterised by a rural landscape, which merges into the Lochore Meadows Country Park ("The Meadies"). This formerly industrial/mining landscape which was host to a number of pit-heads (including the Mary Pit - whose winding gear structure dominates the park as a monument to its mining legacy) is now a very pituresque area which provides leisure and recreational outdoor amenities.