This site is dedicated to the memory of
Bob Patrick who tragically died in a traffic accident on Friday
the 8th January 1999... As well as being a leading light in the
Blairingone and Saline action group, Bob Patrick was also a local
community councillor...A lifelong Scottish Nationalist and
founder member of Kinross SNP, he was a councillor on the old
Kinross Town Council and stood for Parliament in the 1970 General
Election... Born and raised in Cowdenbeath he was a teacher for
over 30 years...He and his wife Evelyn, who died some years ago,
moved to Blairingone from Kinross in 1972...He was a popular and
much loved character and will be greatly missed by all who knew
him. R.I.P.BOB
Arndean Estate.
Blairingone
.....Blairingone
is situated about ten miles southwest of Kinross on the A977 in
fact it it the last village in the county of Perth and Kinross.
"Blairingone" in Gaelic is ; Blàr-na-gobhainn, and the
literal translation is " Smithfield" or Field of the
Smith. The word "Gobhainn" is derived from Macgowan
which is another name for "Blacksmith". Other local
derivations of the Gaelic name are ; "Field of Arrows or
Field of Spears". All of these are based on the fact that in
the middle ages and onwards the smiddy in Blairingone was a base
for the serious manufacture of weapons of war. The twin forges
being maintained by the easily obtained surface coal even then.
The field behind the smiddy which was incidentally the site for
the recent Lambhill open-cast mine, was the probable source of
the coal which fed the forges that sustained this weapons
industry.
.....This small settlement and area was
historically a base for the winning of many valuable minerals.
Materials like Limestone, Alum, Iron-ore, Whinstone & Sulphur
as well as coal were mined here on a regular basis. History
records that the Fossoway area and over into Fife contained the
most ancient coal mining operations in Scotland. During the 1700s
a waggonway complex included a track from Blairingone for
carrying coal which also connected the North Fife coal fields and
the limeburners at Limekilns on the Forth Estuary. 
.....The monks from Culross Abbey obtained their coal from this
area many years before this, and visiting nuns were accommodated
at the still occupied "Ladieshall" on the Vicars Bridge
road out of the village. Livestock drovers from the North and
South passed through Blairingone on their way to the upper Forth
ferry and were often known to take refreshment at one of the
three Inns in the village, only one of which is left. Was called
the 'Devonvale Inn'. But the "Mart Inn" on the Main St.
(A977) is currently closed and up for sale.
.....The villagers of Blairingone and the near by village of
Saline in the County of Fife, are involved in a campaign, at the
moment, to prevent human waste being injected into the farm land
locally in the name of "agricultural improvement".
Thanks
to Paul Herd of Blairingone for text and pictures and thanks to
Dave McLeod of Comox British Columbia for Blairingone in the
'60s. .
Photo of Gt Grandad John Young,
Blacksmith of Blairingone, farmer at Downiesdrum. Married
to Jane Gow, descendant of Niel, from Dunning, Perthshire, died
at Blashieburn.
Supplied by Christine J M Muir
Garso North Ronaldsay Orkney.
...............
Click for MAP
OF SCOTLAND
Any comments or suggestions about this site, please email me
at
djm_pow@btopenworld.com
"Return to
Home Page".
(Blairingone & Saline
Action Group submission to the Scottish Environmental Protection
Agency).
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Click
for Tullibody web site - just west of Blairingone in
Clackmannanshire.