Glenrothes

For other uses, see Glenrothes (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 56°11′47″N 3°10′24″W / 56.1964°N 3.1732°W / 56.1964; -03.1732

Glenrothes
Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Ràthais [1]
Top: Town skyline, Left: Town centre clock tower, Middle top: "The Dream" sculpture, Middle bottom: Riverside Park pond, Right: River Leven Bridge, Bottom: Floral display, Riverside Park
Glenrothes  Glenrothes shown within Fife
Area	8.6 sq mi (22 km2)
Population	38,750 [2]
- Density	4,506 /sq mi (1,740 /km2)
OS grid reference	NO2702
- Edinburgh	32 mi (51 km)
- London	444 mi (715 km)
Council area	Fife
Lieutenancy area	Fife
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	GLENROTHES
Postcode district	KY6, KY7
Dialling code	01592
Police	Fife
Fire	Fife
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Glenrothes
Scottish Parliament	Mid Fife and Glenrothes, Mid Scotland and Fife
List of places: UK • Scotland •

Glenrothes ( listen (help·info); pronunciation: /ɡlɛnˈrɒθɨs/, glen-roth-iss; Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Ràthais) is a large town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is located approximately 30 miles (48 km) from both Edinburgh, which lies to the south and Dundee to the north. The town had an estimated population of 38,750 in 2008, making Glenrothes the third largest settlement in Fife. The town's name comes from its historical link with the Earl of Rothes who owned much of the land upon which the new town was built. "Glen" was added to the name to avoid confusion with Rothes in Moray and in recognition that the town lies in a river valley; Glen being the Scottish word for a valley.

Planned in the late 1940s as one of Scotland's first new towns its original purpose was to house miners who were to work at a newly established coal mine, the Rothes Colliery. Following the failure of the mine the town developed as an important industrial centre in Scotland's Silicon Glen between 1961 and 2000 with several major electronics and hi-tech companies setting up facilities in the town. The Glenrothes Development Corporation (GDC), a non-departmental public body, was established to develop, manage and promote the new town. The GDC supported by the local authority oversaw the governance of the new town until the wind-up of the GDC in 1995, after which responsibility was transferred to Fife Council.

Glenrothes is the administrative capital of Fife containing both the Fife Council and Fife Constabulary headquarters. Manufacturing and engineering industries, public services and service industries are particularly important to the town's economy. Major employers include Adam Smith College (education), Bosch Rexroth (hydraulics manufacturing), Brand Rex (fibre optics manufacturing), Raytheon (defence industry) and Tullis Russell (papermakers).^[3] Glenrothes is unique in Fife as the majority of the town's centre is contained indoors, within Fife's largest indoor shopping centre, the Kingdom Shopping Centre.

The town has won multiple awards in the "Beautiful Scotland" and "Britain in Bloom" contests for the quality of its parks and landscaping. It has numerous outdoor sculptures and artworks, a result of the appointment of town artists in the early development of the town. Public facilities include a sports centre, two golf courses, a civic centre and theatre, a cinema and a college campus. The A92 trunk road provides the principal access to the town passing through Glenrothes and connecting it to the wider Scottish motorway and trunk road network. A major bus station is located in the town centre providing regional and local bus services to surrounding settlements.

History

Glenrothes was designated in 1948 under the New Towns (Scotland) Act 1946 as Scotland's second post-war new town.^[4][5] The name Rothes comes from the association with the north-east Scotland Earl of Rothes, family name Leslie. The Leslie family historically owned much of the land upon which Glenrothes has been built. Glen (from the Scottish Gaelic word 'gleann' meaning valley) was added to prevent confusion with Rothes in Moray, and because the town lies on the Leven valley.^[6][7][8]

Cadham Village conservation area, built pre-Glenrothes

The original town plan was to build a new settlement for a population of 32,000 to 35,000 people. The intention of the new town for the developers was: "to establish a self-contained and balanced community for working and living".^[9] The land where Glenrothes now sits was largely agricultural and once contained a number of small rural communities and the hamlets of Cadham and Woodside which were established to house workers at the local paper mills. Originally the new town was going to be centred on Markinch, however the village's infrastructure was deemed unable to withstand the substantial growth required to realise a new town.^[6] Leslie and Thornton were also considered as possible locations, but finally an area of 5,320 acres (2,153 ha) between all of these villages was designated as new town zone.^[10] Aytoun, Balfour, Balgonie and Rothes estates were all incorporated in Glenrothes' assigned area along with the historical stately homes Balbirnie House, Balgeddie House and Leslie House.^[11][12] The different areas (precincts) of Glenrothes have been named after the hamlets already established (e.g. Cadham, Woodside), the farms which once occupied the land (e.g. Caskieberran, Collydean, Rimbleton) or historical stately homes in the area (e.g. Balbirnie, Balgeddie, Leslie Parks).^[13]

