"Dysart parish, on the Firth of Forth, is 4 miles in length from north - south and 2 miles in breadth. It is bounded by Kinglassie, Markinch, Wemyss, Auchterderran and Kirkcaldy. Much waste land has been reclaimed in the past 60 years by draining, embanking and fencing. The main crops are wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, hay and turnip. The Fife breed of cattle are reared, as well as horses, but few sheep. Coals are abundant and cheap; although they are slow to kindle and leave much ash, they produce a strong heat. There are also some limestone and ironstone quarries. A ton of ironstone produces nearly 12 cwt. of iron. Dysart was a very prosperous port before the Union [1707], but all its prosperity has since left it. Linen manufacture remained, with 2088 looms in 1836. There is also now a flax spinning mill, a pottery, a rope-works and other useful trades. Besides the church in Dysart, there is a chapel of ease in Pathhead, a Free Church and a UP Church. Besides the parish school there are 14 other schools in the parish. Although there are nearly 150 public houses, sobriety, industry and morality are as fully conspicuous here as anywhere else. Low wages no doubt accounts for the sobriety. Besides the burgh of Dysart, there are also the villages of Pathhead, Sinclairton and Gallowtown and the hamlets of Hackleymoor and the Borland." from 'A descriptive & historic gazeteer of the counties of Fife, Kinross & Clackmannan', M Barbieri, published 1857.

If you would like to visit this area as part of a highly personalized small group tour of my native Scotland please e-mail me at;

sandystevenson@thefreesite.com

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