Scoonie is a settlement and parish 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 ...

, the parish contains the town of Leven. It is bordered on the north by the parishes of

Kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a device specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle''. There are two main types: the ''stovetop kettle'', which uses heat from a cooktop, hob, and the ...

and Ceres, on the east by the parish of Largo, on the south by the parishes of

Markinch Markinch (, Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Census ...

and Wemyss, and on the west by the parishes of

and

Kennoway Kennoway is a village in Fife, Scotland, near the larger population centres in the area of Leven and Methil. It had an estimated population of in . It is about three miles inland from the Firth of Forth, north of Leven. This position gave it i ...

. It extends about north to south. Its width varies between . The parish is on the coast 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 ...

, with a coastline of about Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, by Francis Groome, 1882-4 The area of the parish is .Gazetteer of Scotland, publ, by W & AK Johnston, Edinburgh, 1937. Article on Scoonie. Places are presented alphabetically The River Leven forms the southern boundary of the parish, flowing into Largo Bay. The surface rises gradually northward to near Kilmux Wood. In 1951 the population of the parish was 9,518 and is now 9,613 (in 2011).Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved March 2016. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish 1930 The population of the parish is mainly in Leven. In 1791 the parish population was 1,675, of which 1,165 were in the village of Leven.(First) Statistical Account of Scotland, by Sir John Sinclair, Vol. 5, publ By William Creech, Edinburgh, 1793; article on Scoonie, p. 106 By 1901 Scoonie had a population of 6,342 of which 5,577 were in Leven. At the most recent census (2011) Scoonie has a population of 9,613, of which 9,004 are in Leven (94%).Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved March 2016. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: SNS Data Zone 2011 The old parish church is now a ruin lying in the centre of the burial ground. It was constructed in the twelfth century and all that remains is a roofless structure which may have been the session house or vestry of the church. The name Scoonie is of

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

and possibly

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 ...

origin meaning place of the lump-like hill. This refers to the site of the old

kirk Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning 'church'. The term ''the Kirk'' is often used informally to refer specifically to the Church of Scotland, the Scottish national church that developed from the 16th-century Reformation ...

which was on a small hill like a mound. Durie House lies in the centre of the parish. This mansion, built in 1762 as the seat of the

Durie family Durie may refer to: * Andre Durie (1981– ), Canadian football player * Andrew Durie, (?? -1588), bishop * Arohia Durie, professor of Māori education * Clan Durie, a Scots clan * Dave Durie (1931–2016), English football player * David Duri ...

, is now a listed building. On the northern borders of the parish are the historic estate of Montrave and the ruined castle of Aithernie, by the banks of Scoonie burn.Rambles in Parishes of Scoonie and Wemyss, by A.S. Cunningham, publ.1905, pp.116-121

Local Government

A Parochial Board was established for Scoonie under the Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845. The town of Leven became a

Police burgh A police burgh was a Scottish burgh which had adopted a "police system" for governing the town. They existed from 1833 to 1975. The 1833 act The first police burghs were created under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 46 ...

when in 1867 the inhabitants adopted the General and Police Improvement (Scotland) Act, 1862, Andrew Wilkie being elected as the first Chief Magistrate from April 1869. The "landward" part of the parish, namely the area outside of the burgh of Leven, achieved local self government under the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894 ( 57 & 58 Vict. c. 58) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It created a Local Government Board for Scotland and replaced existing parochial boards with parish councils. Part I of the a ...

when Scoonie Parish Council was established, with John Wilkie elected as first Chairman on 20 May 1895.Rambles in Parishes of Scoonie and Wemyss, by A.S. Cunningham, publ.1905, pp.40 and 82 The Parish Council was dissolved when

Civil parishes in Scotland Civil parishes are small divisions used for statistical purposes and formerly for local government in Scotland. Civil parishes gained legal functions in 1845 when parochial boards were established to administer the poor law. Their local governmen ...

ceased to be units of local government after 1930, its functions being transferred to Fife County Council. The civil parish continues as a non-administrative unit for census and other purposes. The ecclesiastic parish is now named LevenPresbytery of Kirkcaldy http://www.presbyteryofkirkcaldy.org.uk/ extract 21 April 2014 However for the population within the burgh of Leven, their affairs were still governed locally after 1930 by the burgh council, which now had the competencies of a

Small burgh A small burgh was a unit of local government in Scotland created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 in 1930. The Act reclassified existing burghs into two classes, large and small burghs. While large burghs became largely independent of t ...

. But, by the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government of Scotland, local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The act followed and largely impleme ...

, the burgh of Leven was abolished in 1975 and, along with the rest of the parish, was subsumed in Kirkcaldy District of Fife Region.

Notable People

* Alexander Moncrieff

References

;Citations ;Sources: * * * {{Authority control Populated places in Fife Parishes in Fife