Town in Fife, Scotland
Glenrothes
Glenrothes was built around a super-pit that flooded and closed within eight years, yet the town it created kept growing anyway.
Key information
- County
- Fife
- Nation
- Scotland
- Population
- about 39,000, 2011 Census
- Known for
- Roundabouts, new-town planning, public art, electronics industry
- Football clubs
- Glenrothes FC
About Glenrothes
The town built for a pit that didn't last
Glenrothes exists because of coal. In 1948 it was designated Scotland's second new town, after East Kilbride, with a clear job: to house miners for the big new Rothes Colliery, which was meant to be one of the most modern pits in the country. The pit was officially opened in 1957. Water was the problem. Flooding plagued the workings and the colliery closed in 1965, eight years later. By then the houses were going up and families were arriving. Rather than fade away, the town simply changed its purpose.
From coal to "Silicon Glen"
With the pit gone, Glenrothes reinvented itself as a home for light industry. In the 1960s it drew in American electronics firms, and it became part of the belt of factories nicknamed Silicon Glen, which stretched across central Scotland. Microchips, instruments and electronics replaced coal as the town's trade. It was exactly what a new town was supposed to do: attract jobs, then keep people through housing, schools and open space. The name itself is a nod to the old landowners. Rothes comes from the Earls of Rothes, the Leslie family, who held land in this part of Fife for centuries.
Why people call it the roundabout town
Ask anyone who has driven here and they will mention the roundabouts. Glenrothes was planned for the car age, with traffic kept moving on a network of roundabouts rather than traffic lights, and the habit stuck. The layout is just as deliberate on foot. The town was divided into neighbourhoods, each with its own shops and schools, with housing separated from industry and green belts running through the middle. It is a textbook example of mid-century planning, and the greenery has matured nicely over the decades.
Art on the roundabouts and in the parks
Glenrothes made a point of commissioning public art as the town grew. Sculptures turn up in parks, along paths and on those famous roundabouts, giving a young town a few landmarks to call its own. The town's best-known piece is the Glenrothes Henge, a modern concrete sculpture resembling a stone circle in Riverside Park. It is a cheerful bit of invented heritage in a place that is only a few decades old.
The older Glenrothes underneath
The new town was laid over a landscape with plenty of older stories. Markinch, now absorbed into Glenrothes, has St Drostan's Church, whose surviving Romanesque tower dates from the 12th century, and it is thought to stand on a much older holy site. Balbirnie Park, on the edge of the town, is a country estate with woodland walks and a grand house. The Lomond Hills rise to the north and give the town a wild backdrop. The River Leven runs through Riverside Park, which gives the town its main stretch of waterside walking.
Life in the Kingdom's central town
Sitting in the middle of Fife, Glenrothes is a short run from Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline and St Andrews. That central position has made it a base for shops, offices and services across the region. The Kingdom Shopping Centre anchors the town centre. Local football comes from Glenrothes FC, who play at the town's own ground, while bigger-name Fife clubs are close by. For a town designed on paper in the 1940s, Glenrothes has done something unusual. It outlived its reason for being and made a new one.