The planning, development, management and promotion of Glenrothes was the responsibility of the Glenrothes Development Corporation (GDC), a quango appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland.^[14] The corporation board consisted of eight members including a chairman and deputy chairman.^[15] The first meeting of the GDC was in Auchmuty House, provided by Tullis Russell on 20 June 1949.^[16][17] The first town masterplan sub-divided the town's designated area into self-contained residential precincts with their own primary schools, local shops and community facilities.^[10] Separating industry as far as possible from housing areas in planned industrial estates was a key element of the plan.^[18] This was a step change from the unplanned, congested and polluted industrial towns and cities of the previous centuries where cramped unsanitary housing and dirty industries were built in close proximity to one another. The vision for Glenrothes was to provide a clean, healthy and safe environment for the town's residents.^[10]

The primary reason for the designation of Glenrothes was to house miners who were to work at a new coal mine and their families.^[8] This was partially driven by a national energy strategy developed by the Government following the war and was further developed in a report produced in 1946 by Sir Frank Mears to the Central and South-East Scotland Planning Committee which made the case for a new town in Leslie-Markinch area to support growth in the coal mining industry in Fife.^[19][8] The new mine was to be the most technologically advanced in Scotland and was built west of Thornton, an established village south of Glenrothes. It was named the Rothes Colliery and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957. It was expected that 2,500 miners would be employed at the mine who would produce 5,000 tonnes of coal per day and huge railway yards were established to transport the extracted coal from the site.^[8] However, at its peak the Rothes Colliery employed only over 1,500 miners. The pit was supposed to stay operational for 100 years and was expected to be a key driver for the economic regeneration of central Fife. In 1961, only four years after opening, the huge investment was written off and the mine closed as a result of un-stemmable flooding and geological problems. Ironically, miners who had worked in older deep pits in the area had fore-warned against the development of the Rothes Pit for this very reason.^[20] The closure of the state-of-the-art facility left the huge enclosed concrete wheel-towers standing at Thornton for many years as a forlorn symbol of what could have been until demolished in the early 1990s.^[14] While the establishment of the new town was to be based upon the development of the mine it was intended that a "mixed community" would be housed in Glenrothes and that other forms of employment would be attracted to the area. In 1944 the Scottish Coalfield Authority condemned the segregation of miners in mining villages and emerging paradigms sought to encourage miners to be housed away from collieries and to integrate with a mixed community where members of their family would also be able to find suitable employment. An additional benefit to this form of social engineering was communities would be less vulnerable to depressions in the coal industry.^[21]

Prior to the development of Glenrothes the main industries in the area were papermaking, coal mining and farming. Unlike Cumbernauld, East Kilbride or Livingston Glenrothes was not originally to be a Glasgow overspill new town, although it did later take this role. It was however populated in the early 1950s in part by mining families moving from the declining West of Scotland coalfield areas.^[20] The coal mine's closure almost resulted in further development of Glenrothes being stopped. However shortly following the closure Central Government decided to change the town's role by appointing Glenrothes as one of the economic focal points for Central Scotland as part of a National Plan for economic growth and development.^[22] The Glenrothes Development Corporation were successful in attracting a plethora of modern electronics factories to the town as a consequence. The first big overseas electronic investor was Beckmans Instruments in 1959 followed by Hughes Industries in the early 1960s.^[20] A number of other important companies followed establishing Glenrothes as a major hub in Scotland's Silicon Glen.^[23] During the middle of the 1970s, the town also became the headquarters of Fife Regional Council; effectively the county town of Fife, taking over the role from Cupar.^[24][25][14]

Former ADC electronics plant, Bankhead

Major industrial estates were developed to the south of Glenrothes, largely as a result of the proximity to the proposed East Fife Regional Road (A92) which was developed in 1989 giving dual carriageway access to the main central Scotland road network.^[26] The Silicon Glen era peaked in the 1990s with Canon developing their first UK manufacturing plant at Westwood Park in Glenrothes in 1992.^[27] ADC Telecommunications, a major American electronics company, established a base at Bankhead in early 2000 with the promise of a substantial number of jobs.^[28] By 2004 both companies had closed their Glenrothes operations with the promised jobs growth never materialising to any substantial level. The electronics industry in Glenrothes was dependant upon an inward investment strategy that led to almost 43% of employment in foreign-owned plants which were susceptible to changes in global economic markets.^[29] The turn of the century marked the decline of major electronics manufacturing in Scotland with a consolidation in the sector as a whole affecting towns like Glenrothes who built much of their economic base on electronics industries.^[30][31] Following the loss of Canon and ADC in Glenrothes other companies have established their operations in the vacant units. The former ADC building was occupied by online retailer Amazon.co.uk in 2005.^[32] The latest proposals for the facility will see Fife Council convert the building for use as a new super depot, with Amazon.co.uk relocating to a larger facility in nearby Dunfermline.^[33][34]

The GDC left a lasting legacy on the town by overseeing the development of 15,378 houses, 5,174,125 square feet (480,692 m²) of industrial floorspace, 735,476 square feet (68,328 m²) of office floorspace and 576,977 square feet (53,603 m²) of shopping floorspace.^[4] Since the demise of the GDC Glenrothes continues to serve as Fife's principle administrative centre and serves a wide area as a service, employment and retail centre. Glenrothes gained national publicity in 2009 by winning the Carbuncle Award following an unofficial contest operated by Urban Realm and Carnyx Group which was set up to criticise the quality of built environments in Scotland. Glenrothes was awarded the category of the most dismal place in Scotland for its "depressed and investment starved town centre".^[35] This generated mixed views from locals and built environment professions alike.^[36] Contrary to this the town has also won awards for the "Best Kept Large Town" and the most "Clean, sustainable and beautiful community" in Scotland in the Beautiful Scotland competition ^[37][38] and was the winner in the "large town" category in the 2011 Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom competition achieving a Gold award in the UK finals.^[39][40]

