Kirkcaldy memories
Here are memories of Kirkcaldy and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Kirkcaldy or a Kirkcaldy photo.
The Towers
I often remember walking past here on the way to visit my Auntie & Uncle Liz & Wull Marshall, they were actually my Dad's Uncle & Auntie. We lived up at the Hallows in Gallatown. I was born in 1947 and we moved to Australia in 1962. I am pretty sure there was a mad old woman that lived there and someone told me she was related (never found out). I had a paper run in Dysart and it was pretty spooky in the dark. I absolutely loved Dysart andhope to get back there soon for a holiday. Most of my relatives including Dad worked at the Dubbie. Billy Allan 42 High St, Charters Towers, Qld, Australia. 4820.
Ravenscraig
I remember once after being warned by Mum & Dad not to climb up the rocks the the castle, but my mates talked me into it. Just got up near the top when there was a shout and a couple of Bobbies headed towards us. Off we went down the rocks, managed to get to the beach and up the steps to Ravenscraig Park and got away. Never went up there again mind.
OBSERVER CORPS
Though I have no personal memories of the Victoria Works I would be interested to hear of any recollections of the ROC based there. The Observation Post can still be seen abve the roof and its survival is probably unique in Fife.
Steve, stephen.liscoe@fife.gov.uk
Panny Den, Path Head School
I remember with great memories playing in the panny den, lived next to it in Wright Place. Also attended Pathhead school. Left for America in 1954.
Ravenscraig Castle
Hi, we used to play at Ravenscraig every day as well, down the sands, the dungeons used to scare me when we looked through the slit windows, but when we got older and braver, and ventured down the in the dark (there was always a gang of us) we found it wasn't too bad. I also learned to swim in the rock pools in front of the castle, the one we called the Poddly, the biggest of the three, every day, summer and winter. Great times. I was born in Overton Road, 1933, just below Annie Cousin's shop. Our next best place was the Panny Den, just a small wood, although it didn't look small then, and there was a burn running right through it to the Panny Pond, where we fished for thousands of minnows, they were really great times.
Maybe we Know Each Other
"...I used to play in the castle and what we thought were dungeons in the middle to late 1950s. It was our playground for many years. We went to the beach nearly every day summer or winter..."
Maybe we know each other?
However, my best remembered memory was when I was seven or eight, playing in the rock pools below the castle (filled in with sand now) and I fell in. I could not swim. It was autumn and the beach was deserted, but two men from Dysart, walking in Ravenscraig Park, heard me shouting for help and rushed down the steps and along the beach, but I was gone by the time they reached the rocks. The rock was covered in green slime and one man slipped in, as I had. While in the water he touched me. He grabbed a hold of me and his friend pulled the both of us out.
I remember to this day that my thought was, 'I will never play... Read more
Kirkcaldy Castle Near The Beach.
I used to play in the castle and what we thought were dungeons in the middle to late 1950s. It was our playground for many years. We went to the beach nearly every day summer or winter. Loved the place to bits. My sister and younger brothers found the place magical and facsinating, even though it was in ruins it was magical to us.
Remember
I grew up in Kirkcaldy and this castle and its grounds was a great mass of interesting places to hide, climb and explore. It was in effect our playground between the years of 1984 through to 1988. Even the local high school (Viewforth) used the park grounds to the left of the castle and still does for cross country.
Memories of Fife
Dysart Old Toll House And Harbour.
I have many great memories of Dysart with my Gran Jane (Jean Allan and John (Big Jock) Allan. Last address together was 13 The Braes Dysart. On the hill on the road to Meickles Coalmine. We used to collect coal on the beach. Play on the beach and on the hills above the caves. "Sneak into the Man in the Rock", In these days could not go straight to it because of the coal mine. We had a miners' house Anderson shelter in the garden.
There is so many memories about the harbour and Shore Road where my Great Granny Allan lived with all her sons.
Yes! My memories of Dysart are happy ones. Sadly all my family are gone, except my mother Catherine Allan who is very ill. And the cousins left I do not know now as I live in Wiltshire. But I do long for the day I can come back.
Birthplace And Never Forgotten When Asked
I was born in Dysart to a mining family of 5 brothers, me being in the middle. My mum watched over us all and used to take us walks by the man in the rock along to Wemyss and back via the castle estate. Sometimes we came back through the Boreland woods, stopping at the chipper at the old railway crossing. My dad and all my brothers worked in the Dubbiwe and were very proud of the fact. Our friend's dad drove the little train that delivered the coal from the pit to the yards. I can remember them building the railway bridge at Bellfield Crescent, during this time we had to get ushered across the railway lines to school. Bellfield Crescent itself was like a little mining village on its own. Nearly all the dads were in the pit. My mum and the other mums used to round up the kids and take us down Ravenscraig and back along the Sailors Walk and to the swing park at the... Read more
Dysart in The 60s
I was brought up in Dysart, first in Howard Place then the High Street, where my mum and dad still live. I remember all the shops that were there in the 1960s when I was a little girl, the little wool shop where you could buy odd buttons etc, the 2 storey Co-op, the drapers, the butchers, the shop on the corner where I remember buying confetti for going to my cousin's wedding - all sadly gone now. It's amazing that a place so small had so much in it. I remember the town clock, and how notices were pinned to the door where the bellringer went, telling the Dysartonians of births, weddings and deaths. I have so many happy memories of playing at the harbour and down at the 'Granny Rock', my mum always knew where she could find me. Happy days indeed.
Glenrothes And Area
Moved to Glenrothes as part of the overspill from Glasgow where we had bought room and kitchen 3 up, in 1963 for 285 pounds, paid back at 5 pounds every 2 weeks. We moved to a HOUSE with a back and front garden, what a luxury, and a back and front door. I started work in the Leslie paper mills, then I took a job driving with Muir of Kirkcaldy, Cook of Leven (Readymix), Fifeshire Posting of Kirkcaldy, Percy Lane (windows) of Glenrothes and on to J & E Transport of Dundee. I was a scouter with the Leslie Scout Troop with Jim Wilson who was a policeman in Leslie, 1970 to 1974. Moved to South Africa on contract in 1974 and stayed. I will put more on Memories next month.
Family History
Hi, my father came from Dysart, he was born in Mid Quality Street in 1925. He came out to New Zealand in 1953. His name was Alexander Hutchison Marr. He had two sisters and brothers, John, George, Maggie, Sarah. His parents' names were Alexander and Christina. I am looking for any information. If you can help, please contact me at: ikmarr@gmail.com. I am looking forward to hearing from anyone about my family. Kind regards, Isabella Marr.
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