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Concept
Binnend
Summary
Binnend, also known as Binnend Village and The Binn, is an abandoned industrial village located two miles north of Burntisland in Fife. It was established in the late 1870s to house workers at the nearby shale oil extraction works.
The shale works at Binnend broke ground in 1878. The village was established a few years later to house workers and their families. Shale was extracted from mines and loaded into retorts to be heated for oil extraction. The works also had factories where oil and wax products were manufactured. These included fertiliser made of ammonia, naptha to make rubber and paint, lubrications and oils for burning, and candles.
After the oil works closed in 1892 the population of Binnend Village began to decline as work was no longer available. The land was sold to the Whinnyhall Estate.
The Village was briefly used in the First World War. Houses were used for Admiralty staff who were working at Rosyth, while the school was used to provide accommodation for troops. Houses were also given to women who had lost their husbands in the war. It also provided affordable housing for workers at the nearby aluminium works and shipyards.
Its population declined again in the 1920s and 1930s. Most houses were used as holiday houses for people from other parts of Scotland, including Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Binnend Village was formally closed in 1931 due to the fact it had no piped water, gas, electricity or sanitation. The owners of the village, the Whinnyhall Estate, realised it would be too difficult to upgrade the houses to a modern standard of living. The roofs of unoccupied houses were removed so that the Estate was not required to pay rates, and all regular maintenance was ceased.
Some residents stayed on. In 1950 there were about 16 residents. In 1952, two couples named the Hoods and McLarens remained in the village, where they lived in adjacent houses. The McLarens moved away in 1952 when a council house became available in Burntisland. The last inhabitants, Mr and Mrs Hood, remained until Mrs Hood died in 1954 and George Hood (aged 74) moved to live with his son in 1954.
Official source
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