KIRKCALDY is a town in Fifeshire, about twelve miles from Edinburgh, lying along the margin of a bay, on the north side of the Frith of Forth. It consists chiefly of a very long and spacious street, well paved and lighted, in which there are many elegant houses and shops; also a few smaller streets and lanes, chiefly opening into the main street. To the west of the royalty, but within its boundary as fixed by the act 2 and 3 William IV. cap 65, are the populous villages of Linktown, in the parish of Abbotshill, and the village of West Bridge, in the parish of Kinghorn. In the year 1334, Kirkcaldy was mortified by David II. to the abbey of Dunfermline; and it was possessed by the abbey till the year 1450, when the commendator and monastery sold it, along with its harbour, to the bailies and inhabitants. On 5th February 1644 it acquired a charter of erection and novodamus as a royal burgh from King Charles II. By this charter he conveyed to the bailies, councillors, and community, the burgh, the harbour, and lands, the extent of which has been estimated at 487 acres. The amount of the revenue for the year ending 10th October 1835 was L.2320. Is. 2d.; the ordinary expenditure, L.1263. 13s. 6-j¾d.; casual expenditure, L.24. 5s. The debts for the burgh then amounted to L.7040. Is. 6ģd., and the effects were valued at L.1854. 18s. 3∣d. The government of the burgh is vested in a provost, two bailies, a dean of guild, and sixteen councillors, who are chosen under the act 3 and 4 William IV. cap. 76. There are also seven incorporated trades. The harbour, which is pretty safe, is situated near the east end of the town. In 1796 a basin or inner harbour was added to it; and of late years it has been very much deepened, and otherwise improved. The depth of the water at its entrance at spring tides is fifteen feet. Its basin is capable of containing fifteen sail of vessels of 350 tons and under.' Its outer harbour, when the deepening operations at present (1836) in progress in it are completed, will contain considerably more. Though the harbour is the property of the town, yet, in terms of a statute passed in 1827, it is under the management of parliamentary commissioners, consisting of the provost, two bailies, dean of guild, and treasurer of the burgh, and the convener of the seven incorporated trades, three commissioners chosen by the prime guild or society of sailors, three by the merchants, and two by the county of Fife. By a decree-arbitral dated 5th March 1684, in a submission between the burghs of Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn, and Burntisland, the number of Kirkcaldy boats for transporting passengers and goods to and from Leith was limited to four. This decree was, on 20th December 1817, declared by the supreme court to be still in force; and the decision of the court further provided, that the four boats to be entitled to ply on the passage should be licensed by the magistrates and town council of Kirkcaldy. This decree-arbitral and decision of the court has had the effect of establishing a right of ferry in the town council of Kirkcaldy, which is now become one of the principal sources of the town’s revenue. The ferry is at present navigated by two steamers belonging to the Kinghorn ferry-trustees, who hold licenses from the town council for that purpose. They make from two to three trips from the ferry stations, on each side of the firth, daily. About the commencement of the reign of Charles I. Kirkcaldy is said to have possessed 100 sail of vessels. Between the years 1644 and 1650, and shortly after, in the subsequent struggle with England, in less than ten years, ninety-six of its ships were said to have been taken at sea. In 1652, it appears, from Tucker’s report, to have had twelve vessels, the burden of the whole of which was 582 tons. In the reports of the state of the royal burghs of Scotland made to the commissioners appointed by the general convention holden at Edinburgh, 9th July 1691, it appears that in 1692 the burden of the vessels then belonging to the port of Kirkcaldy was 1215 tons, and their estimated value was 45,200 merks. All these were then reported to be employed in carrying coals to Holland and London, except one or two, which might have freights from foreigners to the Sound or to Norway. There were also four ferry boats, of the value of 500 merks, each of which are stated to have been very unprofitable, since Kinghorn had built so many small boats, yawls, and great boats. In 1760 the trade of the port was so much depressed, that it then employed no more than one coaster of fifty, and two ferry boats each of thirty tons. The number of vessels in 1792 