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The town of Kirkcaldy is a former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is north of Edinburgh and south-southeast of Dundee.

With a population of about 50,000, it is the second-largest settlement in Fife and the twelfth most populous settlement in Scotland.

The discovery of Bronze Age burials dating from 2500 BC and 500 BC suggests that the area was a funerary site during this period. Although there are a few Roman sites in Fife, a Roman camp was known to exist on the town's outskirts.

The first documented acknowledgement of the town was in 1075, when the Malcolm III, King of Scots, granted the shire of Kirkcaldunt to the church at Dunfermline. Residents were expected to pay taxes for the church's upkeep. Two charters, in 1128 and 1130, refer to Kircalethin and Kirkcaladunit respectively, although their locations were not given.

In 1304, a weekly market and annual fair was proposed by the Abbot of Dunfermline to King Edward I, during a period of English rule. During these discussions, the town was referred to as "one of the most ancient of burghs."

During the late 14th century, David II requested a regality charter for Kirkcaldy, and, by the middle of the 15th century, the town gained independence from the abbey.

Unlike most Scottish towns, Kirkcaldy had no defensive stone walls. Rather, its inhabitants depended on the sea for protection. The construction of Ravenscraig Castle, around 1460, lowered its vulnerability, as it was accompanied by small walls or dykes built on rigs west of High Street. Most of the dykes includes small gates for the convenience of the town crofts and burgesses, and three main gates became the entry points to the burgh; they were located at East Port, West Port, and near the Old Kirk on Kirk Wynd.

The town was accessible through a sheltered cove around the East Burn, and this became known as Kircaldy Harbour. A local shipping trade grew here by the early 16th century, as local ships were trading with the Baltic. Later, a shipbuilding trade developed, although it operated for only a short time.

Kirkcaldy became part of the Convention of Royal Burghs in 1574, and Charles I renewed its status as a royal burgh in 1644.

More than two hundred and fifty Kirkcaldy men were killed because of local support for the Covenanting War of 1644-65, and shortly afterwards, Oliver Cromwell's troops nearly destroyed the town. Kirkcaldy was also affected by the Jacobite rebellions in 1715 and again in 1745.

Kirkcaldy's shipbuilding industry was resurrected for a time near the end of the 18th century, and the town also hosted a leather making industry, a brick and tile works, a cotton spinning mill, and linen factories.

When the Industrial Revolution made its way to Kirkcaldy in the early 19th century, the Kirkcaldy and District Railway (North British Railway) boosted industrial development, and revived the town's port, as the harbour was used for the import of flax, timber, and hemp, as well as exports of coal, salt, and linen. Iron foundries were opened in Kirkcaldy, and its linen mills specialised in the coarse material used as sailcloth. Linoleum was introduced by the Scottish Linoleium Company, which later became Barry, Ostlere and Shepherd. Other industries included carpets, coal, flour, furniture, malt, pottery, printing, and electrical engineering.

Following World War II, Kirkcaldy entered a period of rapid residential and private housing construction to meet a rising housing crisis. New developments were built to the north west, and areas like Sinclairtown and Linktown saw a great deal of redevelopment from the 1950s to the 1980s. Several school were built to address the town's rising population and post-war births.

Growth slowed somewhat in the 1970s and 1980s, as the town's linoleum industries declined, although some linoleium manufacture continues today. Kirkcaldy Harbour was closed to main traffic in 1992.

Today, Kirkcaldy remains a busy town with a modern school system, two campuses of Adam Smith College, and flourishing shopping areas in the town centre and Sinclairtown. A business and retail park opened to the north west of the town centre recently, and additional housing developments have taken place in Seafield, Chapel, and the harbour areas.

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