Kirkcaldy

Coordinates: 56°06′39″N 3°10′03″W / 56.11073°N 3.16737°W / 56.11073; -3.16737

Kirkcaldy (ⁱ/kərˈkɔːdi/; Scottish Gaelic: Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about 11.6 miles (19 km) north of Edinburgh and 27.6 miles (44 km) south-southwest of Dundee. The town has a population of 49,460, making it Fife's second-largest locality and the eleventh-largest locality in Scotland.

Kirkcaldy has long been nicknamed the Lang Toun ( listen ; Scots for "long town") in reference to the early town's 0.9-mile (1.4 km) main street, as indicated on maps of the 16th and 17th centuries. The street later reached a length of nearly 4 miles (6.4 km), connecting the burgh to the neighbouring settlements of Linktown, Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown, which became part of the town in 1876. The formerly separate burgh of Dysart was merged into Kirkcaldy in 1930.

The area around Kirkcaldy has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. The first document to refer to the town was in 1075, when Malcolm III granted the settlement to the church of Dunfermline. David I later gave the burgh to Dunfermline Abbey, which had succeeded the church: a status which was officially recognised by Robert I in 1327. The town only gained its independence from Abbey rule when it was created a royal burgh by Charles I in 1644.

Kirkcaldy (Parliament of Scotland constituency)

Kirkcaldy in Fife was a royal burgh that returned one commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland and to the Convention of Estates.

After the Acts of Union 1707, Kirkcaldy, Burntisland, Dysart and Kinghorn formed the Dysart district of burghs, returning one member between them to the House of Commons of Great Britain.

See also

Kirkcaldy (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Kirkcaldy is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, it is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the Mid Scotland and Fife region are Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline, Mid Fife and Glenrothes, North East Fife, Perthshire North, Perthshire South and Kinross-shire and Stirling.

The region covers all of the Clackmannanshire council area, all of the Fife council area, all of the Perth and Kinross council area and all of the Stirling council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

Fife is represented in the Scottish Parliament by five constituencies, Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Mid Fife and Glenrothes and North East Fife.