was twenty-six, the burden of which was 3700 tons register, and their value about L.30,000. The shipping belonging to the town in 1836 consists of seven vessels engaged in the whale fishery, eighteen in the foreign and general trade of the country, two smacks engaged in the London trade, two vessels in the trade to Newcastle, two in the Glasgow trade by the great canal, one in the Dun-, dee trade, and two in the trade of Leith, besides two open boats. The burden of the whole amounts to about 6 i 709 tons. There is at present a custom-house in Kirkcaldy, which includes under its superintendence all the ports from Aberdour on the west, to St Andrews on the east. On the 1st of January 1831 the burden of the whole of the vessels belonging to these ports amounted to 14,596 tons, and were navigated by 1289 seamen. There is a corn stock and sample market at Kirkcaldy, which is the most extensive in the county. It is held every Saturday, except on the third Saturday of February and July, and first Saturday of October, when it is held on the Friday preceding these days along with the horse and cattle market, which are fixed at these times. The trade of Kirkcaldy consists chiefly of flax-spinning, and weaving coarse linen goods, such as ticks, dowlas, checks, and sail-cloth, for home and foreign consumption. The value of the goods manufactured in 1815, when the trade was depressed, was estimated at L.125,981. It is now considerably increased. There are at present ten spinning-mills within the new limits of the burgh, turning upwards of 4895 spindles. There are also a rope-work, four bleachfields connected with the town for bleaching yarn, two tan-works, four saltpans which used to make annually 15,000 bushels of salt before the salt-duties were repealed, a whisky distillery, two breweries for ale and porter, two iron founderies, and a colliery adjacent to the burgh, at which are raised annually 15,000 tons of coal. The banking business of the town is managed by branches of the Bank of Scotland, Glasgow Bank, Commercial Bank of Scotland, and National Bank of Scotland. There is a Chamber of Commerce, or association among the merchants, which was founded in 1825, for protecting the manufacturing interest, and for matters of general concern. There are a subscription library and a mechanics’ library. The former, instituted about twenty-five years ago, now contains about 4000 volumes. There are also two news-rooms, maintained by public subscription.· The public schools are maintained by the magistrates and council, and consist[7:12:734] of a teacher of Latin and Greek, and a teacher of English and writing. The late Mr Philip, merchant in Kirkcaldy, who died in 1829, left from L.70,000 to L.80,000 for the purpose of educating and clothing a hundred orphan or destitute children in Kirkcaldy, a hundred and fifty in Pathhead, a hundred in Abbotshall, and fifty in Kinghorn. There is also another charity, arising from a fund left by the late John Thomson, post-master, partly for education, and partly for people in reduced circumstances. Besides the established church, there are two meeting-houses of the United Associate Synod, one of the Original Seceders, one of the Original Burgher Synod, one of the Independents, one of the Baptists, and one of the Episcopalians. The inhabitants of Kirkcaldy took a lively interest in all the civil and religious struggles under the house of Stuart. In 1622, when the general assembly of the protestant churches of France deputed Boesnage to solicit aid in this country, to enable them to resist the oppression of Louis XII. the town and parish contributed, by the king’s permission, a pecuniary aid of 1030 merks, for which Boesnage’s receipt is engrossed in the parish records. In 1645 Kirkcaldy sent so many men to contend with Montrose at Kilsyth, that his victory over them is said to have made 200 widows in the town alone. About the time of the revolution in 1688, the inhabitants contrived to apprehend the Earl of Perth, who was the lord chancellor under King James. They detained him five days under a guard of 300 men, and afterwards sent him, under a convoy of three boats and 200 men, to Alloa, where they delivered him over to the Earl of Mar. The most eminent native of Kirkcaldy was Dr Adam Smith, the author of the Wealth of Nations. The house in which he was born was taken down and rebuilt in 1835. Kirkcaldy unites with Dysart, Burntisland, and Kinghorn, in sending a member to parliament. In 1833 the constituency of these four burghs consisted of 502 voters, whereof there were enrolled in Kirkcaldy 314, in Dysart 105, in Burntisland 46, and in Kinghorn 37. Population in 1831, 5034.