Pitlessie

   PITLESSIE, a village, in the parish of Cults, district of Cupar, county of Fife, 3 miles (W. S. W.) from Cupar; containing 490 inhabitants. This is a considerable village, on the great road from Cupar to Kirkcaldy, lying in the north-eastern quarter of the parish, and a short distance south of the river Eden. A large part of the population is employed in linen-weaving, of which the chief article is dowlas, for the manufacturers of the neighbouring towns, who have agents here, and by whom the materials are supplied. Along the brow of Pitlessie hill are extensive limestone quarries. Though this is the principal, and, properly so called, the only village, the parish church is nearly a mile distant from it; but it contains a dissenting place of worship in connexion with the United Associate Synod, and the parish school. The estimable and gifted Wilkie was a native of this parish; his first regular effort, while yet a youth, was "Pitlessie Fair," a fine picture, now in the possession of the Kinnear family, of Kinloch. It contains upwards of one hundred and fifty figures, graphically delineated and admirably grouped, including portraits of himself, his father, who was incumbent of the parish, brothers and sisters, and many other persons well known in the immediate neighbourhood of Pitlessie, during the painter's earlier years.