Governance

Further information: History of local government in Scotland

Fife House, headquarters of Fife Council

In the early years of the creation of the new town the Glenrothes Development Corporation (GDC) with input from the local authority, then Fife County Council, oversaw the governance of the new town. In the early 1990s the then Conservative UK Government established a wind-up order for all of the UK's new town development corporations. Responsibilities for the assets, management and governance of all of the new towns were to be transferred to either private sector companies or to the local authorities or other government organisations. The GDC was finally wound up in 1995 after which responsibility for Glenrothes was largely transferred to Fife Council.^[4]

Glenrothes is currently represented by a number of tiers of elected government. North Glenrothes Community Council and Pitteuchar, Stenton and Finglassie Community Council form the lowest tier of governance whose statutory role is to communicate local opinion to local and central government.^[41] Glenrothes now lies within one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The town is headquarters of Fife Council which is the executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local governance.^[42][43] Council meetings take place in Fife House (formerly known as Glenrothes House) in the town centre. The west wing of the building was built by the Glenrothes Development Corporation (GDC) as their offices in 1969, which was later used as the headquarters of Fife Regional Council.^[44] Since the last Scottish election in 2007, the council is jointly run by a Scottish National Party/Liberal Democrats coalition with 44 seats together. Local councillor, Peter Grant was elected as leader of Fife Council.^[45]

Glenrothes forms part of the county constituency of Glenrothes, electing one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system. Lindsay Roy of the Labour Party is the MP for Glenrothes.^[46] For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Glenrothes forms part of the Mid Fife and Glenrothes constituency following the 2011 Scottish elections. This newly formed constituency replaces the former Central Fife constituency taking in the Leven, Largo and Kennoway ward and excluding the Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages ward.^[47] Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional members to produce a form of proportional representation. The constituency is represented by Tricia Marwick, MSP, of the Scottish National Party (SNP), who is also the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.^[48]

Geography

Glenrothes lies in mid-Fife between the agricultural "Howe of Fife" in the north and east and Fife's industrial heartland in the south and west. Edinburgh and Dundee are located almost equidistantly from Glenrothes at 32 miles (51 km) and 27 miles (43 km) away, respectively. Its OS Grid reference is NO281015. The boundaries of the town are virtually indistinguishable between its neighbouring small towns and villages forming a contiguous urban area.^[49] The neighbouring settlements are Coaltown of Balgonie, Leslie, Markinch and Thornton. The villages of Kinglassie, Milton of Balgonie and Star of Markinch are located slightly further away and are physically separated from Glenrothes by farmland.

The northern parts of the settlement lie upland on the southern fringes of the Lomond Hills Regional Park. The central parts of the town extend between the southern edge of the River Leven valley; a substantial green space which passes east west through the town, and the Warout Ridge. Southern parts of Glenrothes are largely industrial and are situated on land which gently slopes south towards the Lochty Burn and the village of Thornton.^[50] The height above mean sea level at the town centre is 300 feet (91 m).^[51] Temperatures in Glenrothes, like the rest of Scotland, are relatively moderate given its northern latitude. Fife is a peninsula, located between the Firth of Tay in the north, the Firth of Forth in the south and the North Sea in the east. Summers are relatively cool and the warming of the water over the summer results in warm winters. Average annual temperatures in Glenrothes range from a maximum of 18 °C (64 °F) to a minimum of 9 °C (48 °F).^[52]

View of Glenrothes seen from Markinch Cemetery

The Glenrothes area's geology is predominantly made up by glacial deposits with the subsoil largely consisting of boulder clay with a band of sand and gravel in the area to the north of the River Leven. The river valley largely comprises alluvium deposits and there are also igneous intrusions of olivine dolerite throughout the area.^[53] Productive coal measures were largely recorded to the south of the designated area, south of the line of the B921 Kinglassie road. These coal measures form part of the East Fife coalfield and prior to 1962 the deposits there were to be worked by the Rothes Colliery, until it was found that there were severe issues with water penetration and subsequent flooding. Smaller limestone coal outcrops that had been historically worked were recorded around the Balbirnie and Cadham/Balfarg areas with the land that is now Gilvenbank Park found particularly to be heavily undermined.^[53]

Landscaping around the town has included the blending of housing into the northern hillside through the use of structural planting and tree belts.^[54] A linked network of semi-natural landscape areas throughout the town allow for a mix of biodiversity with different flora and fauna and wildlife habitats.^[55][50] Areas of ancient woodland are found in Riverside Park and Balbirnie Park, both of which are also designated historic gardens and designed landscapes.^[56] Balbirnie Park is renowned for having a large collection of rhododendron species.^[57] Protected wildlife species found in the Glenrothes area include red squirrels,^[58] water voles^[59] and various types of bats.^[60] Landscape areas also act as natural drainage systems, reducing the likelihood of flooding in the built up areas of the town, with rainwater flows channelled to the River Leven, or to the Lochty Burn.^[54] Landscape planning has also ensured that Glenrothes' road network, with particular focuses on the town's many roundabouts, provides green networks throughout the town.^[50]

