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BURNTISLAND, SCOTLAND

Burntisland is a former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. It was previously known as Wester Kinghorn or Little Kinghorn. It is known locally for its award-winning sandy beach, the 15th-century Rossend Castle, as well as the traditional summer fair and Highland games day. To the north of the town a hill called The Binn is a landmark of the Fife coastline; a volcanic plug, it rises 193 metres above sea level. History Early evidence of human activity in this area has been found in rock carvings on the Binn, thought to be about 4,000 years old.The Roman commander Agricola used the natural harbour and set up camp at the nearby Dunearn Hill in AD 83. Burntisland Parish Kirk The Kirk's plan and design are unique in Scotland. The earliest historical record of the town was in the 12th century, when the monks of Dunfermline Abbey owned the harbour and neighbouring lands. The settlement was known as Wester Kinghorn or Little Kinghorn and developed as a fishing hamlet to provide food for the inhabitants of Rossend Castle. The harbour was then sold to James V by the abbots of Dunfermline Abbey in exchange for a parcel of land. The land was granted royal burgh status by James V in 1541. When the status was confirmed in 1586, the settlement gained independence from the barony of Kinghorn and was renamed Burntisland, possibly a nickname from the burning of fishermens' huts on an islet now incorporated into the docks. However, Ross (2007) considers this explanation of the town's name "implausible" and proposes the origin Burnet's Land after a local personal name. Substantial remains of the original parish church, built in the late 12th century, survive in a churchyard to the north of the old town on Church Street. The building of a town wall to both north and east in the post-Flodden world of late 16th century Scotland, which placed the old church outwith the protective wall, was one of the several reasons that a new church was built in 1592:Burntisland Parish Church, also known as St Columba's. This was the first new parish church built in Scotland after the Reformation. It is a unique shape, square with a central tower upheld on pillars, and lined all round with galleries, to allow the greatest number of people to be reached by the minister's words during the service. The church contains one of the country's finest collections of 17th- and early 18th-century woodwork and paintings. The town was part of the lands of Dunfermline belonging to Anne of Denmark. In April 1615 there was a riot against one of her legal officers by a crowd of over a hundred women who took his letters and threw stones at him. The rioters were "of the bangster Amasone kind" led by the wife of the Baillie of Burntisland according to the Chancellor Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline, who supposed the women were acting at the instigation of the townsmen including the minister Mr William Watson. Burntisland developed as a seaport, being second only to Leith in the Firth of Forth, and shipbuilding became an important industry in the town. James V improved the harbour in 1540 and named it "Our Lady Port". In 1544 it was defended by three artillery blockhouses During the war of the Rough Wooing in 1548 the English commander Edward Clinton planned to reconstruct the harbour and pier and their defences, employing a military engineer. The harbour at this time was dry at low-tide and ships lay in the "ooze" or mud. In 1622 a leaking Spanish ship entered the harbour and promptly sank. The crew said they were whalers, and they had whaling equipment, but the town baillies were suspicious and imprisoned the officers in the tolbooth and put the rest under house arrest under suspicion of piracy. The lawyer Thomas Hamilton arranged their release, arguing they had committed no crime and there was peace with Spain at the time. In 1633 a barge, the Blessing of Burntisland, carrying Charles I and his entourage's baggage from Burntisland to Leith sank with the loss of Charles' treasure. Burntisland was held by the Jacobite army for over two months during the rising known as the Fifteen. The Jacobites first of all raided the port on 2 October 1715, capturing several hundred weapons, then occupied it on 9 October. They held it until it was recaptured by the Government on 19 December. In September 1844 a new pier was completed to form a ferry link to the new harbour at Granton, Edinburgh. It was built by local builder Peter Penny (1803-1866). Burntisland became an important port for the local herring and coal industries, and in 1847 the Edinburgh and Northern Railway opened from Burntisland north to Lindores and Cupar. By 1850 the world's first roll-on/roll-off rail ferry service was crossing the Firth of Forth between Burntisland and Granton, enabling goods wagons to travel between Edinburgh and Dundee without the need for unloading and re-loading at the ferries.