Limekilns

{{About||the place in Australia|Limekilns, New South Wales|other uses|Lime Kiln (disambiguation)}} {{Use British English|date=May 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name = Limekilns | scots_name = | gaelic_name = | static_image_name = Limekilns.jpg | static_image_width = 240 | static_image_caption = Houses along the shore at Limekilns | map_type = Scotland | coordinates = {{coord|56.0329|-3.4795|display=inline,title}} | population = {{Scottish locality population|name|POP=Limekilns and Charlestown}} | population_ref = ({{Scottish settlement population citation|year}})<ref>{{Scottish settlement population citation}}</ref> | os_grid_reference = NT079832 | unitary_scotland = Fife | lieutenancy_scotland = Fife | country = Scotland | post_town = DUNFERMLINE | postcode_area = KY | postcode_district = KY11 | dial_code = 01383 | constituency_westminster = Dunfermline and West Fife | constituency_scottish_parliament = Dunfermline }}

thumb|right|18th-century house in Limekilns

'''Limekilns''' is a historic coastal village in Fife, Scotland. It lies on the shore of the Firth of Forth, around {{convert|3|miles|km|0}} south of Dunfermline and 13 miles (21km) northwest of Edinburgh.<ref name=OS65>{{cite map|title=Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 65 ''Falkirk & Linlithgow (Dunfermline)''|ISBN= 9780319229705 |publisher=Ordnance Survey|date=2012}}</ref><ref name="Gaz">{{cite web|title=Gazetteer for Scotland: Limekilns|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst48.html|website=www.scottish-places.info|accessdate=7 April 2016}}</ref>

Limekilns has a medieval past as a fishing village, dating back to the 14th century.<ref name="Gaz" /> The town gets its name from its 18th century limestone industry, with lime kilns still found at the near contingent town of Charlestown. Today, the town is popular with tourists and is home to 40 listed buildings by Historic Scotland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Listed Buildings in Rosyth Ward, Fife |url=https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/scotland/rosyth-ward-fife#google_vignette |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk}}</ref> The population is 1,450 (2020)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Limekilns {{!}} Understanding Scottish Places |url=https://www.usp.scot/Town?mainTownName=Limekilns |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=www.usp.scot}}</ref>

==History and economy== Unlike the neighbouring village of Charlestown, Limekilns is an old settlement dating back to the 14th century.<ref name=Gaz/> In its early days Limekilns was mainly a fishing village, with the large natural harbour, sheltered by the rocky ridge known as The Ghauts, providing docking facilities for small to medium transport and cargo ships. From here ships traded with the ports in the Baltic Sea and France until the seventeenth century when the Union of the Crowns saw the royal interests move south to London.<ref name = ConApp>{{cite web | url = https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/factsheet/2018/08/fife-council/documents/limekilns/limekilns/govscot%3Adocument/Limekilns%2Breduced%2Bsize.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200303164451/https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/factsheet/2018/08/fife-council/documents/limekilns/limekilns/govscot:document/Limekilns%2Breduced%2Bsize.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = March 3, 2020 | title = Limekilns Conservation Area Appraisal and Conservation Area Management Plan | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | publisher = Fife Council}}</ref> In the early 14th century there was a port for the town of Dunfermline, called Galletts, at the site of the current settlement of Limekilns, this served as the principal port for the town which lies a few miles inland.<ref name = UDS>{{cite web | url = https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/limekilns/limekilns/index.html | title = Limekilns | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | publisher = Undiscovered Scotland}}</ref>

The importance of the local limestone became clear quite early in the village's history, being used both as a fertiliser and for the manufacture of mortar used in the construction of stone buildings. Workings using kilns fuelled by charcoal and later coal to convert lime to quicklime grew up, the product being exported from the port along the east coast of Scotland. Today the only tangible legacy of this industry in village is the name Limekilns. In the 1750s the lime industry transferred a mile or so west along the coast to Charlestown, where the ruins of the massive kilns still exist today.<ref name = IFLS>{{cite web| url = https://www.innerforthlandscape.co.uk/projects/conserving-restoring/charlestown-limekilns | title = The Charlestown Limekilns | accessdate = 3 March 2020 |publisher = Inner Forth Landscapes}}</ref>

