Colinsburgh

   COLINSBURGH, a market-town, in the parish of Kilconquhar, district of St. Andrew's, county of Fife, 10 miles (S. by E.) from Cupar, and 28½ (N. E. by N.) from Edinburgh; containing 482 inhabitants. This place is pleasantly situated in the south of the parish, and on the great road from the eastern to the western part of the county along the southern coast. It is neatly built, and inhabited chiefly by persons employed in trade, for the supply of the parish with various articles of merchandise, and in weaving for the manufacturers of Dundee, Kirkcaldy, and other towns. The currying trade is also carried on, by a company who are proprietors of the tannery at Kilconquhar, and who manufacture leather to the amount of £15,000 per annum, and afford employment to about twenty-four persons. The market, which is a large mart for grain, is held on Wednesday, and is numerously attended by farmers and dealers from the neighbourhood; the corn is sold by sample, and considerable quantities are forwarded to Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other ports, for exportation. Fairs are held in June and October, for cattle; and in March, when the East Fife Agricultural Society hold their meeting in the town, there is a public market at which great numbers of cattle are exposed for sale. Colinsburgh is a burgh of barony under the family of Lindsay, earls of Balcarres, from whose ancestor, Colin, third earl, the place derived its name. In the immediate vicinity is the elegant residence of Balcarres House; and overhanging it, appears the Crag of Balcarres, which confers the title, and is a rock of considerable altitude. The present earl is the acknowledged chief of the very ancient house of Lindsay, many of the members of which have been interred in the old chapel near the mansion. A school has been established.