Valleyfield consists of High Valleyfield and Low Valleyfield which are neighbouring villages in

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland, midway between

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

and

Kincardine-on-Forth Kincardine ( ; ) or Kincardine-on-Forth is a town on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, in Fife, Scotland. The town was given the status of a burgh of barony in 1663. It was at one time a reasonably prosperous minor port. The townscape r ...

. Low Valleyfield is on the shore of the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is a firth in Scotland, an inlet of the North Sea that separates Fife to its north and Lothian to its south. Further inland, it becomes the estuary of the River Forth and several other rivers. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate ...

, High Valleyfield on the ridge immediately to the north. The population of High Valleyfield was 2,940 in the 2001 Census; separate figures for the smaller settlement of Low Valleyfield were not published. In 1801, merchant and politician Sir Robert 'Floating Bob' Preston, 6th Baronet, commissioned the English landscape architect, Sir

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intric ...

, to design a parkland setting for his classical mansion, Valleyfield House. Botanist David Douglas worked there as an apprentice gardener for a time. The Baronetcy of Valleyfield became dormant in 1873, following the death of the 9th Baron. By 1918, the estate had been abandoned by its owners, the East of Fife Coal Company, who had opened the Valleyfield Colliery in 1912. Valleyfield House was demolished in 1941. Preston Island by Low Valleyfield, now a peninsula as the result of the landfill of ash from nearby Longannet power station, was the site of coal mining and major salt works from the 17th century onwards. High Valleyfield was a mining village linked to the nearby Valleyfield Colliery which opened in 1908 and closed in 1978. The workings at Valleyfield connected to those at

Longannet coal mine Longannet coal mine was a deep mine complex in Fife, Scotland. History Longannet was the remnant of three mines, established in the 1960s. Built on the north side of the Firth of Forth, east of Kincardine, it connected with the Bogside, Castlehil ...

to the west, and under the

to those at

Bo'ness Borrowstounness, commonly known as Bo'ness ( ), is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically part of the county of West Lothian (historic), ...

on the south bank opposite. On 28 October 1939, an explosion at the mine killed 35 men.

Notable people from Valleyfield

* Hugh Kelly - played over 400 league games for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

between 1946 and 1960, including two

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

s. *

Bert Paton Bert Paton (born 29 April 1942) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He is best remembered for a long association with Dunfermline Athletic. An inside forward, Paton began his senior playing career with Leeds United, returning to S ...

- footballer * David Sinclair - footballer, played for

Raith Rovers FC Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...

and

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

George Connelly George Connelly (born 1 March 1949) is a Scottish former international footballer who played professionally with Celtic and Falkirk. Connelly is from Valleyfield in Fife. Career Born in Fife, Connelly was a technically accomplished footballer, ...

(born March 1st, 1949) Footballer, position- Midfielder Celtic FC - 1968 - 1976 Falkirk FC 1976/77

Footnotes

Said to be the inspiration for the Skids " Into the Valley " punk song

External links

Valleyfield, Fife Place-name Data
{{authority control Villages in Fife Mining communities in Fife 1939 disasters in the United Kingdom