For many centuries Limekilns was also the northern terminus for a ferry linking it to Bo'ness on the southern side of the Forth. This found an echo in Robert Louis Stevenson's ''Kidnapped'': and it was from Limekilns that David Balfour and Alan Breck were carried across the Forth in a rowing boat. Soap was also produced from a soapworks located near Caupernaum Pier. The 'Soap Sheds' still exist and are used as storage facilities. The years of industrial decline meant that most of these industries were lost and Limekilns became just another sleepy coastal village. New housing estates were added during the property boom of the 1970s and 1980s, considerably boosting the size and population of the village.<ref name = UDS/>

==Landmarks== Limekilns sits within the lands which traditionally belonged to the Earl of Elgin of Broomhall House, which overlooks the village.<ref name = Broomhall>{{cite web | url = https://www.broomhallhouse.com/our-home/ | title = Broomhall Our Home | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | publisher = Broomhall House}}</ref>

The oldest building in the village is The King's Cellar, a large property which can be traced back to 1362.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB1643 |desc=LIMEKILNS, 8 ACADEMY SQUARE, THE KING'S CELLAR |access-date=21 November 2022}}</ref> It has served many different purposes throughout its long life, notably as a store house, school, library and chapel. It is currently employed as a Freemasons Lodge and is generally not open to the public.<ref name = KC>{{cite web | url = http://www.lodgeelginandbruce1077.co.uk/history-of-the-kings-cellar/4582802180 | title = Elgin & Bruce Lodge No 1077 History of the King's Cellar | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | publisher = Elgin and Bruce Lodge 1077}}</ref>

The village has a range of amenities including a primary school,<ref name = LPS>{{cite web | url = https://www.fife.gov.uk/facilities/primary-school/limekilns-primary-school | title = Limekilns Primary School | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | publisher = Fife Council}}</ref> doctor's surgery,<ref>{{cite web | url = https://limekilns.cylex-uk.co.uk/company/limekilns-surgery-18681071.html | title = Limekilns Surgery | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | website = cylex.co.uk}}</ref> shops and a Sea Scout Group<ref name = SeaScouts>{{cite web | url = http://81stfifescouts.org.uk/ | title = 81st Fife Sea Scout Group | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | publisher = 81st Fife Sea Scout Group}}</ref> as well as a Guide unit. The Ship Inn is said to be the 'watering hole' featured in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel ''Kidnapped''.<ref name = VisitScotlan>{{cite web | url = https://www.visitscotland.com/info/food-drink/the-ship-inn-p1864921 | title = The Ship Inn | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | publisher = Visit Scotland}}</ref>

==Transport== The Earls of Elgin owned land in the Crossford area in connection with the Elgin Colliery (at Parkneuk and Baldridge Burn, NW of Dunfermline) and the Elgin Railway that ran from the Colliery round Crossford and then down beside Waggon Road and on to Charlestown harbour. The route of the railway and the site of the Elgin Colliery are shown in a map in Chalmers' book, Historical and Statistical Account of Dunfermline.<ref name = Chalmers>{{cite book | author = Rev. Peter Chalmers | title = Historical and Statistical Account of Dunfermline | publisher = William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh | year = 1846}} Plate = I</ref>

To the north, paths run via Pitliver to Crossford and through the estate of the Earl of Elgin and Wester Gellet to Pittencrieff Park at Dunfermline.<ref name = WalkFife>{{cite web | url = http://www.walkfife.com/maps-routes/dunfermline-village-loop/ | title = Dunfermline Village Loop | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | publisher = Walk Fife}}</ref>

==Notable people== Limekilns is the birthplace of George Thomson.<ref name = Britannica>{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Thomson | title = George Thomson Scottish publisher | accessdate = 3 March 2020 | author = ((The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)) | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia Britannica | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Villages in Fife