A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Buckhaven, a large fishing village in Wemyss parish, Fife, on the Firth of Forth, 2¾ miles SW of Leven by road, and 5½ miles E of Thornton Junction by a branch line opened in 1881. An old-fashioned place, on the slope of a steepish headland, it has a post office, with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, branches of the Royal and Commercial banks, gas-works, a flax-spinning and twine factory, 2 networks, and a pier and harbour formed under the auspices of the Board of Fisheries. The fisher-folk, said variously to be descendants of Norsemen or of the crew of a Brabant ship wrecked in the 17th century, retained not a few peculiar traits of character and appearance a hundred and odd years since, when they were satirised in a curious pamphlet, History of the College o-f Buckhaven, or the sayings of Wise Willie and Witty Eppie. Defœ had written of Buckhaven: ` It is inhabited by fishermen, who are employed wholly in catching fresh fish every day in the firth, and carrying them to Leith and Edinburgh markets. The buildings are but a miserable row of cottages; yet there is scarce a poor man in it; but they are in general so very clownish, that to be of the college of Buckhaven is become a proverb. Here we saw the shore of the sea covered with shrimps like a thin snow; and as yon rode among them, they would rise like a kind of dust, and hop like grasshoppers, being scared by the footing of the horse. The fishermen of this town have a great many boats of all sizes, which lie upon the beach, ready to be fitted out every year for the herring season, in which they have a very great share.' Buckhaven now is included in the fishery district of Anstruther. At it are a Free church, a U.P. church, and 2 public schools, Links and Madras, which, with respective accommodation for 203 and 302 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 129 and 170, and grants of £103,4s. and £116,14s. Pop. (1841) 1526, (1861) 1965, (1871) 2187, (1881) 2952.—Ord. Sur., sh. 40,1867. See History of Buekhaven (priv. prin. 1813), and an article in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, Dec. 14,1833, by the Fife poet, David Molyson.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "a large fishing village" (ADL Feature Type: "populated places") |
| Administrative units: | Wemyss ScoP Fife ScoCnty |
| Place: | Buckhaven |
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