Binnend
| |
|---|---|
 | |
  Binnend Location within Fife | |
| Population | 756 (1891) [1] |
| Civil parish |
|
| Council area | |
| Shire county |
|
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Binnend, also known as Binnend Village and The Binn, is an abandoned industrial village located two miles north of Burntisland in Fife. [2] It was established in the late 1870s to house workers at the nearby shale oil extraction works.
The shale works at Binnend broke ground in 1878. The village was established a few years later to house workers and their families. [3] [4] Shale was extracted from mines and loaded into retorts to be heated for oil extraction. The works also had factories where oil and wax products were manufactured. These included fertiliser made of ammonia, naptha to make rubber and paint, lubrications and oils for burning, and candles. [3]
After the oil works closed in 1892 the population of Binnend Village began to decline as work was no longer available. [3] The land was sold to the Whinnyhall Estate. [5]
The Village was briefly used in the First World War. Houses were used for Admiralty staff who were working at Rosyth, while the school was used to provide accommodation for troops. Houses were also given to women who had lost their husbands in the war. It also provided affordable housing for workers at the nearby aluminium works and shipyards. [3] [4]
Its population declined again in the 1920s and 1930s. Most houses were used as holiday houses for people from other parts of Scotland, including Edinburgh and Glasgow. [4]
Binnend Village was formally closed in 1931 due to the fact it had no piped water, gas, electricity or sanitation. The owners of the village, the Whinnyhall Estate, realised it would be too difficult to upgrade the houses to a modern standard of living. The roofs of unoccupied houses were removed so that the Estate was not required to pay rates, and all regular maintenance was ceased. [3]
Some residents stayed on. In 1950 there were about 16 residents. In 1952, two couples named the Hoods and McLarens remained in the village, where they lived in adjacent houses. The McLarens moved away in 1952 when a council house became available in Burntisland. The last inhabitants, Mr and Mrs Hood, remained until Mrs Hood died in 1954 and George Hood (aged 74) moved to live with his son in 1954. [3]
Today, there is a walking path that includes eight different routes from Burntisland, Standing Stane Road, and Kinghorn Loch. [6] Ruins of the High Binn remain, but all traces of Low Binn are gone. The area where it would have stood is fenced off and contains a waste-water pond from the former Burntisland Aluminium works. [1] The ruins of High Binn are covered in ferns, rosebay willow-herb, brambles, and trees. [7]
Binnend Village is located around a mile north-east of Burntisland in Fife, Scotland. It included two areas, the High Binn and Low Binn.
High Binn, also known as Upper Binn, was located at the old Binnend Farm above the Binnend oil works at the top of an escarpment. [2] [4] Its two-bedroom stone buildings were arranged in twelve rows. Seven of these contained eight homes and five contained six homes. [2]
Low Binn, also known as Lower Binn, was found east of the Binnend Oil Works near the main road. Its single-story two-bedroom stone buildings had a floor area of around 405 square feet. Both rooms had a fire place and a window. [3] They were arranged in five rows containing six homes. [1] Low Binn was thought of as being of a lower quality and class compared to the High Binn. This may due to the fact that it appeared to have a more transient population and because it had a larger proportion of people with Irish descent. [3] [4]
A census from 1891 shows Binnend Village had a population of 756 individuals; 564 of these lived in High Binn, where they shared 95 two-bedroom houses. Another 192 people lived in Low Binn, sharing 33 houses. Historians have noted that houses were overcrowded with beds being used on a shift system 24 hours a day, and some people sleeping in the space between the ceiling and the roof. [4] One couple, Dan and Rosetta Connaghan, had five children and five lodgers living in their two-bedroomed home in the Low Binn. [3]
The majority of people living in Binnend Village were from the Fife or Lothian shale mining areas, while another thirty percent of the heads of household were of Irish descent. [4]
After the oil works closed in 1892, the population of Binnend declined. A census from 1901 shows the population declined by 36% from 1181 individuals in 1891 to 753 in 1901. [3] The male population declined the most as single and married men moved away in search of work. They likely would have left their families behind, sending for them once they had secured an income. [3]
The village had two small shops, with the first opening in 1884. However, most people travelled the short distance to Burntisland to pick up their messages and other necessities. [4] A postal delivery service began in 1884. [3]
In 1889, a small mission hall was opened to serve all denominations. It held a weekly Sunday School for several years. The church also featured a steel bell weighing over 75 kilograms. Today, no ruins of the church remain. [3] [8]
Binnend School was officially opened in February 1891, servicing around 170 school-aged children in the village. Its first headmaster was James Smith who had previously taught at the Burgh Public School in Burntisland that the children from Binnend had previously attended. There may have been another three male teachers and two female teachers working at the school. The school was closed in 1895 after the village's population started to decline. [3] [4] In the First World War, the school was used to house troops. It was also used for dances and concerts due to its good quality wooden floor. [3]
The village had a football pitch, located east of the High Binn near the main shale dump. It was home to a local team named the Binnend Rangers who won 27 matches during the 1891 season with a difference of 38 goals. [3] [4]
Fife is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. By custom it is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer. In older documents the county was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire.
West Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its historic counties. The county, which was known as Linlithgowshire, was bounded geographically by the Avon to the west and the Almond to the east. The modern council area occupies a larger area than the historic county. It was reshaped following local government reforms in the late 20th century: some areas in the west were transferred to Falkirk; some areas in the east were transferred to Edinburgh; and some areas that had formerly been part of in Midlothian were added.
Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about 11.6 miles (19 km) north of Edinburgh and 27.6 miles (44 km) south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest settlement and the 12th most populous settlement in Scotland.
Kinghorn is a town and parish in Fife, Scotland. A seaside resort with two beaches, Kinghorn Beach and Pettycur Bay, plus a fishing port, it stands on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, opposite Edinburgh. According to the 2008 population estimate, the town has a population of 2,930.
Inverkeithing is a port town and parish, in Fife, Scotland, on the Firth of Forth. A town of ancient origin, Inverkeithing was given royal burgh status during the reign of Malcolm IV in the 12th century. It was an important center of trade during the Middle Ages, and its industrial heritage built on quarrying and ship breaking goes back to the 19th century. In 2016, the town had an estimated population of 4,890, while the civil parish was reported to have a population of 8,090 in 2011.
Burntisland is a former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 6,269. It was previously known as Wester Kinghorn or Little Kinghorn.
Cowdenbeath is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is 5 miles (8 km) north-east of Dunfermline and 18 miles (29 km) north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 2008 estimate, the town has a population of 14,081.
Pumpherston is a village in West Lothian, Scotland. Originally a small industrial village housing works for the nearby shale mine and works, it now forms the eastern part of the new town of Livingston, which was constructed to the west of Pumpherston in the late 1960s and quickly grew to incorporate Pumpherston in its wider urban settlement, as defined by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS). The village of Uphall Station lies immediately to the north.
Wormit is a village on the south shore of the Firth of Tay in north-east Fife, Scotland. Its location at the southern end of the Tay Rail Bridge has led to it becoming a commuter suburb of Dundee. Together with Woodhaven and Newport-on-Tay, Wormit is a part of The Burgh of Newport-on-Tay. The name of the village is thought to be derived from the plant wormwood.
Addiewell is a former mining village in the Scottish council area of West Lothian. Historically it lies within the County of Midlothian. A new prison, HMP Addiewell, opened in 2008.
Glen Davis is a village in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The village is located in the local government area of the City of Lithgow. It is located 250 km north-west of Sydney and approximately 80 kilometres north of Lithgow. In the 2006 census, Glen Davis had a population of 354 but this fell to 115 in the 2016 census.
Seafield is a small village in West Lothian, Scotland. Seafield lies 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) east of Blackburn, 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of Bathgate and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Livingston.
East Wemyss is a village situated on the south coast of the Kingdom of Fife, Scotland. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 1,928.
West Calder is a village in the council area of West Lothian, Scotland, located four miles west of Livingston. Historically it is within the County of Midlothian. The village was an important centre in the oil shale industry in the 19th and 20th Centuries. West Calder has its own railway station.
Joadja is a historic town, now in ruins, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The remnants of the town were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 November 1999.
The Edinburgh and Northern Railway was a railway company authorised in 1845 to connect Edinburgh to both Perth and Dundee. It relied on ferry crossings of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay, but despite those disadvantages it proved extremely successful. It took over a short railway on the southern shore of the Forth giving a direct connection to Edinburgh, and it changed its name to the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway.
Limerigg is a village in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. It lies on the B825 road between Slamannan and Caldercruix surrounded by extensive woodlands on the northern side and lying next to the Black Loch, which formerly fed the Monkland Canal, and close to the former boundary between Stirlingshire and Lanarkshire.
The Burntisland Shipbuilding Company was a shipbuilder and repairer in Burntisland, Fife, Scotland that was founded in 1918. In 1969 it was taken over by Robb-Caledon Shipbuilders, which in turn was nationalised in 1977 as part of British Shipbuilders.
The Almondell Viaduct, also known as the Camps Viaduct, is a viaduct spanning the gorge of the River Almond in Scotland, located in East Calder, West Lothian, as well as the main canal feeder taking water from the Almond to the Union Canal at Lin's Mill near Ratho
John Wilson Fell (1862–1955) was an industrialist involved in the shale oil operations at Newnes, New South Wales and the establishment of two early oil refineries, on Gore Bay at Greenwich and at Clyde, both suburbs of Sydney. He was the principal of John Fell & Company and was, for many years, the Managing Director of Commonwealth Oil Corporation, which he revived from receivership.
