Kelty (Scottish Gaelic: Cailtidh) is a former coal mining village located 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 Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Lying in the heart of the old mining heartlands of Fife, it is situated on the

/ Kinross-shire boundary and has a population of around 6,000 residents. This was nearer to 9,000 when the coal mining industry was still operational in late 1970s and early 1980s.

Origins

The origin of the name of the village is somewhat obscure. It could come from the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

''coillte'' or ''coilltean'' meaning 'wood' or 'woodland' or it could come from the Gaelic ''cailtidh'', a reduced form of the early Gaelic ''*caleto-dubron'', meaning 'hard water'. In either case, it was probably originally a

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

name that was later adapted to Gaelic. The town began around 1850 as a mining town linked to several coal mines in the area, mainly owned by the Fife Coal Company and continued to expand with the increase of mines until 1930. Kelty is located next to the main

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

road, the

M90 motorway The M90 is a controlled-access highway, motorway in Scotland. It runs from Junction 1A of the M9 motorway (Scotland), M9 motorway, south of the Queensferry Crossing, to Perth, Scotland, Perth. It is the northernmost motorway in the United Kin ...

, and as a result of this has seen many houses built primarily for commuters to Edinburgh over the past five years. Kelty has two primary schools, St. Joseph's and Kelty Primary. After primary school, the majority of pupils go on to Beath High School, a comprehensive school in

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and 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 20 ...

, or the local Roman Catholic school, St Columba's High School in

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 ...

. Kelty also has a modern community centre, and a modern library. The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team is Kelty Hearts. In 2022 they were promoted to League 1 for the first time as League 2 champions.

Church

Kelty was part of the parish of Beath (

) and had a quoad sacra mission church erected in 1894. The mission was upgraded to a chapel in 1897, its minister being Rev George Hunter MA who went to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in 1903. He was replaced by Rev William Henderson Adam who went to Calderbank in 1919 and was replaced by Rev William Thomson. It was given status as a separate parish, disjoined from Cowdenbeath, in 1925.

War memorial

The war memorial was erected in 1921 and was designed by sculptor William Birnie Rhind.

Notable people

* Claire Baker, MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife * Stephen Husband, professional footballer * Willie Penman, professional footballer *

Willie Rennie William Cowan Rennie (born 27 September 1967) is a Scottish politician who served as the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2011 to 2021. He has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North East Fife since 2016, ...

, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (2011–2021) * Alex Rowley, Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party (2015–2017) * Robert Stewart, Draughts World Champion (1922–1933)

Sport

Kelty Hearts won Scottish League Two in 2022, having been promoted from the Lowland League in 2021.

Blairadam House

Blairadam House, just north of Kelty but on the west side of the M90, was the long-term home of the Adam family: William Adam,

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

, John Adam, William Adam of Blair Adam, Charles Adam etc.

References

External links

*
Kelty on Fife Council website

{{Authority control Towns in Fife Mining communities in Fife