Tribute to Anti-Burghers

Dear blog reader

Cairneyhill is of note as it contains Scotland’s first anti-burgher Church so I thought this tribute to anti-burghers might be of interest.

Jacqueline

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SOUTHERN REPORTER THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 1905

THE ANTI-BURGHERS – A TRIBUTE BY MR THOMAS SHAW, MP

Mr Thomas Shaw, who is no less a Churchman than a statesman, paid a very high tribute to the Anti-Burghers – that stern old sect from whom so much that is admirable in our Presbyterianism of today, has descended – in opening a sale of work in aid of Cairneyhill UF Church at Dunfermline on Friday.

Mr Shaw said he was brought up in Chalmers Street Church, which was Anti-Burgher, and was derived from those sturdy, noble men and women who, for a period of nearly a generation, tramped in support of Anti-Burgher principles from Dunfermline to Cairneyhill, which was the nearest undiluted source of the true and pure gospel in the district, and then, getting numerous, and he supposed getting tired and getting wealthy, they founded the old Chalmers Street Church, in which he had a vivid recollection of being severely chastised for privately playing marbles behind the cushion of the seat (Laughter).

Hard things had been said about the severe and stern people called the Anti-Burghers, but in the history of our country what did they stand for? In the first place, they stood for conscience at a time when it was not very easy to stand for conscience, and in the next place they stood for religious and civil freedom. Some people said they were divided. Yes, they were divided, because they dared to do their thinking for themselves, and not think as every other body thought. That was a characteristic which involved, no doubt, certain troublesome angularities in life, but which, after all, formed the fibre of what was best in Scottish nature and history. All honour, therefore, to those men who, under trying and sometimes sordid circumstances, stood for conscience and freedom in civil and religious affairs. It was in such soil that in later years the tide of civil freedom swept with a free course.

Bus Blaze

FIFE FREE PRESS & KIRKCALDY GUARDIAN

SATURDAY 8 MARCH 1930

DUNFERMLINE BUS BLAZE. PETROL TANK EXPLODES.

A member of Dunfermline Fire Brigade had a narrow escape from injuries on Sunday when the brigade was called to a fire which broke out in a motor bus near Dunfermline.

The bus, a 28-seater, belonging to Mr Dougald Mackay Miller, Cairneyhill, near Dunfermline, was being towed on the Cairneyhill-Torryburn Road in an effort to get it to start when it backfired and then burst into flames at Sunnyside Road.

The services of the fire brigade were at once requisitioned, and on their arrival, under Firemaster Tervit, the bus was blazing from end to end.

The firemen were handicapped by lack of water, and to obtain a supply had to take the engine about 200 yards down the Crombie Road to a small burn. They ran out a line of hose, which had to be carried through a wood, across the railway, and over a ploughed field.

When the firemen were striving to extinguish the fire the petrol tank exploded, and Fireman Hay narrowly escaped being caught by the flames.

The intensity of the blaze practically closed the road to traffic for a time.

Despite the efforts of the brigade, the bus, which had only been on the road for about six weeks, was destroyed, the damage being estimated at about £800.

Plane crash at Cairneyhill

DUNDEE COURIER SATURDAY 4 MAY 1946

HUNDREDS SEE PILOT LEAP FROM PLANE

Hundreds of people in Dunfermline area yesterday saw a naval pilot make a parachute escape from his plane before it dived earthwards and burst into flames in a field.

Before the pilot landed, farm hands were running to his help. He was taken to Dunfermline and West Fife Hospital suffering from leg and face injuries.

The plane, a Seafire from the Royal Naval Air Station at Donibristle, was piloted by Lieut. J D Sawyer. Some of the crash was near Pitconnachie Farm, between Crossford and Cairneyhill, a few miles to the west of Dunfermline.

An eye-witness said ‘The plane was travelling westwards at about 3000 feet. The engine started to make a terrific noise, then stopped, and just when I thought the plane was all right again I saw something drop. A yellow parachute opened and I could see the pilot hanging below.’

