Kingdom of Fife

Contents

Fife Towns & Parishes

nearby places

Kilconquhar

Towns and Villages

Places in Kilconquhar parish, with links to online historical and modern maps.

Archives, Libraries and Museums

A separate Records Page page gives details of the records for this parish held by Scottish archives.

The ScotlandsPlaces website lets users search across national databases by geographical location. It includes, amongst other material,

• catalogue entries for maps and plans held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh
• details of historical buildings and archaeological sites held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh (RCAHMS).

Bibliography

A very good description is to be found in the relevant chapter in History of the County of Fife: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time by John M Leighton, published 1840, online at Google Books.

Old Elie & Earlsferry and Old Kilconquhar & Colinsburgh (Stenlake Publishing) contain many photographs and full descriptions.

Cemeteries

There is 1 cemetery and 1 private chapel in Kilconquhar parish:

1. Kilconquhar Churchyard / Cemetery, Main Street, Kilconquhar (grid ref. NO 485020, GPS: 56.207790 -2.831782):

• The pre-1855 monumental inscriptions are in Mitchell & Mitchell (see below).
• A transcript of the burials from 1847 to 1854 has been published by the Fife Family History Society Journal (vol 8, no 3) and is also available on the Records pages of their website.
• A transcript of the inscriptions on some stones was printed in the East of Fife Record, 24 August 1906. It has been reprinted by the Fife Family History Society Journal (new series no. 6, Spring 2006).
• Transcripts of many of the older stones were made by an unknown hand in the 1870s. They are recorded in the Minute Book of the Anstruther Mortsafe Society, 1830-1874, held by the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library. They are included in Publication 38, Monumental Notes part 2, published by the Fife Family History Society.
• Some stones are recorded in Graveyard Monuments in East, North and Central Fife, John di Folco, published in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1969-70, vol. 102, pages 205-236, which deals largely with stones dated pre-1707. It can be downloaded from ARCHway.
• A CD with photographs of the stones and transcriptions is available from Scottish Monumental Inscriptions or from The Parish Chest.
• The current lair registers (dating from 1847) are administered by Fife Council, Cemeteries Department, County Buildings, St Catherine Street, Cupar, KY15 4TA. Tel. 01334 659336. Fax 01334 412896.

2. Balcarres Chapel, in the grounds of Balcarres House, Colinsburgh (grid ref. NO 474046, GPS: 56.231026 -2.850029):

• The pre-1855 monumental inscriptions are in Mitchell & Mitchell (see below).

The pre-1855 monumental inscriptions are listed in "Fifeshire Monumental Inscriptions (pre-1855) vol. 1 South east parishes" by John Fowler Mitchell & Sheila Mitchell, published by the Scottish Genealogy Society. ISBN 0901061948

War graves can be seen at the Scottish Wargraves Project and war memorials can be seen at the Scottish War Memorials Project.

There are photographs and transcriptions of Elie and Earlsferry war memorials. The site also includes biographical details of the personnel.

Census

Parish / district reference number for 1841 - 1901 censuses: 436

The 1851 census has been indexed by the Tay Valley Family History Society.

The 1861 census has been indexed and can be downloaded here

Some census records on microfilm may be consulted in LDS Family Search Centres around the world.

LDS Library Film Numbers:

	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Kilconquhar	1042702	1042268	103829	103992	203524	208758

Data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Further information on the main Fife page.

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Church History

In addition to the parish church, there was also a Relief Church of Scotland at Largoward; a United Presbyterian (Burgher) Church at Kilconquhar; an Associate Relief church at Colinsburgh; and a United Presbyterian church at Colinsburgh.

The Old Statistical Account (written in the 1790s) gives this information about Dissenters:

• "There are 2 clergymen in the parish - 1 of the Established Church, the other of the Relief Congregation.
• There are between 600 and 700 sectaries [dissenters from the Established Church] adhering chiefly to the Presbytery of Relief, with some Burgher-seceders and Independents.
• There are few of the Episcopal profession; and no Roman Catholics".

The New Statistical Account (written in 1837) gives this information:

• 4 Dissenting meeting houses in the parish (2 for the Relief, 1 for the United Associate Synod, 1 for the Independents), besides a small Baptist meeting. There is also a meeting house in Cameron parish, just on the borders of this parish, which has as great an attendance from this parish as from any of the others.
• Total number of Dissenters of all denominations is 361.
• 1 of the Relief meeting houses in Colinsburgh and the United Associate meeting house in Kilconquhar were some years ago sold for debt, but … they are still kept as places of worship and have ministers.
• The other Relief meeting house in Colinsburgh is now falling into ruins and is almost deserted.
• The Independent meeting house, although situated in this parish, which runs close to the village of Elie, … was built and is supported chiefly by persons in Elie. A very small number attend it.
• There are 3 families of Episcopalians in the parish, and 51 persons belonging to no religious communion, although they do occasionally attend the Established Church.

The 1865 Ecclesiastical Directory lists the parish church, another Established Church at Largoward, the Congregationalist Church in Colinsburgh and the United Presbyterian Church and Colinsburgh.

