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"An independent, long-term record preserving the history, people, places, and everyday life of Kinghorn for current and future generations."
If you are planning a visit to Kinghorn and would like an overview of what there is to see and do, you may find this booklet produced by the Royal Burgh’s Community Council , published in 2021, helpful.
If you are researching a Kinghorn resident, past or present, there is a searchable album of photographs covering more than 120 years, with names and dates where known (for example, Primary School groups, Golf Club teams, and workplaces). This album is maintained by Kinghorn Past & Present and can be accessed here: Photos with Names.
You can also view the names of the Fallen commemorated on Kinghorn’s War Memorial.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact me — or, better still, join the Kinghorn Past & Present Facebook group and post your question there. The group brings together the knowledge and memories of more than 2,000 members.
Growing up in Kinghorn — a brief introduction
I was born in the spring of 1949, taking my first breath in the family home located in the Pend off Kinghorn High Street. At that time, much of the housing available to working-class families was old and of poor quality. Fortunately, the late 1940s saw the building of new council housing in streets such as Strathmore Street, Mid Road, Burnside Avenue, Orchard Road, and Croft n Righ. My arrival made our family eligible for a council house, and we moved to Strathmore Street later that same year.
In the 1950s, Kinghorn was a busy, predominantly working-class town with a thriving High Street and many small shops. Car ownership was rare, and very few households had a private telephone. Entertainment centred on BBC radio, listened to on valve sets that took time to warm up. The local cinema was especially popular, particularly the Saturday morning matinees. Television began to appear in some homes during the early-1950s, reaching our household in 1959.
Football was another important part of local life. Many people followed Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park, with an active supporters’ club based at The Crown pub. Numerous other pubs — including The Ship, The Auld Hoose, and the Kinghorn Hotel — formed an important part of the town’s social fabric.
As children, we had great freedom, roaming Kinghorn and the surrounding area on foot or by bicycle, often getting up to harmless mischief. Many of us, particularly boys, took part-time jobs from around the age of twelve. I worked as a delivery boy for Millar’s the Bakers until I was fourteen, then moved to the Co-op as a milk barrow boy. I also helped with milking at Craigencalt Farm and took on seasonal work such as leading donkey rides on the beach and carrying visitors’ suitcases from the railway station.
For most families, the main wage earners travelled daily to larger towns such as Kirkcaldy, Burntisland, Rosyth, and Edinburgh. Public transport was at its peak, with frequent passenger and goods trains running north to Dundee and Aberdeen and south to Edinburgh. This was the closing chapter of the steam railway era. One of my strongest memories is standing with friends on the station footbridge, surrounded by smoke as trains arrived and departed.
I also remember Alexander’s buses lining up to collect and return workers from Burntisland shipyard and the naval dockyard at Rosyth. The regular ebb and flow of these buses captures, for me, the industrial rhythm of the period.
I left school at fifteen and worked for the National Coal Board until leaving Kinghorn in 1966 at the age of seventeen. Like many former residents now scattered around the world, I have retained a strong interest in the town. To share that interest, I have created this website, which provides open access to historical material relating to Kinghorn. I hope you find it both useful and enjoyable.
For more information on 20th century Kinghorn the Historical Society have published Kinghorn Memories 1900 - 1999 Editors: Anne MacIver and Ginny Reid.
It is worth browsing across this site, as many sources touch on more than one topic. Use the navigation tabs above (on larger screens) or the drop-down menu on mobile devices to explore.
All documents published on the site acknowledge their contributors and are collected in the Documents section.
If you notice any broken links or errors, please let me know.
You can contact me via the Contact Form.
Thank you for your interest.
Alan