Old Photograph Elie Scotland

Old photograph of houses and people in Elie, East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The following entry for Elie is from The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland Volume 2. 1896. Elie or Ely, a small police burgh and aparish on the South East coast of Fife. The town stands close to the shore at the head of a bay of its own name, and has a station on the East of Fife section of the North British, four miles from Anstruther, fourteen miles from Thornton Junction, and 44 miles from Edinburgh, via the Forth Railway. In bygone times a place of some importance, it retains a few antique mansions in a street near the beach, but mainly consists of modern well built houses. It has for a long time been a place of considerable resort for summer sea bathing, and fishing, and is even claimed by some as one of the best health resorts, particularly in winter, of any place in Scotland; but carries on little trade, although it possesses an excellent natural harbour, much improved by quays and a pier, and affording safe and accessible shelter during gales. The bay is wide across the entrance, and is flanked on the East by Elie Ness, and by Chapel Ness on the West. Wadehaven, a little to the East of the harbour, is said to have been named after General Wade, who recommended it to the government as a suitable harbour for ships of the Royal Navy. Natives were Robert Traill, born 1642, died 1716, a Divine of The Church of Scotland, and Jemes Horsburgh, born 1762, died 1836, and eminent hydrographer.



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