Dunfermline Weekly ☀️ 4 May 2025
Kingsgate job losses, Caledonia HS confirmed, airport scanners upgrade, no castle at Castland, and more
🛍️ Kingsgate Centre sale will result in loss of over 20 jobs. A London-based property investment company has acquired the shopping centre earlier this year. Along with that a new property management company is coming in to operate the centre, with multiple jobs being outright lost, and some existing Kingsgate workers being offered contracts with the new operator. (Dunfermline Press)
🏫 The new Rosyth secondary school will be named Caledonia High School following the official decision. It has been the most popular option in public consultations and the committee was happy to run with the community choice. The name references HMS Caledonia, the Royal Navy site originally opened at Rosyth in 1937 as a training base. (Fife Council)
✈️ Edinburgh Airport passengers are finally able to keep liquids and electronics in bags following a major upgrade to security scanners. Two new security lanes have been added for a total of eight. The familiar 100ml liquid volume limit remains in place. (Edinburgh Airport)
⚓ Construction of new Type 31 frigates at Rosyth is on track with approval of a new building for storing parts of ships ahead of assembly. Three ships are currently being worked on and two more are on order for Royal Navy. (Dunfermline Press)
📦 A parcel locker in Ballingry was blocked by the council as a risk to pedestrian safety, as it would take up nearly a third of existing pavement’s width. The InPost locker was to be located along Craigie St outside the Nisa store. (Central Fife Times)
🌊 Aberdour loony dook is taking place on Saturday 31 May. The £15 entry fee primarily goes towards funding Carnegie Rotary Club’s chosen causes. (Courier)
🏍️ Joint council-police programme to deal with disruptive off-road bikers has been approved for funding. Young dirt bike riders have become a major nuisance on public roads, private agricultural land, and in green areas nationwide in recent years; this is the first serious attempt to address the issue in Fife. At the same time calls are arising to fund construction of a dedicated off-road track. (Dunfermline Press)
🌳 Lochore Meadows should be funded on the council level, not ward level, argue multiple members of the council’s Cowdenbeath Area Committee, comparing the size and importance of the park to similar council-operated country parks in other parts of Scotland. (Central Fife Times)
💝 The council will spend nearly half a million pounds on Saline community centre improvements, including a roofing overhaul and interior lighting and decoration work. (Fife Council)
🚸 £50k originally intended for a new Hill of Beath car park will be reallocated to a range of other improvements on the stretch of B981 through the village instead, after a consultation. Local residents overwhelmingly rejected the original proposal for expanding the primary school car parking facilities. (Fife Council)
Place names of West Fife
🗺️ We’re back, this time in Rosyth and its immediate surroundings.
Rosyth - from Gaelic ros meaning headland, most likely referring to the headland of North Queensferry, and Fiobha, a genitive/possessive form of Fife. Historical village of Rosyth was located where the dockland is located now, with the remaining Rosyth Castle located about a mile east along the coast.
Pattiesmuir - probably Scots petty muir, ‘a lesser/smaller muir’.
Primrose - not actually related to the flowers. Gaelic ros means ‘headland’, but the meaning of the initial part remains a mystery. Old Gaelic prim would mean ‘first/prime’ and would lead to ‘first promontory’, perhaps referring to the slope rising from here towards northwest. However typically ros is linked to presence of water and this is missing in the area. Primrose farm existed on the site of modern day The Byres area.
Backmarch - Scots back march ‘back boundary land’. The farm, remaining to this day as the Backmarch Hotel and the single-story building across the road from it, was in the north-east corner of the historical Barony of Rosyth.
Castland - from Gaelic cas and lann, meaning “steep land”. No connection with a real or hypothetical castle at all.
Selvage - from Gaelic seileach ‘willowy’ or salach ‘dirty’, and innis ‘haugh’. Preserved in Rosyth street names, the name goes back as far as the 1300s.
Transport
🚌 New Stagecoach route 787 between Edinburgh Airport and St Andrews goes live tomorrow. The service will stop at Halbeath P&R, Kinross and a number of north and north-east Fife towns. (Stagecoach)
🚧 Railway level crossing on Kingseat Rd will be closed overnight next weekend for Network Rail maintenance work. The suggested diversion is via Whitefield Rd - past Queen Margaret Hospital. (Dunfermline Press)