Information and pictures of the churches at the Scottish Churches website.

Details of church history here.

Church Records

The Parish Church (Established Church, Church of Scotland):

The original Old Parish Registers (of baptisms / births, proclamations / marriages, and deaths / burials) of the Church of Scotland, which cover the years up to 1854, are held in the General Register Office for Scotland in Edinburgh, and they can all be consulted there at the ScotlandsPeople Centre. The baptisms / births, proclamations / marriages and deaths / burials indexes can be searched at the ScotlandsPeople website. Copies of the register entries may be purchased.

Parish reference number: 436

The Old Parish Registers (OPRs) span the following dates (although there are gaps within these ranges):

Kilconquhar OPR	Births / baptisms	Proclamations / marriages	Deaths / burials / mortcloths
436/1	1637-1709	1637-1709
436/2	1719-1793	1719-1770	1737-1787
436/3	1781-1819 (+ some indexes)	1770-1819	1787-1819 (+ index 1787-1812)
436/4	1820-1854	1820-1854	1820-1854

Data supplied by General Register Office for Scotland

The Detailed List of the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland, published 1872, provides this information about the content of the OPRs, including the gaps within them:

B.  Two leaves Nov. 1646 - March 1648 very much wasted, and all the entries partially illegible. Blank May 1709 - Aug. 1719. Duplicate of Record 1781 - 1793. Index to B. 1781 - 1805.
M.  blank Feb. 1669 - May 1673, June 1709 - Sept. 1719.
D.  Burials till 1754; after that date Deaths and Burials. From 1793, entries generally recorded on alternate pp. of the Register of B. Index to D. 1787 - 1812.
[Vol. 436/3 contains an index to B. 1781 - 1788 (surname followed by forename of child); an index to B. 1793 - 1809 (as previous but only letter 'R'); and an index to D. 1787 - 1812 (surname followed by forename).]

Copies of the registers on microfilm may be consulted in some local libraries and at LDS Family Search Centres around the world. The indexes to baptisms / births and proclamations / marriages can also be searched on the LDS Family Search website or on the IGI on microfiche in local libraries.

LDS Library Film Numbers:

1040385	Baptisms, 1637-1709, 1719-1793, 1781-1788, 1793- 1796; Marriages, 1637-1709, 1719-1770; Burials, 1737-1796.
1040165 Items 1 - 2	Baptisms, 1796-1854; Burials, 1787, 1796-1851; Marriages, 1770-1855.

Data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Deaths / burials are listed on Fife Family History Society's  Pre-1855 Fife Deaths CD.

Further information on the main Fife page.

Kirk Session records are held at the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library, with digital copies at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of church records here.

Heritors' Records (HR194) are at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of records here.

Other Churches :

Records for other churches are held at the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library.

Details of church records here.

The Kilconquhar page of the LDS Family Search Research Wiki has more information about church history and records.

Civil Registration

Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. Full information on the main Fife page.

Registration districts covering this parish:

Registration districts did not necessarily coincide exactly with parishes. In the 20th century especially, there were frequent changes in registration districts.

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Court Records

Records of Colinsburgh Small Debts Court are at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details here.

Description & Travel

Surrounding parishes: Elie, Newburn, Largo, Ceres, Cameron, Carnbee, St Monans.

Directories

The parish entry in Pigot's National Commercial Directory for the whole of Scotland, 1837, is online at Google Books.

Westwood's Parochial Directory for the Counties of Fife and Kinross for 1862 and 1866 are online at Google Books. On the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society website there is a transcription of the 1862 edition.

Gazetteers

There is a list of places in Kilconquhar parish, with links to online historical and modern maps.

Several old gazetteers are available. They all contain descriptions of the parish and many are also worth searching for entries of places within the parish.

• David Webster's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, published 1819, online at Google Books.
• Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, published 1846, online at British History.
• Barbieri's Descriptive and Historical Gazetteer of the Counties of Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, published 1857, is at Google Books.
• Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4) and John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887), are on A Vision of Britain (click on "Historical descriptions").
• Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland(1892-6) on Electric Scotland

Historical Geography

On 15th May 1891, a detached part of Elie parish was transferred to Kilconquhar parish (comprising part of Charleton, Newton House, Muircambus and part of West Muircambus).
On the same date, an area of Kilconquhar parish situated on the coast was transferred to the parish of Elie. This contained the burgh of Earlsferry, the villages of Liberty & Williamsburgh, Donald's Land, Grange, Grangehill, Melon Park, St Ford, part of West Muircambus, Kincraig, Old Glebe and Crooks.

A Vision of Britain provides historical descriptions, population & housing statistics, historic boundaries and maps.

History

The Elie and Earlsfery History Society have a very informative website.

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Land & Property

Valuation Rolls and Sasines for Earlsferry are held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of records here.

Details of historic buildings and archaeological sites in this parish held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh, are catalogued at ScotlandsPlaces. In the results, click RCAHMS. Unfortunately, not all entries have digital images.

Maps

This British Library webpage uses small examples of historical maps of London to show the differences between maps at various scales.

