Dreich Early Winter Road Trip Drive On Visit To Parish Church Ladybank Fife Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video of an early Winter dreich road trip drive, with Scottish music, on ancestry visit to the parish church in the village of Ladybank in Fife. Dreich is a Scots word for dull and cloudy weather. The village became a burgh in 1878, and became an industrial centre, with linen weaving, coal mining, and malting being the principal industries. Ladybank Parish Church was originally built as a Free Church in the later 19th century and was known as St Mary's. It was built in 1876 to replace a smaller Free Church of 1847 located in nearby Charlottetown. Ladybank was previously known as “ The Ladybog ” or “ Our Lady’s Bog ” and was where the monks of Lindores Abbey in Newburgh, Fife, came to cut peat. After the United Free Church united with Church of Scotland in 1929 there was for a time two parish churches in Ladybank. Ladybank is located about 23 miles North of Edinburgh,14 miles South West of Dundee, and 15 miles South East of Perth, Perthshire. Ladybank golf course was founded in 1879 and a six-hole course designed by Old Tom Morris. The course was expanded to 18 holes in 1961 and has been used as a qualifier for The Open Championship. Ladybank railway station was opened in 1847 by the Edinburgh and Northern Railway on their line from Burntisland, being the point at which the line divided into two branches to Cupar and Lindores. The latter branch was subsequently extended to Hilton Junction, near Perth, Perthshire, the following year. On 6 June 1857, the Fife and Kinross Railway opened, providing a link to Kinross. This line was closed to passengers on 6 June 1950, with the line between Auchtermuchty and Ladybank closing to freight on 29 January 1957. Passenger trains were also withdrawn on the Perth branch, as far as Bridge of Earn, on 19 September 1955 by the British Transport Commission, the route having been reduced to single track, with a loop at Newburgh, by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1933. The line was retained for freight traffic and was subsequently reopened to passengers in 1975 to provide a shorter route between Perth and Edinburgh than that via Stirling. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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