Aerial image of central Glenrothes

The settlement has been purposely planned using a series of masterplans. Development of Glenrothes started in Woodside in the east and progressed westwards. The first town masterplan was implemented as far as South Parks and Rimbleton housing precincts.^[20][61][62] The early residential precincts, developed under the first masterplan, were based on Ebenezer Howard's Garden City philosophy, using relatively tried and tested principles of town planning and architecture which is reflected in their housing styles and layouts.^[14][20]

A second town masterplan was developed in the late 1960s following Glenrothes' change of role and was to accommodate an increased population target of 50,000-70,000. New areas of land in the north and south of the designated area were brought into production for new development.^[63] The road network was upgraded to deal with projected increases in car ownership and new housing estates were developed to the west, then to the south and finally to the north of the designated area.^[64] The housing precincts of the 1960s and 1970s, developed under the second masterplan, departed from the garden city principles instead adopting Radburn principles; separating as far as possible footpaths from roads.^[26] The townscape changed with a mixture of higher densities and more contemporary architectural styles and new development layouts. The fronts of houses were designed to face onto public footpaths and open spaces with car parking kept either to the rear of properties or in parking bays located nearby.^[26] Housing precincts from the 1980s onwards were largely developed by the private sector with the majority of this housing developed in suburban cul-de-sacs.^[50] The Mid Fife Local Plan is guiding the future development of the town and has identified land in the east and west of the settlement and its surrounding villages for the development of approximately 1,800 new houses. There are also proposals for renewal of the town centre and for upgrading the town's industrial estates and business parks.^[65]

Demographics

In 1950 the population in the Glenrothes designated area was approximately 1,000 people who were located in the hamlets of Woodside and Cadham and in the numerous farm steadings that were spread throughout the area.^[66] Population growth in the early phases of the town was described as being slow due to the dependence on the growth of work places at the Rothes Colliery. In 1960 the town population was shown to have increased to 12,499 people rising to 28,098 by 1969.^[66] The town experienced its greatest levels of population growth between 1964 and 1969 with an average inward migration level of 1,900 persons per annum.^[67] In 1981 Glenrothes' population was estimated to have risen to 35,000^[67] and at the time the GDC was disbanded in 1995 it was estimated that the town's population stood at just over 40,000 people.^[68]

Glenrothes compared according to UK Census 2001^[69][70]

	Glenrothes	Fife	Scotland
Total population	38,679	349,429	5,062,011
Foreign born	1.04%	1.7%	3.8%
Over 75 years old	5.1%	7.46%	7.1%
Unemployed	4.4%	3.97%	4.0%

The 2001 census recorded the population of Glenrothes at 38,679.^[71] A more recent population estimate of the town was recorded at 38,750 in 2008.^[2] When combined with the adjoining settlements of Leslie, Markinch, Thornton and Coaltown of Balgonie^[49] the Glenrothes urban area has a population of 47,280.^[2] The demographic make-up of the population is much in line with the rest of Scotland. The age group from 30-44 year olds form the largest portion of the population (23%).^[71] The median age of males and females living in Glenrothes in 2001 was 36 and 37 years, compared to 37 and 39 years for those in the whole of Scotland.^[71]

The place of birth of the town's residents was 97% United Kingdom (including 88.28% from Scotland), 0.26% Republic of Ireland, 1.04% from other European Union countries, and 1.69% from elsewhere in the world.^[71] The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 41.35% in full-time employment, 11.61% in part-time employment, 5.69% self-employed, 4.4% unemployed, 2.61% students with jobs, 4.46% students without jobs, 14.56% retired, 5.42% looking after home or family, 6.65% permanently sick or disabled, and 3.22% economically inactive for other reasons.^[71] Compared with the average demography of Scotland, Glenrothes has low proportions of people born outside the United Kingdom and has fewer proportions for people over 75 years old.^[71]

Economy

Kingdom Shopping Centre

The Glenrothes area's economy largely comprises service sector and manufacturing jobs with moderate levels of employment in financial and business services, construction and retail.^[72] Unemployment and claimant count levels are marginally higher than the Scottish average,^[73] however the area has a large net inflow of commuters and provides around 30,000 jobs; approximately 24% of the total number of jobs in Fife.^[72] There are large concentrations of employment sites in the south of the town and at sites close to the town centre.^[74] Major employment areas in Glenrothes include: Bankhead, Eastfield, Pentland Park, Queensway, Southfield, Viewfield, Westwood Park and Whitehill.^[50]

Wholesale and retail distribution jobs accounted for approximately 15% of the total number of jobs in the Glenrothes area in 2009.^[72] The majority of shopping, services and administrative facilities in Glenrothes are concentrated in the town centre (central business district). The Kingdom Centre forms the main shopping element of the town centre containing approximately 100 shops as well as a variety of cafes, the town's central library and the Rothes Halls- the town's theatre, civic and exhibition centre. An independent commercial cinema and bingo hall complex are located adjacent to the Kingdom Centre.^[75][76]

