Editing Kinglassie (section)

==History==
The village of Kinglassie (properly pronounced Kin-glassie, but locals have said King-lassie for decades) lies to the north of the Lochty Burn, {{convert|2|mi|km|spell=in}} southwest of Glenrothes in Fife, and two miles southeast of Perth and Kinross district. 
[[File:Opencast.jpg|thumb|Westfield open cast pictured before water flooding. Approximated at 700 ft deep.]]

The name of the village derives from [[Scottish Gaelic]], although the exact meaning is obscure. The name was first recorded as "Kilglassin" in 1127. The first element, kil, is from the Gaelic, ''cill'', meaning monk's cell or church, but was changed to kin or ''ceann'', meaning head or end, by the 13th century. The element 'glassie' may refer to the Irish saint Glaisne, or may be glasin, meaning the place of the burn. Taken together this gives "St Glaisne's Church" or "Church of the Burn" as possible meanings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kinglassie |url=https://fife-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/placename/?id=672 |website=Fife Place-name Data |access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref>

Little of antiquity remains, except for the Dogton Stone, with its Celtic cross, situated in a field about a mile (1.5&nbsp;km) to the south. For many years, Kinglassie was a weaving village, but in the 19th and 20th centuries it developed as a mining town.

From a very early period through to the [[Reformation]], Scotland was dotted over with certain divisions of lands known as "Schyres." Thus, in the immediate neighbourhood of Kinross were ''Kynros-Schyre'', ''Portmocke-Schyre'', ''Kinglassy-Schyre'', ''Muchard-Schyre'', and ''Doloure-Schyre''. These Schyres must not be confused with the [[shire]] of the present day; they were simply divisions of land, similar in extent to an average modern parish.

Kinglassie has a primary school, Mitchell Hall (1896) and the Miners' Welfare Institute (est. 1931). Fife Airport lies about a mile (1.5&nbsp;km) to the north and, on a hill overlooking the farm of Redwells, stands Blythe's Folly, a {{convert|15.6|m|ft|adj=mid|-high}} tower built in 1812 by an eccentric Leith ship owner. Kinglassie's development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries was marked by its rapid expansion to house mine workers. Many mine workers perished or were injured during the life of the mine. The mine was plagued by water flooding problems. The Kinglassie Pit started in 1908 and closed in 1967. The Westfield open cast coal mine lies to the west of the village and is still regarded as the biggest man-made hole in Europe by local people.

[[Glastian of Kinglassie]] B (AC) (also known as Glastian of MacGlastian) was born in Fife, Scotland. He died at Kinglassie (Kinglace), Scotland, in 830. As bishop of Fife, Saint Glastian mediated in the bloody civil war between the Picts and the Scots. When the Picts were subjugated, Glastian did much to alleviate their lot. He is the patron saint of Kinglassie in Fife and is venerated in Kyntire (Benedictines, Husenbeth).<ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmhHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA353 |accessdate=2021-09-03 |location=Dublin |page=353 |last=Butler |first=Alban |title=The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints |volume=I |publisher=J. Duffy |year=1868}}</ref>