History in Strathmiglo & Gateside Online

Gateside

The settlement of Gateside is very old, having been the site of the chapel of St Mary of Dungaitside belonging to the monks of Balmerino Abbey.  Modern day Gateside developed from the Old Town and Edenhead. The present 'Old Town' was the historic 'Gateside' - that is 'the houses by the road', as in 'Gait'. Within the old town, off the main road, you can still see an eighteenth century smiddy and adjoining houses. 'Edenshead' was the name assumed by the development to the north of the Old Town along the 'new' road built in the 1820s. Thus until recent years the present 'Gateside Inn' was known  as the 'Edenshead Arms'. It was when the railway company came in the mid-19th century, that the name 'Gateside' stuck. The recently closed Church of Edenshead on the main road dates from 1823 and the primary school from 1875.

On the east edge of the village by the River Eden stand the Gateside Mills. A reminder of its famed linen manufacture, bobbin and shuttle mills once having been produced there for supply to factories all over the world. Today, the Mills house artists, crafts and furniture shops.

The Memorial or Village Hall on Gateside's main road, pays tribute to those in the district who served in WWI. It was completed in the autumn of 1921 thanks mostly to the generosity of the local people.  

The modern A91 follows the line of the old Ladybank-Kinross railway. From the road you can clearly see the 3-storeyed sixteenth century Corston Tower, once the site of a 15th century house built by John Ramsay.

Opposite the junction to the road to Strathmiglo is Pitlour Estate whose house dates back to 1783.

Strathmiglo

Today Strathmiglo is divided in two by the River Eden which separates the more modern buildings from its ancient heart. But in the 15th century the village also had two distinct districts, Kirklands and Templelands - namely the lands divided between the medieval collegiate church and pedagogy and the Knights Templar (later the Knights Hospitallers). It's believed the Knights Templar (or Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon) were introduced to Scotland in 1128 by David I. The Templars, made famous in novel ‘The Da Vinci Code', were a religious order founded in 1120 in Jerusalem by French Knights who swore to protect the pilgrim routes to the Holy Land. Like the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, the Templars were landlords in Strathmiglo until the 19th century.

The Strathmiglo Tollbooth in the High Street takes pride of place in the village. With its open balustrade and octagonal spire, its steeple was built from stone from Strathmiglo Castle, one-time mansion house of Sir William Scott of Balwearie, a courtier of James V. The mansion, which was in ruins by 1734, was refurbished to impress James V, who it seems was underwhelmed and nicknamed it ‘cairnie-flappit' - a pile of collapsing stones! The coat of arms on the Tolbooth are of later landowners the Balfours of Burleigh.

The tower of Strathmiglo Tollbooth (the townhouse and gaol) was built from the ruins of Strathmiglo Castle.

Strathmiglo was once the home of prominent merchants who supplied Falkland Palace and many of the 18th and 19th century houses and taverns still remain. One of the most unusual rights of way in Scotland leads through Strathmiglo Tavern - a sign above the passage door indicates the 24hours right of access to Back Dykes.

There were once two cotton and linen factories in Strathmiglo that used water from the River Eden, called ‘Miglo' in its upper reaches. In fact at its industrial height in the 19th century, Strathmiglo's population was around 2,000 with over 50 shops and businesses. Skene Street still has cottages with heavy ceiling beams associated with the construction of handlooms. Whilst 18th and 19th century weavers cottages still dominate East and West Cash Feus.

Strathmiglo Manse was built in 1785 and Strathmiglo Parish Church with its bellcote dates from 1783. The parish once had five schools. A detailed history of 'Strathmiglo & its Church' by Rev. Dr. James Laird can be downloaded here.

A T Hogg, ‘the man who made Strathmiglo famous' pioneered the selling of boots by post and his ‘Fife Boots' won international fame. Hoggs of Fife Limited, now trading as Fife Country, still has a shop in the High Street today.

In the late 1950s Strathmiglo was home to a picture house, famed for hosting the UK premiere of film, 'Brigadoon'. Sadly it remains no more but its demise along with the loss of industry are lamented in the poems of local people.

"The linen was woven in very large bales
For sheets and pillows and sometimes for sails.
The trade it was booming and demand it was met.
To all sorts of places the linen was sent.
For all sorts of cloth- the weaver's delight.
Their skill was renowned so they worked day and night.
There were stitchers and tenters and various trades
All worked in the team when the linen was made.

The heyday of linen, it just had to pass
Plastic and nylon were easier to wash.
The folk of Strathmiglo just had to accept
That their skills were not needed and couldn't be kept.
New jobs they did find in far away towns
Like Falkland and Newburgh and Freuchie and bounds
The lino and oilcloth and bobbin mill too
Were able to take on more than a few.
Alas! All these skills have long bit the dust
And paper bag making is more of a must."

An extract from 'The Linen Mills' by Peta Rennie, 1978.

Download poems by local people that celebrate Strathmiglo's colourful history.

Strathmiglo also has its own website with some wonderful old photos of the village and fascinating place-name history by local historian, Dr Simon Taylor.

Historical information from ‘Villages of Fife', 2002, Raymond Lamont-Brown; ‘Fife in History & Legend', 2002, Raymond Lamont-Brown.