Fife Constabulary HQ, Viewfield

The town centre has expanded beyond its original boundaries into the Queensway employment area. A number of commercial operators including the town's major supermarkets and a large bingohall complex are located in Queensway.^[77] A retail park has also been constructed at the Saltire Centre, approximately half of a mile (1 km) to the southwest of the town centre.^[78]

A number of public service agencies and authorities are based in Glenrothes contributing to the town's administrative centre function. Fife Constabulary has established its headquarters in Glenrothes at Viewfield. HM Revenue and Customs, Kingdom Housing Association and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) also have offices in Glenrothes at Pentland Park; a business park within the town.^[79] The Adam Smith College is a key employer in the town with a large campus based adjacent to Viewfield.^[72] Fife's prominent local authority headquarters building is located at North Street in the town centre. Many of the other council departments are contained in a number of the town centre's office blocks.^[43]

Tullis Russell Papermills

In 2009 manufacturing accounted for 19% of employment in Glenrothes.^[72] Traditional industries exist in the area, with paper manufacturing being one of the town's largest employers. Tullis Russell is a large paper manufacturer which has operated from its current site for over 200 years, pre-dating the designation of Glenrothes.^[80] The current facility is made up by an agglomeration of two former mills; the Auchmuty Mill and the Rothes Mill.^[81] The plant is in the process of developing a 50 megawatt biomass powerstation which will generate enough electricity to power the plant and the surrounding town.^[82] A smaller paper manufacturer, Fourstones Paper Mill, has established operations at the Fettykil Mill in Leslie to the west of the town.^[83]

A number of high tech industrial companies are located in Glenrothes largely specialised in electronics manufacturing. These are what remain of the clustering of Silicon Glen operations in the area which has gradually reduced and consolidated since the peak in the late 1990s.^[50] The number of people employed in the electronics sector in the Glenrothes area in 2009 was 1,425^[72] which constitutes approximately 50% of the number of jobs in this sector in Fife.^[84] Companies specialised in this sector include Semefab which produces Micro Electric Mechanical Systems (MEMS)^[85][86] and Brand Rex which specialises in the development of fibre optic cabling.^[87] Other major companies which have established a base in Glenrothes include Bosch Rexroth (hydraulics manufacturing), Raytheon (Defence)^[3] and Velux (roof windows manufacturing).^[88]

Culture and community

"Ex Terra" sculpture

Glenrothes was the first Scottish new town to appoint a town artist in 1968.^[89] Two town artists, David Harding (1968–78) and Malcolm Roberston (1978–91), were employed in the lifetime of the GDC.^[90] Both artists, supported by a number of assistants, created a large variety of artworks and sculptures that are scattered throughout the town. Other artists have also contributed to the creation of the town's artworks.^[91] The first sculpture erected in Glenrothes was "Ex Terra", created by Benno Schotz.^[89] "The Good Samaritan" sculpture was produced by Edinburgh based sculptor, Ronald Rae, who was commissioned by the GDC to produce a piece of art work in celebration of the town's 40th anniversary in 1988.^[90] Also in 1988 town artist Malcolm Robertson produced the "Giant Irises" sculpture as Glenrothes' contribution to the Glasgow Garden Festival. The sculpture was awarded the John Brown Clydebank award for the "Most Original and Amusing Artifact" at the festival. The sculpture was re-erected at Leslie Roundabout in Glenrothes following the festival.^[90]

The town has won numerous awards locally and nationally for the quality of its landscaping;^[37][40] something that is promoted by the "Glenrothes in Bloom Group" who were established as a town promotion initiative through the "Take a Pride in Glenrothes" campaign.^[38] The Glenrothes Development Corporation devoted around one third of land in Glenrothes to the provision of open space.^[54] As a consequence the town has numerous parks, the largest being Balbirnie Park,^[57] Carleton Park,^[92] Gilvenbank Park,^[93] Riverside Park,^[94] and Warout Park.^[95][96][97] The Lomond Hills Regional Park borders and enters the town to the north and east.^[98]

Riverside Park, view from Glenrothes town centre

The Rothes Halls complex is the town's main theatre, exhibition, conference and civic centre venue. The facility caters for a large variety of regional and local events including theatrical and musical performances, as well as arts and crafts exhibitions.^[99] The town's central library and a cafe also form part of the complex and a community cinema has been operating on a monthly basis. The community cinema has had a number of positive benefits on Glenrothes with the town hosting its first film festival in October 2010, since the Rushes Digital Film Festival stopped in 2007, following the closure of the town's only media access centre - MIMAC. The 2010 festival was held in the Rothes Halls and presented a series of short film competition entries and celebrated the film industry.^{[100][101][102]} The success of the community cinema also generated private sector interest which resulted in a commercial cinema opening in Glenrothes in 2010 giving the local population access to the latest film releases.^[75][103]

Glenrothes does not have a museum, however there is an aspiration for a permanent heritage centre to be formally established in the town following a successful trial. The establishment of a formal heritage centre would provide a record of the history of Glenrothes and its surrounding communities from the early 19th century to the late 20th century when the new town's development corporation was wound up.^[104]

There are a number of social clubs and organisations operating within Glenrothes which contribute to the cultural and community offerings of the town. These include an art club, various youth clubs, a floral art club, amateur theatre groups, a choral society and a variety of sports clubs.^[105][106] Glenrothes hosts an annual gala which is held at Warout Park and has a variety of family activities including a dog show, highland dancing and a fun fair with stalls.^[107] Markinch hosts an annual Highland Games^[108] and the other surrounding villages host their own annual gala days and festivals.

