Blairhall

From Wikishire
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Blairhall
Fife, Perthshire

Blairhall village
Location
Location: 56°5’18"N, 3°36’8"W
Data
Post town: Dunfermline
Postcode: KY12
Dialling code: 01383
Local Government
Council: Fife

Blairhall is a village in the parish of Culross in that part of Perthshire detached in Fife. It is situated a mile west of Comrie, and seven miles west of Dunfermline in Fife proper.[1] The village was originally a small hamlet but was expanded in 1911 to house the miners from a nearby colliery. Today Blairhall has a primary school and a community leisure centre. The village has a population of around 1,000 people.[2]

Nearly a mile to the south, beyond Shiresmill, and to the west of the Bluther Burn, stands the 17th-century laird's house of Blairhall, which was the birthplace (c.1630) of Sir William Bruce, later baronet of Balcaskie and then Kinross, and Surveyor-General to King Charles II.[3]

In 2008, a further expansion of the village took place to the northwest, in an area called the Coo Park which was formerly the grounds of Comrie Castle. The park was landscaped with several parkland trees and a rigg-and-furrow system of cultivation from earlier times was evident. The house was owned by a James Anderson of Blairgowrie in the 1850s, but was demolished in the early 1960s. In the grounds there remain parkland trees, an overgrown ha-ha and the site of a curling pond.[4]

Education

Blairhall has a small primary school with approximately 100 pupils altogether. It was opened in 1924 as a secondary school but became a primary school in 1945 due to a lack of suitable students.[2] Pupils from Blairhall primary continue onto Queen Anne High School in Dunfermline.[5]

Notable people

  • Sir William Bruce, gentleman-architect
  • George O'Brien former professional footballer
  • George Niven, former professional footballer with Rangers F.C.
  • James Syme, former ice hockey player
  • Thomas Syme, former ice hockey player
  • Kenny Ward (born 1963), former professional footballer[6]
  • Charlie Fleming former professional footballer for Sunderland A.F.C.[7]

References

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Blairhall)

 This Fife article is a stub: help to improve Wikishire by building it up.