Kirkcaldy, Nicol Street, Bethelfield Church

Also technically outwith Kirkcaldy burgh, but with strong ties to their northerly neighbour, are three buildings in Linktown.

Bethelfield Church, Nicol Street, built in 1830-1 and opened in 1831, is a rectangular classic Secession church. Nearby, a dwelling house at 44 Nicol Street, once called Abbotshall House, was built about 1800. It later functioned as the office for Halley's dyeworks, which occupied many of the buildings of the first steam-powered mill in Kirkcaldy, the Abbotshall linen works. Although restored, the facade and the pillared entrance still reveal a substantial dwelling house, typical of the early nineteenth century. Next door, 46 Nicol Street, built in 1820, was once the home of John Methven, the Links Pottery owner. Nicol Street was originally known as Newton, and was built up from around 1790 on feus granted by the Fergusons of Raith. Although housing textile mills, it was still, in the nineteenth century, considered a sufficiently commodious area for the dwellings of wealthy factory owners, as indicated by these properties.

Information from ‘Historic Kirkcaldy: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1995).

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