Rothes Halls, Kingdom Centre

The town has a large variety of established sports facilities including two 18-hole golf courses (Glenrothes and Balbirnie), a football stadium at Warout and a major sports complex, the Fife Institute of Physical and Recreational Education (FIPRE).^{[54][109][50]} The local football club is the Glenrothes F.C., a junior side who play at Warout Park. Glenrothes also has a rugby club based at Carleton Park and a cricket club who play at Riverside Park.^[109][110] A new multi-million pound replacement regional sports centre is currently being built on the site of the existing Fife Institute.^{[111][112][113]} The new centre is to be re-named the "Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre" following a controversial decision taken by the Glenrothes Area Committee. A majority result of a public consultation suggested that the centre should be named the "Glenrothes Sports and Leisure Centre", but local councillors ignored the result of the consultation and instead decided to name it after the late SNP Councillor Michael Woods.^[114][115] The Road Running Festival in Glenrothes is the largest annual sporting event in the town with over 1500 people of all ages and levels of fitness taking part and has been held annually since 1983.^[116]

A war memorial was constructed in Glenrothes in 2007 following the deaths of two local Black Watch soldiers in Iraq. Prior to this Glenrothes was in the unusual position of not being able to host its own Remembrance Sunday commemorations. Unlike traditional memorials, the Glenrothes war memorial consists of two interlinking rings of standing stones.^[117]

Glenrothes has a twin-town link with Böblingen, a city in Baden-Württemberg in Germany since 1971.^[118] As early as 1962 a local councillor had suggested that the town might "twin" with a town on the Continent.^[119] Some years later a friendship grew up between teachers at Glenrothes High School and the 'Gymnasium' in Böblingen which eventually led to the twinning of the towns. Since then there have been a number of exchanges on official, club and personal levels.^[119]

Landmarks

"Giant Irises", Leslie Roundabout

The most prominent landmarks in Glenrothes are the River Leven Bridge, the Tullis Russell factory chimneys, Raeburn Heights; a residential tower block and Fife House; an office block, both of which sit at the western corners of the town centre.^[120] The River Leven Bridge, which spans Riverside Park and carries the town's Western Distributor Road, is a cable-stayed bridge that was completed in 1995. The bridge was designed by Dundee based Nicoll Russell Studios, Architects and was commissioned by the Glenrothes Development Corporation (GDC) as a landmark creating a gateway into Riverside Park that could be seen from further afield.^[121] The bridge was constructed by Balfour Beatty Construction (Scotland) and it was the first reinforced-concrete cable-stayed structure ever built in the UK.^[122]

A number of Glenrothes' artworks and sculptures act as landmarks at major gateways into the town, such as the "Giant Irises" at Leslie Roundabout, and the Glenrothes "Gateway Totum" at Bankhead Roundabout.^[50] A number of other sculptures have recently been relocated to more visually prominent locations around the town creating new landmarks.^[123][124] Five pieces of Glenrothes artworks have recently been earmarked for listed status by Historic Scotland. These are "Ex Terra", "The Birds", "The Henge", "The Heritage (Lest We Forget)" and "Work" (or Industry, Past and Present).^[125][126]

Glenrothes is home to the remains of ancient stone circles which can be seen at Balbirnie^[57] and Balfarg^[127] in the northeast of the town. The Balfarg henge was constructed around 3,000BC and contains the remnants of a stone circle which has been partly reconstructed.^[128] The henge was excavated between 1977 and 1978 prior to the development of a new housing estate, however speculation that there was a henge at Balfarg dated back to 1949 when aerial photos were taken prior to the development of Glenrothes which revealed evidence of a circular ditch with a bank around it. Successive seasons of ploughing are thought to have destroyed much evidence of the original henge.^[128] The Balbirnie henge located approximately 500m away was excavated in 1970-71. In order to allow widening of the A92 the stones were moved a short distance to a new location at North Lodge and reconstructed as nearly as possible in the original way.^[128] The stone circle has been carbon dated as being from the bronze age.^[57] It is thought that the Balbrinie stone circle and the Balfarg circle once formed part of a larger ceremonial complex.^[128]

