Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 4

INVERKEITHING
smaller. The original parish church, St Peter's, was be-
queathed in 1139 to Dunfermline Abbey by Waldeve, son
of Gospatric. A reconstruction of 1826, after the fire of
the year before, the present church is a handsome Gothic
building, with a nave, side aisles, 1000 sittings, and an
old W tower. Square and of three stages, with a stunted
polygonal spire, this is Middle Pointed in style, as also
is a hexagonal, elaborately-sculptured font, one of the
finest in Scotland, which, disinterred from the rubbish in
1806, in making foundations for repairs on the church,
was at first placed in the porch, but has since been removed
to a spot near the pulpit, and regularly used for public
baptisms (T. S. Muir's Ancient Cliurches of Scotland,
1848). There is also a spacious U.P. church, in which,
about 1820, the Rev. Ebenezer Brown, second 'son of the
Self-interpreting Bible, ' preached before Brougham and
Jeffrey, the first pronouncing him the greatest orator
they had ever heard, ' whilst Jeffrey declared he ' never
heard such words, such a sacred untaught gift of speech.'
The harbour might he deepened and greatly improved,
yet is pretty good, having a patent slip, and affording
accommodation for vessels of 200 tons at spring tides,
though usually it is frequented by smaller vessels. It
comprises an area called the Inner Bay, which, extending
over an area of 100 acres, contracts to 1 furlong at the
entrance between two low small headlands, the East and
the "West Ness. At low water it is all an expanse of fore-
shore. The outer hay, broadening rapidly beyond the
harbour's entrance, includes foreshore over only a small
space immediately outside the Ness ; measures 1J mile
across a chord drawn between St Davids and North
Queensferry, but only § mile from that chord to the
Ness ; and lies quite open to easterly and southerly winds.
A good many vessels used to frequent the harbour for
coal ; but their number has greatly decreased of recent
years. The town is a royal burgh, under a charter of
William the Lyon, and, having partly adopted the General
Police and Improvement Act (Scotland) prior to 1871, is
governed by a provost, 2 bailies, a treasurer, a dean of
Seal of Inverkeithing.
guild, and 7 councillors. It unites with Stirling, Dun-
fermline, Culross, and South Queensferry in sending
a member to parliament. The municipal and the
parliamentary constituency numbered 213 and 195 in
1883, when the annual value of real property amounted
to £4666 (against £3024 in 1873 and £5068 in 1882),
whilst the corporation revenue was £508 in 1882 Pod'
(1831) 2020, (1S61) 1929, (1871) 1763, (1881) 1653, of
whom 1646 were In the police and parliamentary and
1366 m the royal burgh. Houses (1881) 391 inhabited,
3S vacant.
The parish, containing also Hillend village and a
fragment of Limekilns, includes the islets of Bimar
and Inchgarvie, as also the detached lands of Lo<ne
and Urquhart, within Dunfermline parish, as far "as
INVERKINDIE
Milcsniark village. It comprises the ancient parishes of
Inverkeithingand Rosyth, united in 1636. It is bounded
W and N by Dunfermline, E by Dalgety, and S by
the Firth of Forth and the Ferryhill or North Queens-
ferry section of Dunfermline. Its length, from N to
S, diminishing westward, varies between 1 furlong and
4| miles ; its breadth, diminishing northwards, varies
between £ mile and 3 miles ; and its area is 5020 acres,
of which 557J are foreshore. The coast, with an extent
of 4f miles, includes the greater part of St Margaret's
Hope and Inverkeithing Bay, and is partly low and
sandy, partly rocky, and rather high. The interior is
low though undulating, nowhere much exceeding 200
feet above sea-level throughout all the southern district,
but rising to 344 near Annfield. The rocks belong to
the Carboniferous Limestone series ; but basalt intrudes
in the two islets and over all the SE portion of the
parish. Except for a small proportion of wood and
pasture, the entire area is in a high state of cultivation.
Inverkeithing claims as natives Sir Samuel Greig
(1735-88), the distinguished Russian admiral, and the
Rev. Robert Moffat, D.D.(1797-1SS3), the African mis-
sionary. Its chief antiquity is noted under Rosyth,
the chief event in its history under Pitreavie. Seven
proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and up-
wards, 4 of between £100 and £500, 9 of from £50 to
£100, and 30 of from £20 to £50. Ecclesiastically
including North Queensferry, this parish is in the
presbytery of Dunfermline and synod of Fife ; the
living is worth £440. Inverkeithing and North
Queensferry public schools, with respective accommo-
dation for 397 and 100 children, had (18S1) an average
attendance of 292 and 85, and grants of £250, 16s. and
£61, 3s. Valuation (1866) £8270, 9s. 5d., (1S83)
£8483, 16s. Id. Pop. (1801) 2228, (1831) 3189, (1861)
3124, (1871) 3074, (1881) 2565.— Ord. Stir., shs. 32, 40,
1S57-67. See W. Simson's Reminiscences of Inverkeith-
ing (Edinb. 18S2).
Inverkeithny, a village and a parish of NE Banffshire.
The village stands, 200 feet above sea-level, on the right
bank of the Deveron, 3 miles S by E of Aberchirder,
and 7 WSW of Turriff, under which it has a post office.
The parish is bounded NW by Rothiemay, N by
Marnoch, and on all other sides by Aberdeenshire — viz.,
NE by Turriff, SE by Auchterless, and SW by Forgue.
Its utmost length, from WNW to ESE, is 6J miles ; its
breadth varies between 5 furlongs and 4J miles ; and its
area is 76S5 acres, of which 43§ are water. The Deveron
winds 4J miles east-south-eastward along all the northern
border, and at the village is joined by the Burn of Forgue.
The parish is well watered by these and several smaller
streams, which serve to drive machinery for threshing
purposes. Along the Deveron, in the extreme E, the
surface declines to 114 feet above sea-level, thence rising
to 629 feet at the Hill of Carlincraig, and 738 near
Newton of Tollo. The parish thus is pleasantly diver-
sified with hill and dale, and the belt of it along the
Deveron is beautifully ornate. About 500 acres are
under wood, 400 are either pastoral or waste, and all the
rest is regularly or occasionally in tillage. Remains of
many stone circles are still to be seen, as also traces of
a Roman camp at Mains of Auchingoul, and of hut-
dwellings on the Hill of Carlincraig. Three proprietors
hold each an annual value of more than £1100, and 3
of between £300 and £500 ; but none are resident.
Inverkeithny is in the presbytery of Turriff and synod
of Aberdeen ; the living is worth £300. The parish
church, at the village, is a handsome edifice, erected in
1S81 at a cost of nearly £2000, and containing 500 sit-
tings. At the same time the graveyard was levelled
and beautifully laid out at a farther cost of £100. Two
public schools, Easterfield and Kirktown, with respective
accommodation for 100 and 135 children, had (1881) an
average attendance of 67 and 86, and grants of £56, Is.
and £80, 3s. Valuation (1860) £4678, (1833) £5911.
Pop. (1801) 503, (1831) 587, (1861) 880, (1871) 1000,
(1881) 909.— Ord. Sur., sh. 86, 1876.
Inverkindie, a hamlet in the Glenkindie section of
Strathdon parish, W Aberdeenshire, at the mouth of
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