Burntisland Heritage Trust Convenor (and professional cartographer) Ian Archibald tries to make sense of the plan below, which was found in a Burntisand attic and which had previously been discovered in an office of the old Burntisland Town Council:

"They say that every picture tells a story but the same thing can sometimes be said about a map or a plan. This plan was found a few years ago in a Burntisland attic. It was brought into Burntisland Heritage for an opinion as to when it might have been prepared and why? At first glance it is obvious that it is a plan of Burntisland but look a bit closer and you discover that the town isn’t quite as we know it today. The ‘Reference’ or legend on the plan indicates existing housing, roads and public buildings. This key ‘Reference’ also proposes the same for new housing, roads and public buildings. The result is a plan with quite a few surprises! For example it shows –

• The site of a new station to the south of Links Place.
• The site of a new school on the south side of Haugh Road (known locally as ‘Coo Hill').
• A new church adjacent to the ruins of the old church at the Kirkton.
• A new Community Centre also at the Kirkton.
• A by-pass route to the north of the town from Aberdour Road to near the golf club on Kirkcaldy Road.
• A new route from East Leven Street linking to the west end of the High Street with a car park replacing the site of the historic houses in Sommerville Square.
• Different road layouts for houses at Kilmundy, Cotburn and the Binn estates.

Following some research and by referring to the National Map Library of Scotland, the compilation of base plan(s) dates back to 1914. This has subsequently been updated and overlaid with detail from revised Ordnance Survey mapping in 1943. Burntisland Heritage archive aerial photography from 1947 and 1948 shows the start of new housing road layouts. However these are not as depicted on the ‘attic’ plan. From this we can deduce that the plan dates to ca.1944/45. This is also endorsed by the fact that at this particular time towards the end of the Second World War there was an understanding that Germany would be defeated. The Local Authorities for the cities and towns (in this case Burntisland Town Council) were asked to prepare growth and expansion plans as a vision for the future."

Please click on the plan for a large scale version (opens in a new tab or window).
 

Webpage by Iain Sommerville; Help on bookmarking this page.