Balbirnie House Hotel, Balbirnie Park

There are a number of former stately homes located in Glenrothes. Balbirnie House, the category-A listed^[129] Georgian former home of the Balfour family, was bought along with its grounds in 1969 by the GDC from the Balfour family to be developed as Balbirnie Park and golf course.^{[130][131][109]} The house was later occupied and restored by the GDC in 1981, to stop the property falling into disrepair. This led to potential interest and the house was converted into a four-star hotel in 1989. The B-listed former stable block^[132] of the house was converted into a craft centre.^[109] Balgeddie House, a C-Listed^[133] former Edwardian residence of Sir Robert Spencer Nairn located in the northwest of the town, has also been converted into a high quality hotel.^[11] Leslie House, the category-A listed^[134] 17th century former home of the Rothes family, became a care home for the elderly in 1945; owned by the Church of Scotland. The building was being renovated to become luxury apartments however the interior and roof of the house were destroyed by fire in late 2008 delaying the redevelopment.^[135] Much of the former grounds of Leslie House have been used to create Riverside Park. Collydean precinct hosts a ruin of a 17th-century laird's house called Pitcairn House.^[136]

St. Paul's R.C. Church, Glenrothes

The town is also home to a number of churches which act as important landmarks as a result of their unique architectural styles and sometimes their locations at key road junctions. The three earliest churches are now listed buildings. These are St. Margaret's Church^[137] in Woodside (category C listed), St. Paul's RC Church^[138] in Auchmuty (category A listed), and St. Columba's Church^[139] on Church Street (category A listed) in the town centre.^{[77][140][141]} St. Paul's RC was designed by architects Gillespie, Kidd and Coia^{[77][140][142]} and has been described as "the most significant piece of modern church architecture north of the English Channel".^[143] In 1993 it was listed as one of sixty key monuments of post-war architecture by the international conservation organisation DoCoMoMo. The church sits at a junction between two main distributor roads. St Columba's Church, designed by architects Wheeler & Sproson, has recently undergone significant restoration.^[144][145] Internally the church contains a large mural created by Alberto Morrocco titled 'The Way of the Cross', which was completed in 1962. Externally the church with its distinctive triangular iron bell tower and Mondrian inspired stain glass windows^[146] acts as a landmark at the south-western gateway to the town centre.

Education

Glenrothes High School

Early precincts in the town were served by their own primary schools which were to be provided on the basis of one school for every 1,000 houses.^[147] The first primary school to be opened in Glenrothes was Carleton Primary School, built in 1953 in Woodside.^[10] In total thirteen primary schools were developed in the town, twelve of which are non-denominational and one which serves catholic pupils.^[50][147]

There are three secondary schools in Glenrothes, the earliest of which is Auchmuty High School, opened in 1957. Secondary Schools were to be provided on the basis of one school for every 4,000 houses.^[147] Glenwood High School was built in 1962 to serve the western precincts. Prior to 1966 older pupils had to attend schools in neighbouring towns to continue "Higher" examinations as Auchmuty and Glenwood only provided for pupils at junior secondary level.^[148] Glenrothes High School was built in 1966 to accommodate pupils at a higher level. However changes in the education system nationally meant that both Auchmuty and Glenwood were raised to full high school status in the 1970s.^[149][150] Auchmuty High School serves the east and southern parts of Glenrothes as well as the villages of Markinch, Coaltown of Balgonie and Thornton.^[151] As part of the £126 million Building Fife's Future Project, construction has started on a replacement for Auchmuty and this is scheduled to open in August 2013.^[152] Glenrothes High School serves the central and northern areas in the town.^[153] Glenwood High School serves the western parts of Glenrothes and the villages of Leslie and Kinglassie.^[154] Catholic pupils in Glenrothes attend St Andrew's High School in Kirkcaldy.^[155]

Adam Smith College, Glenrothes

Further education in the town is provided at Adam Smith College which was created in 2005 from the merger between the former Glenrothes College and Fife College, which was based in Kirkcaldy and is Scotland's third largest college. The Glenrothes campus was constructed in the early 1970s, and originally specialised in paper manufacturing, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. A second institute known as FIPRE (Fife Institute of Physical and Recreational Education) was built adjacent catering for sport and physical education as well as providing a sports centre for the town.^[156] The main campus of the college is located at Stenton Road in Viewfield to the south of the town centre. A smaller campus also exists within the Southfield Industrial Estate.^[157] The Stenton Road Campus was significantly extended in 2010 with the development of the "Future Skills Centre". This centre includes new departments in engineering, construction, renewables and science to cater for emerging industries specialising in renewable energy and low carbon technologies as well as provide training for major engineering projects.^[158][159]

Transport

Glenrothes Bus Station

Glenrothes has a planned road network which was created to accommodate projected future traffic levels. The original masterplans ensured that "through traffic" is bypassed around the housing precincts by a network of "Freeway" and "Highway" distributor roads which connect each precinct to the purposely designed town centre and to the industrial estates.^[160] A purposely designed pedestrian and cycle system^[161] was also created using a network of ring and radial routes.^[160] Another element that was adopted was the use of roundabouts at junctions instead of traffic lights allowing traffic to flow freely.^[160]

The town has direct dual-carriageway access to the M90 via the A92 Trunk Road. The A92 passes north/south through the town and connects Glenrothes with Dundee in the north and Dunfermline in the southwest where it merges with the M90. This gives Glenrothes a continuous dual-carriageway link to Edinburgh, whilst much of the route north to Dundee remains single-carriageway.^[14] The A911 road passes east/west through the town and connects it with Levenmouth in the east and Milnathort and the M90 in the west.^[162] The B921 Kinglassie Road, described in early masterplans as the Southern Freeway,^[160] links Glenrothes to the former mining communities of Cardenden and Kinglassie, and to Westfield. The route is a dual carriageway between Bankhead Roundabout and as far west as Fife Airport. Early masterplans show that this route was originally intended to be upgraded to provide duelled connections to the A92 Chapel junction in Kirkcaldy,^[160] however this has never been implemented.

