- Oakley, Fife
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Coordinates: 56°04′N 3°34′W / 56.07°N 3.56°W
Oakley 
Blair Tower, north-east of Oakley
Oakley
Oakley shown within FifeOS grid reference NT0388 Council area Fife Shire county Fife Country Scotland Sovereign state United Kingdom Police Fife Fire Fife Ambulance Scottish EU Parliament Scotland UK Parliament Dunfermline and West Fife Scottish Parliament Dunfermline West List of places: UK • Scotland • Oakley is a village in Fife, Scotland located at the mutual border of Carnock and Culross parishes, Fife, about 5 miles (8.0 km) W by N of Dunfermline on the A 907.
The village was built in connection with the Forth or Oakley Iron-works (1846), now all gone along with the colliery industry. The iron-works, now stopped, had six furnaces, with stacks 180 feet (55 m) high, and the engine-house was built with walls so deeply founded and so massive as to comprise 60 cubic feet (1.7 m3) of stone below the surface of the ground. Subsequent to the Iron Works the buildings were used as a sawmill producing rough timber for railway sleepers, fence posts and the like. Comrie Colliery closed in 1986, and the village took many years to recover from this major employer's demise. The old Dunfermline to Stirling railway line has now been converted to a very pleasant cycle track used in all weathers by a wide variety of people. Pop. (1861) 1817, (1871) 1127, (1881) 3l2, (1891) 369.
Two burns merge in the village, the Oakley and Comrie Burns, again a pleasant walking area in the summer months and when the water isn't too high, you can walk across it because of the rocks. The Oakley Burn, which runs right through the middle of the village, splits Oakley in two. There are adequate religious establishments; the Holy Name Catholic church, which boasts magnificent stained-glass windows by Gabriel Loire, a French stained glass artist of the 20th century, is well subscribed to. The church was built in 1956-58 for Roman Catholic miners who moved from Lanarkshire to work in the more prosperous coalfields of West Fife.
The village is made up of a wide variety of housing with modern schemes in Comrie; most of the houses built in the 1950s for incoming mineworkers from the west coast have been purchased by the occupants. There is a pub, The Greyhound Bar, in the centre of the village, and a Social Club on the main A907. There is a small industrial estate to the north of the village, providing some employment around the area.
To the south lies Inzievar House once visited by Jules Verne, now converted into flats. There is a thriving broad wood industry operated by Scottish Woods within the woodland.
Contents
Education
There were two primary schools situated in Oakley, one Roman Catholic named Holy Name, the other Inzievar primary. However, recently a new building has been built which holds the library and both schools. This building is now Oakley Campus.
Health
Oakley Health Centre provides a wide and comprehensive programme of health care from the cradle to the grave, including a dental surgery, podiatry clinic, physiotherapy clinic, and cardiology nit.
Public library
The library has limited opening hours and is situated within the Oakley Campus. It provides books to suit all ages from babies onwards. Information resources including community information and useful reference materials are also available. The library also offers access to the internet and access to learning information from history books to scudbooks.[1]
Transport
Stagecoach run the services 74, 74a and 74b which run very often from the new Dunfermline Bus station from around 5.30am until around 23.45 pm.
References
Categories:- Villages in Fife
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