[Gazetteer of Scotland Contents]
PATH-HEAD, a quoad sacra parish, and a considerable town, in the south-western extremity of the parish of Dysart, Fifeshire, half-a-mile east of Kirkcaldy, and three quarters of a mile west of Dysart. The town is seated on a plain, gently sloping to the precipitous rocks on the shore. It consists of three streets, pretty regularly built; and is divided into two districts, – Dunnikier, the superior of which is Oswald of Dunnikier; and Sinclairtown, belonging to the Earl of Roslyn. It formerly enjoyed a great trade in nail-making, which is now decayed; but it still carries on an extensive manufacture of tykes and checks. – Below the town, on a precipice almost surrounded by the sea, stands the old castle of Ravenscraig, once the seat of the ancient family of St. Clair, but now in ruins. – In 1811, the town contained 1,692 inhabitants, in 1831, 2,090. – This quoad sacra parish has a handsome church, originally erected at a cost of £3,000, and now vested in the presbytery of Kirkcaldy. There are here an endowed school for 100 children, and three unendowed schools. See DYSART.
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PATH-HEAD, a village in the parish of New Cumnock, Ayrshire. Population, in 1831, 361.
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PATH-HEAD, a large and pretty village in the northern extremity of the parish of Crichton, 11½ miles from Edinburgh, 5 from Dalkeith, and 3½ from Fala, Edinburghshire. It runs up the northern declivity of a hill, past the base of which sweeps the infant Tyne; and it lines for some way both sides of the Edinburgh and Kelso road by way of Lauder. Its chief street is broad and straight, and consists mostly of one-story and well-built houses. A considerable number of the inhabitants are colliers. Four public coaches pass through it daily. Beautiful scenery and several fine demesnes in the vicinity unite with the intrinsic cheerfulness of the place to render it a pleasant summer-retreat. In the village are a circulating library and an infant school; and at Ford, in its immediate neighbourhood, is a United Secession meeting-house. Population 750.