Fife (Glenrothes) Airport

The town has a major bus station in the town centre providing frequent links to the cities of Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as to surrounding towns and villages.^[163] Two railway stations outside of the main town serve the Glenrothes area - Glenrothes with Thornton railway station and Markinch railway station.^[162] Glenrothes is home to an airfield, Fife Airport (ICAO code EGPJ), which is used for general aviation with private light aircraft.^[164] Edinburgh Airport is the nearest international airport to Glenrothes, Dundee Airport operates daily flights to London, Birmingham and Belfast.^[165]

References

Notes

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2. ^ ^{a b c} "Mid-2008 Population Estimates – Localities in alphabetical order p.4." (PDF). www.gro-scotland.gov.uk. 2008. http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files2/stats/population-estimates/08mye-localities-table1.pdf. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Economic Profile- Mid Fife and Glenrothes Scottish Parliamentary Constituency p.5." (PDF). Fife Council. 2011-05-05. http://admin.1fife.org.uk/uploadfiles/publications/c64_MidFife_PostMay2011.pdf. Retrieved 2011-06-06. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Ferguson A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995 p.7.
5. ^ Omand The Fife Book p.90.
6. ^ ^{a b} Ferguson A History of Glenrothes pp.56–59.
7. ^ Ferguson A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995 p.11.
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Cowling An Essay for Today – The Scottish New Towns 1947-1997 pp.25-31.
9. ^ Pride Kingdom of Fife p.80.
10. ^ ^{a b c d} Glenrothes Development Corporation, A Guide to Scotland's New Town in Fife, pp.2-4.
11. ^ ^{a b} Glenrothes Development Corporation Glenrothes – New Town Master Plan Report pp.14–15.
12. ^ Ferguson A History of Glenrothes pp.30–31.
13. ^ Reid Old Glenrothes- Old buildings, farms and villages in the area which became the New Town of Glenrothes pp.6–41.
14. ^ ^{a b c d e} Cowling, An Essay for Today – The Scottish New Towns 1947-1997, pp.34-38.
15. ^ Ferguson A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995 p.23.
16. ^ Ferguson A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995 p.25.
17. ^ Ferguson A History of Glenrothes p.62.
18. ^ Glenrothes Development Corporation Glenrothes – New Town Master Plan Report p.37.
19. ^ Ferguson A History of Glenrothes pp.53–55.
20. ^ ^{a b c d e} Ferguson A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995 pp.25–31.
21. ^ Ferguson A History of Glenrothes pp.51–53.
22. ^ Ferguson, A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995, p.35.
23. ^ Cowling An Essay for Today – The Scottish New Towns 1947-1997 p.102.
24. ^ Ferguson History of Glenrothes pp.116–117.
25. ^ Ferguson A New Towns Heritage: Glenrothes 1948–1995 pp.89–90.
26. ^ ^{a b c} Ferguson A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995 pp.36–38.
27. ^ Ferguson A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995 p.51.
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54. ^ ^{a b c d} Glenrothes Development Corporation Glenrothes – New Town Master Plan Report pp.97-98.
55. ^ Ferguson A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995 pp.61-62.
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62. ^ Ferguson A History of Glenrothes pp.84–87.
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109. ^ ^{a b c d} Ferguson, A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995, pp.64-68.
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119. ^ ^{a b} Ferguson, A History of Glenrothes, pp.104–106.
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Bibliography

• Cowling, David (1997). An Essay for Today – The Scottish New Towns 1947-1997 (1st ed.). Edinburgh: Rutland Press. ISBN 1873190476. 
• Ferguson, Keith (1982). A History of Glenrothes (1st ed.). Glenrothes: Glenrothes Development Corporation. ASIN B001P4JSI0. 
• Ferguson, Keith (1996). A New Town's Heritage: Glenrothes 1948-1995 (1st ed.). Glenrothes: Glenrothes Development Corporation. ISBN 0950260347. 
• Glenrothes Development Corporation (1966). Glenrothes – A Guide to Scotland's New Town in Fife. Glenrothes: Glenrothes Development Corporation. 
• Glenrothes Development Corporation (1972). Glenrothes – New Town Masterplan Report. Glenrothes: Glenrothes Development Corporation. 
• Glenrothes Development Corporation (1983). Glenrothes Development Profile. Glenrothes: Glenrothes Development Corporation. 
• Omand, Donald (2000). The Fife Book. Edinburgh: Birlinn Publishing. ISBN 1841582743. 
• Pride, Glen L. (1998). Kingdom of Fife (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Rutland Press. ISBN 1873190492. 
• Reid, Emma (2004). Old Glenrothes- Old buildings, farms and villages in the area which became the New Town of Glenrothes (1st ed.). Cupar: Fife Family History Society. 

External links

• Fife News
• Undiscovered Scotland on Glenrothes
• National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE (A selection of archive films about Glenrothes)