While the plane engine buried itself nine feet in one field the pilot floated to earth in another a hundred yards away.

Lieut. Sawyer received first-aid on the spot from Miss Weir, sister of Mrs McVicar, The Manse, Cairneyhill, who is a nurse. She was assisted by members of the NFS under company officer Pervil. Using a short ladder as a stretcher, the firemen, assisted by the police and farm hands, carried the injured man about half a mile to the nearest roadway. There an army truck was waiting to take him to hospital.

Last night the wreckage of the plane, strewn over a wide area, was still smouldering.

Lorry reverses into car

DUNDEE EVENING TELEGRAPH, THURSDAY 30 NOVEMBER 1950

REVERSING LORRY COLLIDED WITH CAR

An accident in Main Street, Cairneyhill on October 1 near its junction with the road leading to Mire End Farm resulted in a motor lorry driver being fined £3 at Dunfermline Sheriff Court today.

Edward Brodie Blair, Main Street, Cairneyhill, admitted reversing a motor lorry without due care and attention and colliding with a motor car.

The injured were Thomas S Blair, Anita C S Blair, Ronald H M S Blair, Elizabeth R M Blair, all of 82 Myrtle Crescent, Kirkcaldy; Helen Ramsay or Thomson, 63 Westwood Avenue, Kirkcaldy; and Francis T Wilson, 13 Cairns Street, Kirkcaldy.

The car was damaged.

Fire at Cook’s Buildings

DUNDEE COURIER SATURDAY 15TH DECEMBER 1928

DUNFERMLINE MAN’S PREDICAMENT

BEDCLOTHES ON FIRE

An alarming outbreak of fire took place last night at Dunfermline, a man being badly burned through his bed becoming alight.

The scene of the fire was Cook’s Buildings, Cairneyhill, and the man concerned was James Marshall, a painter, who resided in one of the top flats of the building.

Marshall, who is between 45 and 50 years of age, had been confined to bed for two years. The family were in the kitchen, and on opening the door of the room where Marshall lay discovered that the bed was alight.

Constable Norman Fraser, Cairneyhill, with the assistance of a neighbour, Mrs Davidson, and her daughter, promptly removed Marshall from bed and extinguished his burning clothing. They threw the burning bedclothes outside.

Apart from the bed, little damage was done by the outbreak.

Dispute in court over boundary stone

DUNDEE COURIER FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 1912

WEST FIFE VILLAGER’S DISPUTE

An extensive litigation, involving an apparently small issue, has been raised in the Dunfermline Sheriff Court at the instance of Wm. Fotheringham, retired market gardener, Cairneyhill, against John Drummond, some time contractor, 7 South Inglis Street, Dunfermline, and now residing at Cairneyhill.

The pursuer craved the Court to ordain the defender to restore a march stone [boundary stone] lying between the properties of the parties which the alleged defender had illegally removed. It was averred by the defender that the stone was entirely within his own ground, and that in removing it he acted within his rights.

Sheriff Umpherston was yesterday occupied the whole day hearing evidence. Placed on the solicitors’ table was the stone over which all the both was about. The point of dispute was in regard to the position which the stone occupied before being removed by the defender.

His Lordship made avizandum [that is, a judge’s decision to consider case privately before giving judgment].

Minister Released For Missionary Work

DUNDEE EVENING TELEGRAPH, TUESDAY 14 MAY 1946

FIFE MINISTER FOR MISSION FIELD

Presbytery of Dunfermline and Kinross at a special meeting today agreed to the release of Rev Roy [Robert] MacVicar from his charge at Cairneyhill, for work at Livingstonia Mission, Central Africa. Mr MacVicar will be accompanied by his wife and baby daughter. His wife was formerly a nurse in King’s Cross Hospital, Dundee.

An honours graduate of St Andrews University, Mr MacVicar had been temporarily minister at Kelty Oakfield and assistant at St Mary’s, Dundee. He has been two and a half years at Cairneyhill.

