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

DYSART.
419
and one belonging to the Associate Synod of Original
Seeeders; built in 1763; sittings 795. The stipend
of the minister of the former is £100, with manse
and garden; of the latter, £126 There are 14
schools in the parish, two of which are taught by
females. The parochial, or rather burgh-school, is
situated in the town of Dysart, and is well-attended.
The teacher is paid partly from the town-funds, and
partly from money mortified for the purpose, the
sum of £43 per annum, besides his school-fees.
There are 3 other unendowed schools in the town.
At Pathhead there is a school endowed by the late
Mr. Philp of Edenshead, for the education of 100
children, who, as at Kirkcaldy, receive a yearly al-
lowance for clothing; and there are also in this vil-
lage 3 other unendowed schools ; there are 2 schools
at Sinclairtown, 3 at Gallatown, and 1 at Borland,
all unendowed.
The town of Dysakt is a royal burgh, and joins
with Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn, and Burntisland in send-
ing a member to parliament. Parliamentary consti-
tuency, in 1839, 130. It was originally a burgh-of-
barony holding of the St. Clairs of Rosslyn, and
subsequently of the Lords Sinclair. About the be-
ginning of the 16th century, it was erected into a
royal burgh, but the early charters have been lost.
A few years ago, the burgh was disfranchised, in
consequence of some informality at the election of
the magistrates ; and its affairs have since been
under the superintendence of three managers ap-
pointed by the court of session. The revenue, in
1838-9, was £908. The burgh consists of three
narrow streets, having a kind of square in the centre.
The central or high street presents a number of
antique substantial houses, having dates and inscrip-
tions on their fronts. Many of them had piazzas on
the ground-floor, where the merchants exposed their
goods for sale; but these are now mostly built up.
In the centre of the town is the town-house, which
contains a council-hall, the prison, the weigh-house,
and the guard-house. It is a plain building, orna-
mented with a tower and spire. Fortunately the
prison requires to be but seldom used. The har-
bour of Dysart, though not deficient in size for the
trade, was formerly very unsafe; the swell, when
there was a gale from the east, being so great that
vessels were driven from their moorings and nearly
wrecked within it. A few years ago, however, an
adjoining quarry was converted into a wet dock,
which has 18 feet of water, and is sufficient to con-
tain 17 or 18 vessels of different burden, exclusive
of the old or outer harbour. The population of the
burgh, in 1831, was 1801. So far back as 1450,
salt was manufactured ,and shipped at Dysart, not
only to other places in Scotland, but to Holland and
the Continent ; fish was also exported, as also great
quantities of coal; and malting and brewing were
carried on to a great extent at an early period. In
fact it is admitted that Dysart enjoyed a large share
of the trade which the different burghs on the south
side of the Forth anciently possessed. But the same
circumstances which destroyed the trade of the
other burghs, had a destructive effect upon that of
this town ; its trade decayed, and its shipping rapidly
disappeared. A few brigs, and a few sloops, are all
that now belong to the harbour, and foreign vessels
seldom visit it, except a few from Holland or the
Baltic About a mile north of the town there is
still standing a large memorial stone, which tradition
says marks the spot where a battle was fought with
the Danes ; and about half-a-mile farther north, is a
farm called Carberry where the Romans are said to
have had a station. The remains of the camp are
said to have been formerly visible, but no traces of
it are now to be seen : the tradition is strength-
ened, however, by the name of the place. Near the
middle of the harbour is a high rock called the Fort,
which is said to have been fortified by Oliver Crom-
well, but no part of the works now remains Al-
though not mentioned in Spottiswoode's list of re-
ligious houses, there is said to have been a priory of
black friars in Dysart, the chapel of which was dedi-
cated to St. Dennis. Part of the old wall of this
chapel, which still retains its name, yet remains,
but it has for a long period been converted into a
smithy. Near the chapel of St. Dennis is the old
church of Dysart, which bears the marks of having
been a handsome piece of architecture in its time.
On one of the windows is the date 1570 ; but the
steeple and the porch bear marks of greater anti-
quity West of Dysart are the lands of Ravenscraig
belonging to the Earl of Rosslyn. Here, on a lofty
rock which overhangs the sea-shore, are the ruins
of Ravenscraig castle, sometimes also called Ravens-
lieugh castle. The castle and lands of Ravensheugh
appeared to have belonged to the Crown at a very
early period; but they were granted by James III.,
in 1470, to "William 3d Earl of Orkney, the ancestor
of the present proprietor, in return for his resigna-
tion of that earldom to the Crown. It afterwards
became the residence of the descendants of the 3d
son, the Lords Sinclair, from whom it has descended
with the other estates to the present proprietor. It
was still inhabited at the time Sibbald wrote, but it
has now for many years been in ruins Adjoining
Ravenscraig are the lands of Dunnikeir the property
of Sir John Oswald, on part of which the village of
Pathhead is built. This property anciently belonged
to the family of Lundin of Balgonie ; and afterwards,
according to Sibbald, to a Mr. John Watson, who
built the old house in Pathhead, and mortified several
acres of land near Burntisland for maintaining poor
widows. About the end of the 17th century, Dun-
nikeir became the property of the ancestor of the
present proprietor In the northern portion of the
parish is Stratnorej the property of John Fergus,
Esq., which in part anciently belonged to the Hep-
burns of Waughton; and at the north-east extremity
Skeddoway, long the property of a family of the
name of Alexander, now of the Earl of Rosslyn
Dysart house, the residence of the Earl of Rosslyn, is
situated above the sea-shore to the west of the
burgh. It is a plain but neat and commodious man-
sion, and commands an extensive and very beautiful
view of the frith, and of the scenery to the east.
The gardens are very beautiful The barony of
Dysart appears to have belonged, so early as the
13th century, to the Sinclair's of Rosslyn. Dysart
gives the title of Earl to the ancient family of Tol-
lemache. Of this family — whose extraction is English
— there was, in the 25° of Edward L, one Hugh de
Tollemache, who held of the Crown the manor of
Bentley, in the county of Suffolk; and, in the 29th
year of that monarch's reign, had summons to attend
the expedition into Scotland. Dysart formerly gave
the title of Earl to the family of Murray.