1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Newburgh (Scotland)

NEWBURGH, a royal and police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1904. It is situated on the Firth of Tay, 7 m. N.W. of Ladybank Junction by the North British Railway. Its industries chiefly consist of the making of linen and floorcloth, malting and quarrying, and there are fisheries, especially of salmon. The harbour is used for the transhipment of the cargoes of Perth-bound vessels of over 200 tons. On high ground, about 1 m. S.W., stand the remains (only the pedestal) of Macduff’s Cross, which marks the spot where the clan Macduff—in return for the chief’s services against Macbeth—was granted rights of sanctuary and composition for murder done in hot blood. Denmyln castle, about 11/2 m. S.E. of Newburgh, was the home for more than 250 years of the Balfour family, of which the two brothers, Sir James (1600–1657), the annalist and Lyon King, and Sir Andrew (1630–1694), founder of the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, were the most distinguished members. Lindores abbey, the gem of the district, is situated on the Tay, close to Newburgh, and 11/2m. N. of the village of Lindores. Of the Benedictine abbey, founded in 1178 by David, earl of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion, there only remain the groined arch of the principal entrance, a portion of the west tower and other Early English fragments, but the ground plan of the whole structure can still be traced. The monks were noted agriculturists and their orchards famous. At Blackearnside, a forest of alders, to the east of the village, Wallace defeated the earl of Pembroke in 1298.