• On-line maps:
  • For 17th, 18th and early 19th century maps, see the National Library of Scotland map collection.
  • Ordnance Survey 6-inch, 1st edition (1855) Fife sheets 18, 19 & 26 at the National Library of Scotland (for the best images), or at old-maps.co.uk or British History online.
  • Ordnance Survey 6-inch editions of 1896, 1919 and 1938 at old-maps.co.uk.
  • Ordnance Survey 25-inch editions of 1894 and 1914 at old-maps.co.uk.
  • There is a list of places in Kilconquhar parish, with links to online historical and modern maps.
  • A Vision of Britain has the Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 1st edition (1850s) and the Ordnance Survey 1-inch, Popular edition (1920s) - both showing parish & burgh boundaries; Land Utilisation mapping (1930s); and more.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 1st edition (1857) sheet 41; 2nd edition (1899) sheet 41; and 3rd edition (1906) sheet 41 at the National Library of Scotland.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, Popular edition (1927) sheet 64 & 68 at the National Library of Scotland.
    
    Map from One-inch to the mile, Popular edition, Scotland, 1920-1930; by kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 7th series (1950s-1960s) sheet 56 at the National Library of Scotland.
• Paper maps:
  • The National Library of Scotland sells paper and digital copies of their maps (select "Enquiries & copies").
  • The Caledonian Maps Victorian Ordnance Survey Map Series sheet 41 (reprint of the 1899 1-inch maps).
  • Old-maps.co.uk sell paper copies of all their on-line maps.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 7th series (1950s-1960s) sheet 56
  • The best collection of large scale local and estate maps and plans is held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. The RCAHMS also has some plans. They are catalogued on the ScotlandsPlaces website. N.B. Only a few maps and plans are available as digital images.

• On-line maps:
  • Streetmap
  • Ordnance Survey maps
  • both Google maps and Bing Maps provide detailed maps and aerial photographs
  • Google based mapping showing just the parish names for this and the surrounding parishes.
  • Google based mapping showing places in this parish only recorded in the GENUKI Gazetteer.
  • Google based mapping showing places in this parish and nearby recorded in the GENUKI Gazetteer.
  • There is a list of places in Kilconquhar parish, with links to online historical and modern maps.
• Paper maps:
  • Ordnance Survey Landranger (scale 1:50000 -  about 1 inch to 1 mile) sheet 59 - St Andrews
  • Ordnance Survey Explorer (larger scale 1:25000 -  about 2 and a half inches to 1 mile) sheets 370 - Glenrothes north, Falkland & Lomond Hills, 371 - St Andrews and East Fife

Military History

War graves can be seen at the Scottish Wargraves Project and war memorials can be seen at the Scottish War Memorials Project.

There are photographs and transcriptions of Elie and Earlsferry war memorials. The site also includes biographical details of the personnel.

Names, Geographical

There is an index to the Ordnance Survey Object Name Books for this parish here.

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Obituaries

Andrew Campbell has produced Fife Deaths from Newspapers 1822-1854 - a compilation of deaths recorded in local newspapers. Copies of this index are held by the Fife libraries and the Family History Societies.

Fife Deaths Abroad 1855-1900 - a compilation of overseas deaths recorded in Fife newspapers - has been produced by Andrew Campbell of Fife Family History Society. The Society have re-published it in their Publications Series, 26, 27 and 28.

Occupations

The parish is included in Andrew Campbell's compilation of Fife Shopkeepers and Traders 1820-1870 taken from newspapers and directories. It is available in most Fife reference libraries, in the libraries of the family history societies, and at the Manuscript Department of the Special Collections Department of St Andrews University Library. It is also available as Fife Traders and Shopkeepers on CD from Fife Family History Society.

Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

The relief of paupers after 1845 was carried out by the Parochial Board and later by the Parish Council. Their records are at the Fife Council Archive Centre. Details of records here.

Population

There is a page with census statistics from 1755 to 1961 here.

See also A Vision of Britain and Histpop for population statistics.

Probate Records

Prior to 1824, wills, testaments & inventories of residents of Kilconquhar may be found in either the St Andrews Commissariot (CC20) or the Edinburgh Commissariot (CC8) records. From 1824, commissary business has been conducted by the Sheriff Court of Fife at Cupar (SC20).

Indexes and finding aids are given on the main Fife page.

Local sources worth searching for deeds include St Andrews Commissary Court and Cupar Sheriff Court.

Schools

School Board Records and school logbooks are held at the Fife Council Archive Centre. Details of records here.

Education statistics for Fife schools in 1891-2 list the following board schools in the parish:

Statistics

"Statistical accounts" giving fascinating insights into the local topography and history, social and economic conditions, and even the daily lives of people, were written by the parish ministers in the 1790s and the 1840s. For more information see the main Fife pages

• The 'Old' Statistical Account is at Google Books.
• The 'New' Statistical Account is also online at Google Books.

Taxation

The hearth tax, clock & watch tax, male servants tax, female servants tax, and farm horse tax are all on ScotlandsPlaces.

Town Records

The archives of the former Burgh of Earlsferry are held by the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library and the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of records here.

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Page maintained by William McM. Owen : last updated 25 October, 2012