By Sue Mowat Among the papers in the Pittencrieff estate deed box in the Local Studies Library is a small notebook containing details of all the feus granted by the Hunts of Pittencrieff on their estate between 1800 and 1837. Most of the street and place names in the list are familiar, like Golfdrum, Whitemire, Woodhead Street (now Chalmers Street) and Pittencrieff Street, but between 1827 and 1830 six feus were granted in an area called ‘Harley’s Acres’. Where on the estate could that have been? The only clue in the notebook to the location of the ‘Acres’ was that all the feus were on the north side of ‘Back Street’, the eastward continuation of Queen Anne Street (now James Street). Once again the 1771 map of the Pittencrieff estate came to the rescue, showing that the laird owned a large field called ‘Back Acres’ in the north-eastern area of the town, whose southern boundary was the eastern continuation of Queen Anne Street. This identification was confirmed by an item in the records of the Marquis of Tweeddale’s lands in Fife (which he owned as successor to the Lord of the Regality of Dunfermline). In 1810 William Hunt of Pittencrieff owed the Marquis £5 12/6d cash and 5 poultry as rental of ‘five acres of the Backside, formerly Harley’. The entry in the record was followed by a note that this was part of the lands that owed dues to St Leonard’s Hospital. (The apparent discrepancy between the Tweeddale acreage and the one on the map is owing to the fact that one is Scots…
Elder and Son Grain Merchants and Millers
Hugh Elder and Son, Grain Merchant and Millers Queen Anne Street & City Mills, Inglis Street, Dunfermline by George Beattie David Elder, born in Dunfermline in 1806, the founder of the above firm, is described as being ‘a man of common stamp’. Apparently cast upon his own resources in early life (Dunfermline Press of 23rd July, 1870) Mr Elder learned the weaving trade, and maintained himself by it, at the same time embracing every opportunity that presented itself for the cultivation of his intellect until, by degrees, he wrought himself into the position of assistant to Mr Haxton, Principle of the High School, and thereafter taught successfully in Pittencrieff Street for 13 years. Poor health cut short his teaching career and, in 1834, whilst King William IV was still on the throne, Mr Elder went into business for himself, firstly as a grocer with a house and shop at the corner of High Street and New Row. Most grocers of the time also dealt in grain and this soon led to him opening a granary on the south side of Queen Anne Street (situated opposite the later premises of John Goodall & Co). The granary was apparently purpose built and is likely to have been the premises later occupied by The City Bakery for many years. David Elder died in 1870, at High Street, Dunfermline, and his son, Hugh, took over the running of the business. The name Hugh Elder & Son was then applied to the firm and it would be known as such for the next 100 or so years. Around this time…
The Dunfermline Seducer
Tales from the Kirk Session by Dr. Jean Barclay One of the strange stories in the 18th century Kirk Session Minutes of Dunfermline is that of a Dunfermline widower and a married woman from Crieff. It demonstrates how different Kirk Sessions worked together. When a person came to live in a town or parish they had to provide the Kirk Session with a certificate of good behaviour from their former domain and when they left they required another one. On January 7th 1793 John Strachan, late of Roscobie north of Dunfermline, appeared before the Kirk Session of Dunfermline seeking a certificate to cover his removal to the Parish of Muckhart but ‘Session refused to give him one until they were informed of the Truth of Reports gone through the County infavourable to his character’. The rumours apparently concerned Strachan and a woman in Crieff and the Reverend Fernie, moderator of the Dunfermline Kirk Session, wrote to the Minister of Crieff for further details. The Crieff Minister replied enclosing two extracts of the Minutes of his Kirk Session, concerning Margaret Reid, a married woman ‘to whom John Strachan had behaved so unsuitably as to give great offence to this Parish’. The Minutes show that on May 27th 1792 Margaret Reid, spouse to David Thomson, appeared before the Kirk Session of Crieff and acknowledged that on Friday the 22nd of July last, she went for a weekend visit to visit friends in the neighbourhood of Dunfermline (30 miles away) and on the road near the town she…
Before the Bus Station
Sue Mowat describes the development of an area of central Dunfermline in her new article “Before The Bus Station” . Using some excellent large scale maps of the town she illustrates her research on the changing uses of the land where our Bus Station now stands and tells us of the people who once lived there.
Touch Bleachfields Dunfermline
by George Beattie Around 1843, Messrs Ralph Walker and David Wilson opened a bleach works on the banks of the Lyne Burn at Touch. Within a decade of opening the field, Mr Walker and Mr Wilson dissolved the partnership. Mr Walker established the Elgin Bleachfield on the banks of the same stream at the south side of Dunfermline, leaving Mr Wilson to operate at Touch. The work of bleaching yarns is as old as the linen industry and, when Mr Wilson and Mr Walker dissolved their partnership in 1851, they were not slow in recognising that as long as Dunfermline was noted for table linen, so long would there be work for bleachers in the area. At Touch, Mr Wilson ultimately took one of his sons, John, into partnership with him, and for many years the latter was head of the concern. In the 1871 census, John Wilson, then 48 years of age and residing at Comely Park, Dunfermline, is designated a Master Bleacher, employing some 42 females, 19 men and one boy. The record shows that John was married to Allison and that they had six daughters, aged between 4 and 15. The family also had two ‘general servants’ in residence. The Comely Park address, with14 rooms according to the census was, and still is, in a very desirable area of the town and probably indicates that the Touch business was doing very well. Robert Black In 1886, a lease of the works was acquired by Mr Robert Black, who a year previous had taken up the duties of manager. Mr Black, a native of Newburgh, had been trained in…