Memory Lapse Causes Breach Of Peace

DUNDEE EVENING TELEGRAPH, FRIDAY 15 JULY 1927

FIFE MAN BLAMES ‘LAPSE OF MEMORY’

DUNFERMLINE PRISON SENTENCE FOR ‘BREACH’

A Cairneyhill labourer, Peter McArthur, in custody, was sent to prison for ten days by Sheriff Umpherston at Dunfermline today for breach of the peace.

He pleaded guilty to having committed a breach of the peace on 8th July at the house at Hilton Road, Cairneyhill, occupied by Anne Graham, widow.

He stated that it was a recurrence of his war disability that was the cause of the trouble. He was troubled with lapse of memory at times. If he was causing a breach of the peace it was not wilfully done.

Cairneyhill Valuation Roll 1875

Dear blog reader

Welcome to the third part in a series, a list of the people, with occupation where known, who were connected with Cairneyhill in 1875.

In 1875, there were 75 people listed with 22 occupations comprising 14 weavers, 2 Church ministers, 2 wrights, 3 farmers and one joiner.

This compares with 65 people listed in 1865 with 27 occupations comprising 22 weavers, one blacksmith, one joiner, 2 wrights and one Church minister and with 66 people listed in 1855 with 4 occupations comprising 3 weavers and one blacksmith.

Hopefully those of you with ancestors from Cairneyhill will find this list useful.

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Mrs Henry Arnott
James Bauld [Bald], weaver
Thomas Blair, weaver
Reverend David Borland, minister
George Bowie
William Bruce
Peter Bruce, weaver
Mrs Calderhead
John Calderhead
James Calderhead
George Chalmers
Henry Cook, wright
Mrs Janet Crombie
Alexander Cunningham, farmer
John Day
Henry Deas, weaver
William Dick
Mrs John Downie, weaver
William Drysdale
Reverend Peter C Duncanson, minister
Mrs Agnes Duncanson
James Duncanson
Miss Catherine Duncanson
John Duncanson, weaver
Miss Jean Duncanson
Alexander Erskine
John Erskine, farmer
George Erskine
Robert Erskine, wright
William Erskine, farmer
Henry Fotheringham
Mrs Chn Fotheringham or Walker
John Gardiner
John Gilmour, weaver
John Hardie
Daniel Hempseed
Isabella Hodge, weaver
Mrs Thomas Hodge
Angus Hodge
Joseph Howieson
John Howieson
Robert Kirke Esquire
Alexander Lindsay
David Masterton
James Mitchell
Peter Mitchell
James Morris
William Morris
William Paterson
George Paterson, weaver
Miss Jean Philp
John Philp
Robert Philp
Mrs Henry Reid, weaver
Henry Reid, weaver
John Reid, weaver
Mary Rennie
John Robertson, weaver
Charles Robertson, joiner
James Smitton [Smeaton?]
Thomas Templeman
Robert Templeman
Robert Thomson
James Thomson
John Thomson
Miss Isabella Thomson
George Tod
Mrs Ann Todd
David Watt
Margaret Wightman
William Wilson, weaver
John Wilson
David Wilson
George Young
Alexander Young






























Man Assaults Brother-in-Law

DUNDEE EVENING TELEGRAPH THURSDAY 25 APRIL 1940

MAN ASSAULTS BROTHER-IN-LAW

A fine of 30s was imposed on Norman McDonald, nurseryman, Pentland View, Cairneyhill, at Dunfermline Sheriff Court today when he was charged with assaulting his brother-in-law.

He pleaded not guilty that on April 13, within the grounds of Cairneyhill Nurseries, occupied by James McDonald, he assaulted Richard William Bate, munition worker, Nashdome, Main Street, Cairneyhill, kicked him on the ankle, knocked his head against a wall, threw him over his shoulder, and carried him forcibly and against his will into the house occupied by James McDonald.

After hearing evidence Sheriff Umpherston found the charge proved.