A quiet green space near to the present day Promenade seems an unlikely  source of rancour and political manouvering.
Yet the Volunteers Green more than lived up to its military past when it was central to a bitter dispute that saw national politicians involved and local people power mobilised.
It also, happily, led directly to the birth of Kirkcaldy Civic  Society.

Kirkcaldy's Volunteers Green is now a well-known and well-loved quiet oasis in which to sit and reflect, safely away from the hectic pace of modern life. It was not always so with the Green having a long history of involvement in civic and military matters. In fact, over the centuries many battles have been fought, if not on the Green certainly over the Green, to ensure its preservation as a place of recreation.

 

Its history reaches back to the 17th century when, in 1644, King Charles I  granted Royal Burgh status to Kirkcaldy. Simultaneously, the King, under the terms of the Town's new Charter, gifted 8.172 acres to the fledgling Royal Burgh as common land for the specific purposes of recreation, bleaching and dyeing. The Town Council were appointed as Trustees for the ground. It is important to understand that the Council were not the owners – they were simply managing it on behalf of its owners – the inhabitants of Kirkcaldy. All that is left of these acres is what you see today and it is known and has been since 1859 as the Volunteers Green.

 

Originally the ground stretched from Thistle and Market Streets to the shoreline and from George Burn Wynd in the east to Louden’s Wynd in the west. In those long gone days Kirkcaldy could be almost completely contained in the area from the High Street to the shore. The area granted to the town was known as the Common, the Commonity, or the South Links. Part of it was referred to as the Volunteers Green when the town's militia drilled there. The militia were the forerunners of the Volunteers/Territorial Army. They were a force which mustered in times of crisis and disbanded when the crisis passed.  It was normal that, after any crisis passed, the area reverted back to the names mentioned above.

 

Almost from the start this large expanse of ground was used as a meeting place or venue for events which drew large numbers of people. It was obviously an open air venue and it was not until 1859 with the opening of the second Corn Exchange that Kirkcaldy had an indoor facility capable of holding events which attracted significant numbers. The portion known as the Volunteers Green was the major site for such meetings as it was within easy walking distance for the bulk of the town's inhabitants. It also had the benefit that, after 1836, it was enclosed by a wall which gave a border to this recognised meeting place.

The mustering of the militia and subsequently the Volunteers between 1859 and 1901 were two of the groups who made liberal use of the area but the records show that mass meetings were not unusual. They could be for entertainment, leisure, pleasure, or protest.

 

Some of the more notable well attended meetings included in 1840 an attempt to set up a local branch of the Chartists – a working class national protest movement aimed at parliamentary reform. In 1846 the repeal of the Corn Laws saw a massive celebratory parade take place on the 16th July. It is reputed that over 9,000 people attended with the parade commencing from the Green. In 1848, when a manufacturer attempted to reduce the wages paid to his weavers, a protest meeting was held on the Green.  This resulted in a well organised, well behaved, deputation marching from the Green to his house in protest – they numbered over 700!

 

Before the construction of the Esplanade there were significant numbers of small industries on what was then the Sands Road. In 1840 between the Green and the beach – a shipbuilding firm set up – difficult to believe that iron ships of up to 900 tons were once built and launched from that site.

 

In keeping with many towns, as the demand for land on which to build housing and factories increased, common ground was sold off. Very seldom were any real protests raised at these sales. However, this common land was steadily declining and by the start of the 19th century, in Kirkcaldy's case, it now measured less than 2 acres. People were starting to reflect on the loss of what was after all their land with voices being raised against the policy.

 

In 1836 clothes poles and an enclosing wall were erected in the portion we now know as the Volunteers Green. This was to serve those living in the tenements in the nearby streets and it had a water point in its centre.

 

New housing, especially in the Nicol Street area, led to “night soil” being dumped on the western side of the Green rendering it unusable for its Charter purposes. This dumping continued from 1832 until 1848 when a stop was put to the practice. However, this portion of ground was now a worthless desolate space with little grass, covered in stones, and certainly of no value in terms of recreation.

