According to A.S. Cunningham's 1907 book 'Upper Largo, Lower Largo, Lundin Links and Newburn', New Gilston was built around 1700 and owes its existence to coal mining. Its 'coal works' are mentioned in the 1773 advert in the Caledonian Mercury (below) advertising the lands for sale. Historic Environment Scotland consider it to be a 'planned village', The 1854 map below clearly shows its linear layout and fairly uniform plots. It also shows that some of buildings are ruinous by this time. Clearly marked on the map are the village smithy and the school. There is also a coal pit situated to the north of village (there were few others not much further away). And there were many quarries in the area. The 1845 Statistical Account on Scotland specifically mentions that "to the north of New Gilston a singular mass of rum coal is found, under the mass of overlying trap to the south. It is an inflammable bituminous shale, and is extensively used for lime burning. It is known to be eighty feet deep, and is wrought in an open quarry."
Situated to the north of Largo Law, New Gilston is credited as being the highest inhabited place in Fife. It is well-documented that the name of the village has fluctuated over the years - for example:
The 1841 census data for the village shows that the majority of adult males in the village were employed either as agricultural labourers or as coal miners (with a small number of hand loom weavers and carters and a couple of blacksmiths and stone masons). At that time the village had had a school for a number of years - a subscription school having begun in 1832 (see advert below from the 1 November Fife Herald that year.
- Guilston Backmuir in 1753 on the Roy map
- Newtown of Gilston in 1775 on the Ainslie map
- New Gilston in 1828 on the SGF map
- Backmuir of New Gilston on the 1854 OS map above
- New Gilston on the 2001 OS Explorer map
The 1841 census data for the village shows that the majority of adult males in the village were employed either as agricultural labourers or as coal miners (with a small number of hand loom weavers and carters and a couple of blacksmiths and stone masons). At that time the village had had a school for a number of years - a subscription school having begun in 1832 (see advert below from the 1 November Fife Herald that year.
Some of the buildings shown in the circa 1900 postcard above still survive to this day. But many are long gone, replaced by more modern homes. One of the most dramatic events in the history of New Gilston took place in 1953 - more on that in the next post.
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