Town in Fife, Scotland
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy was once so thick with the smell of linoleum that locals could sniff out home from the train, and it also gave the world Adam Smith.
Key information
- County
- Fife
- Nation
- Scotland
- Population
- about 49,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Linoleum, Adam Smith, the Links Market, Raith Rovers
- What locals are called
- Kirkcaldians
- Famous people
- Adam Smith, Robert Adam, Sir Sandford Fleming, Gordon Brown
- Football clubs
- Raith Rovers
About Kirkcaldy
The town that smelled of floors
For about a century, Kirkcaldy had a smell all of its own. It came from linoleum, which is made by oxidising linseed oil, and the sweet, earthy, slightly sickly aroma hung over the town whenever the factories were running. Michael Nairn had started making floorcloth here in 1847, and by the late 1870s Nairn's was producing proper linoleum. It became the town's great employer and the reason Kirkcaldy's floors, and plenty of floors across Britain and beyond, were so well covered. Locals will tell you the smell meant work, and work meant home. The industry has faded, but the town's association with it has not. Linoleum is still the first thing many Scots mention when Kirkcaldy comes up.
Why it's called the Lang Toun
Look at a map and the nickname explains itself. Kirkcaldy stretches in a thin ribbon along the Firth of Forth, one main street following the shore for about four miles, and it swallowed up neighbouring villages such as Dysart on the way. The Lang Toun is the name that stuck, and it fits a place that grew up along a harbour coast rather than around a single square. Walk the roughly mile-long seafront esplanade for views across the Forth.
The man who explained money
Adam Smith was born in Kirkcaldy in 1723 and went on to become the father of modern economics. His book The Wealth of Nations came out in 1776, and he did a good deal of the writing back home in Kirkcaldy, living with his mother, in the years around 1767 to 1773. He wasn't the town's only big brain. Robert Adam, the architect behind some of Britain's most elegant Georgian interiors, was born here in 1728. Sir Sandford Fleming, born in 1827, emigrated to Canada and pushed the world towards standard time zones. And John McDouall Stuart, from Dysart, led the first expedition to cross mainland Australia from south to north and return successfully, in 1862. Gordon Brown grew up in Kirkcaldy and later represented the town in Parliament before becoming prime minister.
A fair that takes over the seafront
Every April the Links Market rolls into town, and the esplanade becomes a mile-long run of waltzers, dodgems, stalls and noise. It is one of the oldest and longest street fairs in Europe, and many people link its origins to a medieval charter. For generations of Fifers it is the start of spring, and a rite of passage involving candy floss, fairground rides and a long walk along the shore. Kirkcaldy folk tend to have strong views on which ride is best and which year was the busiest.
When Raith Rovers beat Celtic
Raith Rovers play at Stark's Park, and in 1994 they pulled off one of the great Scottish cup stories. In the League Cup final they drew with Celtic and then won 6-5 on penalties, lifting the trophy as a lower-league side. The following season they played in Europe, going out to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup. It remains the high point in the club's history, and the story gets retold every time a small side gets a big draw.
Castles, art and a sea view
On the edge of the town, between Kirkcaldy and Dysart, Ravenscraig Castle stands on a rocky point above the Forth. Building began in 1460 for Mary of Guelders, widow of James II, and it was one of the first castles in Britain designed with artillery in mind. In the town centre, Kirkcaldy Galleries holds a strong collection of Scottish art, including work by the Scottish Colourists and the Kintyre-born painter William McTaggart. Beveridge Park offers a more relaxed corner of green space, and the beach has views across the water towards Edinburgh. Dysart's harbour, with its old merchants' houses, is the quieter side of the town, and a good place to understand how a coastal working town in Fife was built.