Kilconquhar ( or ; sco, also Kinneuchar, from the gd, Cill Dhúnchadha or gd, Cill Chonchaidh, Church of (St) Duncan or Conchad) is a village and

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. It includes the small hamlet of Barnyards. It is bounded by the parishes of Elie, Ceres,

Cameron Cameron may refer to: People * Clan Cameron, a Scottish clan * Cameron (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Cameron (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) ;Mononym * Cam'ron (born 197 ...

St Monans ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy a ...

, Carnbee,

Newburn Newburn is a semi rural parish, former electoral ward and former urban district in western Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. Situated on the North bank of the River Tyne, it is built rising up the valley from the river. It is situated ...

and Largo.Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, by Francis Groome, 2nd edition 1896; article on Kilconquhar It is approximately 9 miles from north to south. Much of the land is

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

or wooded. The village itself is situated inland, north of Kilconquhar Loch. Also in the civil parish are Colinsburgh and Largoward, the latter since 1860 being a separate ecclesiastical parish. The coastal village and royal burgh of Earlsferry was formerly in the parish, but in 1891 the burgh and that part of the parish south of the (now disused) Fife Coast Railway line and Cocklemill Burn was transferred to the parish of Elie.Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, by Francis Groome, 2nd edition 1896; article on Earlsferry

History

Kilconquhar Castle was formerly owned by the Adams of Kilconquhar. Adam of Kilconquhar married

Marjorie, Countess of Carrick :''See also Marjorie Bruce, her granddaughter.'' Marjorie of Carrick (also called Margaret; died before 9 November 1292) was Countess of Carrick, Scotland, from 1256 to 1292, and is notable as the mother of Robert the Bruce. Family Marjorie ...

to become the

Earl of Carrick Earl of Carrick (or Mormaer of Carrick) is the title applied to the ruler of Carrick (now South Ayrshire), subsequently part of the Peerage of Scotland. The position came to be strongly associated with the Scottish crown when Robert the Bruce, ...

. Adam went to the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

with Prince Edward of England and died in

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

. His widow subsequently married

Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale Robert de Brus (11 July 1243 – 15 March 1304Richardson, Douglas, Everingham, Kimball G. "Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families", Genealogical Publishing Com, 2005: p732-3, ,link/ref>), 6th Lord of Annandale, ''jure ...

, who thus became Earl of Carrick and Lord of Kilconquhar. Their son was

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventuall ...

.Kilconquhar: A Hidden Gem by Jean Lindesay-Bethune 2011 There was another castle in the parish called Rires or Reres, belonging to the Forbes family. Margaret Beaton, Lady Reres, was a companion of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

, and her husband Arthur Forbes was involved in the assassination of John Wood. The ruins of the castle were demolished and cleared away in the 19th century. In the 18th century the village was noted as a weaving centre. This industry employed 235 persons in 1856 but faded in the late 19th century. The population was at a high in 1836 of 558 but dropped to 350 in 1881. By 2011 it had fallen to just over 200.

Parish Church

''Kil'' in the name implies an early Christian origin for the church, but no early remains or carved stones of the period have been identified. The situation of the medieval parish church, on a mound near a loch, is a typical one for early sites. Kilconquhar Parish Church is within the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

. The historic

church building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thr ...

is still in regular use; it is an exact, but larger scale, copy, of Cockpen and Carrington Parish Church in

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east- central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinbur ...

has an unusually tall tower for such a small parish. Mention of Saint Conquhar, a Scottish Saint, is found only in the 15th-century

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

Psalter. His saint's day is noted as May 3. The new church was planned in 1818 and designed by

R & R Dickson Richard and Robert Dickson (usually simply referred to as R & R Dickson) were brothers, acting as architects in Scotland in the early and mid-19th century. Whilst most of their work is typified by remote country houses they are best known for th ...

in 1819, based on Cockpen Church which they had overseen the construction of, following the death of its designer, their employer

Richard Crichton Richard Crichton (died 1817) was a Scottish architect operating in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was described as "competent and versatile". Life He was born around 1771, the son of James Crichton (d.1797) an Edinburgh mason. ...

. The church opened in 1821. It contains several fine

stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

s including "The Acts of Charity" by Ward and Hughes installed in 1867 and four biblical warriors installed in the 1920s by Mrs Andrew Grant in memory of her four nephews lost in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The church bell was donated by Robert, son of the Countess Dowager of Crawford, in the mid 19th century, but is an 18th-century bell, formerly in Greenwich Hospital. The remains of Old Kilconquhar Church lie in the churchyard. This was originally called

Culdee The Culdees ( ga, Céilí Dé, "Spouses of God") were members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in the Middle Ages. Appearing first in Ireland and subsequently in Scotland, atta ...

Church and is first mentioned in 1177. In 1200 Duncan, Earl of Fife bestowed revenues from this church to the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Sain ...

nunnery in

North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable ...

. The church was consecrated in 1243 by Bishop de Bernham. In 1499 Patrick Dunbar, Laird of Kilconquhar, set up an altar to "Our Lady of Pitie (Pity)".

Other notable buildings

The local pub is the Kinneuchar Inn. It dates from the 18th century. Lochside Farm, Allan Cottage and Woodlands all date from the mid 18th century.

Notable residents

* James Drummond was minister for 1681 to 1699. *Rev William Milligan was minister of the parish from 1850 to 1860 and his son George Milligan was born here in 1860. *Rear Admiral William Duddingston was born at St Ford on the southern edge of the parish.

Kilconquhar gallery

File:Kilconquhar, Fife - geograph.org.uk - 321789.jpg, Kilconquhar village, church and war memorial File:Medieval Arcade at Kilconquhar Church - geograph.org.uk - 296710.jpg, Kilconquhar old church ruins File:Kilconquhar Kirk 452587.jpg, Kilconquhar Parish Church File:Kilconquhar Church - geograph.org.uk - 324657.jpg, Kilconquhar old church ruin, and new church File:Kilconquhar Church East Window - geograph.org.uk - 324666.jpg, Kilconquhar Church east window File:Kilconquhar Inn - geograph.org.uk - 54082.jpg, Kilconquhar Inn File:Kilconquhar Loch and Church - geograph.org.uk - 163931.jpg, Kilconquhar Loch and Church File:Kilconquhar Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1142912.jpg, Kilconquhar Castle

References

{{authority control Villages in Fife Parishes in Fife