Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

288
CUPAR-FIFE.
a small Episcopalian congregation established in 1824 ;
stipend i'45 ; — and an original Secession congrega-
tion; church built in 1826; sittings 400; stipend
.£S0, with a manse Estimating the population of
the parish at 2,600, the parish-minister calculates
that 1,550 belong to the Established church, and
1,000 to other denominations. — Parochial school-
master's salary £M 4s. 4id., with fees, and emolu-
ments averaging .£20 annually. There are 3 private
schools.
Cupar- Angus, a neat and considerable town in
the above parish; 15 miles north-west of Dundee;
12| east by north of Perth ; and 5 south of Blair-
gowrie. Though designated of Angus, by far the
greater part of this town is in the county of Perth.
It is situated near the Isla, and is divided by a rivulet
into two parts ; that part which lies south of this
rivulet is all that belongs to the county of Angus.
The streets are well-paved and lighted, and the
town has much improved of late years. There is
a steeple which serves as a town-house and prison,
on the spot where the prison of the court-of-re-
gality stood. Small debt, and circuit small debt,
courts are held here. The linen manufacture is carried
on here to a considerable extent. There is also a con-
siderable tannery ; and in the immediate neighbour-
hood a large bleachfield. Cupar-Angus gave the
title of Baron Coupar to James Elphinston, created
Lord Coupar in 1609. The title merged in that of
Balmerino, and suffered extinction with it. The
number of inhabitants in 1793 amounted to 1604;
they are now about 2,200.
CUPAR-FIFE,* a central parish of Fifeshire,
about 9 miles distant from the sea-coast on the
three sides of the peninsula, of Fife ; of a very ir-
regular form, but measuring 4^ miles in its greatest
length from north to south, and 3 miles in its great-
est breadth from east to west. It is bounded on the
north by the parishes of Kilmany and Dairsie ; on
the east by Kemback ; on the south by Ceres and
Cults ; and on the west by Monimail and Moonzie.
The surface is finely undulated, and well-wooded.
The river Eden flows slowly through the parish
from south-west to north-east, between green and
fertile banks of varied beauty. f The town of Cu-
par, and about two-thirds of the parish, are on the
northern side of the Eden. The Lady-burn, or St.
Mary's burn, a small tributary, flowing from the
north-west, after fetching a circuit through the north-
ern suburbs of the burgh of Cupar, joins the Eden
to the east of the town. The soil to the north and
east of the burgh is a friable loam on a gravelly
subsoil ; to the south and west the soil is more in-
clined to sand. The average rent of land is about
* So called to distinguish it from Cupar- Angus; but most
commonly designated by the single term Cupar, which appears
in ancient writings under the several forms of Cupir, Culpure,
Cypre, Cyprum, Cowpar, and Coupar. The etymology of the
name is uncertain, but the word is apparently Celtic; aB the
names of various otiier places in the parisli certainly are: such
as Pittenrrieff, that is, Pitnan-craobk, ' the Dale ;' Kilmaron,
that is, CilL.mha.roin, 'the Cell of St. Ron.'
f It was suggested, many years ago, that a navigable canal
might be formed, nearly in the course of the Eden, as high as
Cupar. That river falls into the sea about 9 miles below the
town ; and the tide rises as high as Lydox mill, little more than
3 miles from Cupar. The fall from the town is very gradual ;
to the place to which the tide rises, not more than 24 feet. It
has lately been proposed to carry a railroad through Fifeshire,
commencing at Burntisland or Kinghorn, and passing Kirk-
caldy and Cupar to Newport, with a branch to Newburgh.
The placid stream of the Eden, and the scenery which diversi-
fies and adorns ita banks, long since touched the imagination of
the poet Johnstone, and found a place in his song :
" Arva inter nemorisque umbras, et pascua laeta
Lene fluens, vitreis, labitur Eden, aquis."
Attracted by the pleasant and healthful situation of the vale in
which the town stands, our kings, says tradition, when they
lived in the neighbouring palace of Falkland, placed Ilia
family-nursery at Cupar.
45s. per acre. Assessed property of the parish, in
1815, £7,503; of the burgh £6,553. Total real rental
of the parish, in 1829, .£9,977 lis. 9d There are
3 mills for spinning yarn within the parish; viz.,
Russell mill, with 600 spindles, on the Eden, 3 miles
west of Cupar ; Cupar flax-mills, with 336 spindles ;
and a mill at Lebanon for twisting thread as well as
spinning yarn. The principal kind of cloth manu-
factured is dowlas; sheetings and Osnaburghs are
also largely made; and there are now above 600
looms in the parish. In 1796, the number of looms
was 223. There are also extensive flour, corn, and
barley mills, several quarries, and a snuff mill .
Besides the county-town, this parish contains the
village of Springfield at the western end, and that
of Glaidney, an extension of Ceres village, at its
southern end : see these articles Kilmaron castle,
14 mile north-west of Cupar, the seat of J. A.
Cheyne, Esq., is the finest mansion in the parish.
It is in the castellated style, from a plan by Gillespie.
— To the south of Kilmaron, and about a mile south-
west of Cupar, is the ancient house of Carslogie, for
many generations the family-seat of the Clephanes.
This family, in times of feudal strife, were leagued
with the neighbouring ancient family of the Scots
of Scotstarvet, who inhabited a strong tower — which
is still entire — situated on a lower ridge of Tarvet
hill, about 2 miles south from Carslogie. On the
appearance of an enemy, tradition relates, horns from
the battlements of the castle from which the hostile
force was first descried, announced the approach of
danger, and the quarter from whence it was advan-
cing; and both families, with their dependents, were
instantly under arms for mutual protection. The
family have been in possession, from time immemo-
rial, of a hand made in exact imitation of that of a
man, and curiously formed of steel. This is said to
have been conferred by one of the kings of Scotland,
along with other more valuable marks of his favour,
on a laird or baron of Carslogie, who had lost his
hand in the service of his country. When Dr.
Campbell wrote the account of this parish in the
Old Statistical Account, in 1796, there still existed,
in a field adjoining to the house of Carslogie, and
near to the public road which leads from Cupar to
the west, the stately and venerable remains of an
ash which for several centuries had retained the name
of the Jug tree. The iron jugs, in which the offend-
ers on the domains of Carslogie suffered punishment,
fell from the hollow body of this tree, in which they
had been infixed, only in 1793. The ancient tree
itself was blown down some years ago. — A mound
of earth, rising considerably above the adjoining
grounds, and extending a great length on the north
side of Cupar, is called the Mote, or, as some write
it, the Moat-hill. They who use the latter orthogra-
phy contend that this rampart is formed of artificial
earth ; and that it originally extended as far as the
castle, and was constructed to defend the town from
any sudden attack from the north, as the river, in
some measure, secured it on the south. There is
no doubt, however, that it ought to be styled the
Mote-hill, as it was probably the place where, in
early times, the justiciary of Fife held his courts,
and published his enactments for the regulation of
the country. The Latin name, by which this hill
is sometimes mentioned, seems to decide the con-
troversy, ' Mons placiti,' which may be translated
' Statute-hill.'—" The parish of Cupar and the sur-
rounding district," says Mr. Leighton, in his ' Fife
Illustrated,' " is rich in localities connected with
events, circumstances, or individuals never to be
forgotten, and affording subjects of thought and re-
flection to even the most ordinary minds. From the
top of Tarvit hill, or, as it is now called, Wemyss-