 

In the 1850s a famous court case brought against Musselburgh Town Council to prevent the sale of common land (known there as the Links) was won. The outcome had the immediate effect of stopping such sales for the time being. It seems to have encouraged a Kirkcaldy businessman, Mr Heggie, to take the Town Council to court. The Council had a mind to build a public toilet on the unusable portion mentioned above. Mr Heggie believed that the 1644 Charter did not permit building on common land. His court case was unsuccessful as it was believed that the toilet's benefits far outweighed the loss of the modest plot it was being built on.

 

In 1876 when Kirkcaldy merged with Pathhead, St.Clairtown, Gallatown and Linktown, the Council found it necessary to build new stables for the extended Burgh. They chose the portion of the Green which had suffered so badly from the dumping of the excrement. James Graham, a dyer, challenged this loss of common ground and, after the case was heard, followed by appeal after appeal, the Council lost. Perhaps foolishly, the Council had already started to build and rather than pull down their stables they conveyed a piece of ground at Nicol Street as an alternative. That ground still exists today, complete with a plaque to explain its origins.

 

The case was celebrated in as much as it reached the Court of Session. There was a genuine possibility that the new stables would have to be demolished. However, the Council were fortunate that the Court took the view that the stables should not be destroyed. While accepting the principal that the Council should not be building on common land they considered the land offered as a replacement to be adequate recompense. The judgement took the view that the inhabitants were better served with the new stables as opposed to the loss of a piece of land in a sorry condition.  While Mr Graham brought the case, he was in the employment of Mr Heggie – he, of the 1854 toilet fame. Most believed that Graham was simply a front for Heggie.

 

The clear result was that the Council had had a close shave and going forward had to be more careful with what they planned for common land. In terms of the concerns raised, the costs involved, and the loss of the case, it was a sobering lesson for the Council.

 

When the old houses surrounding the Green were demolished in the 1970s there was no longer a need for the drying area. The Green was left forlorn and bedraggled, but it became the scene of two battles. One was at the instigation of the Town Council and the other where the new District Council defended an attack on the Green.

 

An attempt by the Council, in 1973/74, to build a multi storey car park on a substantial part of the Green brought a furious reaction from the townspeople and resulted in a petition signed by 1,842 people condemning the idea. It also led to the founding of Kirkcaldy Civic Society, with the initial purpose of defending the area. In the face of such vehement and unyielding opposition, plus being unsure they could secure permission to turn common ground into a car park, the Council shelved the plan. It was subsequently built on its present site although that is now facing the prospect of demolition.

 

In 1975 the holding of an unauthorised market several times each week often reduced the Green to a grassless mud bath. This time the Council were determined to support the local shopkeepers who felt it was unfair competition, although the townspeople believed “a bargain is a bargain”. The dispute became deadlocked, with neither side giving way, but ultimately the Council secured their legal victory and the market was gone.

 

The Volunteers Green was saved although it was left as an unappetising and unedifying space for almost two decades, but in the 1990s significant sums were spent on landscaping the area, adding both a central plinth and a flagpole as a centre-point. This created a quiet space with many benches which was well used by locals and visitors alike.

 

As the years passed, in the 2020s, it was felt that the Green would benefit from a further revamp giving it a more open and modern look. There was certainly controversy over the way it was handled by the Council. Instead of consulting the people first the Council, in one fell swoop, destroyed every blade of grass and every shrub and bush within the Green's walls. Only at that stage did they think to consult the people.

 

A spend of some £830,000 has transformed the Green into a modern and open space. It will only improve as the bushes become established. While it is a fact that there was controversy it was never about preventing change – it was all about the failure to act as Trustees over the last vestige of common land. We end where we started – it is the people's ground, not the Council's.

 

The full narrative which is augments by photographs and newspaper snippets can be reached from the icon on this page.