Rosyth
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| Town and Garden City | |
 Photo of Rosyth Dockyard. | |
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  Rosyth Location withinFife | |
| Area | 3.2 sq mi (8.3 km2) |
| Population | 13,570 (2022)[1] |
| • Density | 4,241/sq mi (1,637/km2) |
| OS grid reference | NT108831 |
| • Edinburgh | 10.5 mi (16.9 km)S |
| • London | 340 mi (550 km)S |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DUNFERMLINE |
| Postcode district | KY11 |
| Dialling code | 01383 |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
| 56°02′02″N3°25′56″W / 56.03388°N 3.43226°W /56.03388; -3.43226 | |
Rosyth/rəˈsaɪθ/ ⓘ (Scottish Gaelic:Ros Fhìobh)[2] is a town and Garden City inFife,Scotland, on the coast of theFirth of Forth.
Scotland's firstGarden City,[3] Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south ofDunfermline city centre and 10 miles northwest ofEdinburgh city centre. To the west of Rosyth liesLimekilns and to the east liesInverkeithing.
Rosyth was founded along with the finished construction ofRosyth Dockyard in March 1916, built as a naval base forWorld War I battleships to protect theNorth Sea. Rosyth played a key role inWorld War II defending the North Sea especially during theGerman occupation of Norway. It was then redeveloped to maintainsubmarines and serve as a port and business park.[4]
Rosyth is near the narrowest crossing point of the Firth of Forth, so has long been strategically important, evidenced by the 15th centuryRosyth Castle. Rosyth is home to 12Historic Scotlandlisted buildings[5] as well as sections of long distance footpaths theFife Coastal Path and theFife Pilgrim Way.[6][7]
Today, Rosyth is asuburbancommuter town of Edinburgh and Dunfermline.[8]Rosyth Railway Station is on theFife Circle Line and the town is bypassed by theM90 motorway. Rosyth has a population of 13,570 (2022), making the town the 5th largest in Fife.[9]
Rosyth is within theCowdenbeath constituency of theScottish Parliament,[10] currently held byAnnabelle Ewing of theScottish National Party,[11] as well as theMid Scotland and Fife electoral region.
For theUK Parliament, Rosyth is located in theDunfermline and Dollar constituency and is represented byGraeme Downie of theLabour Party, who won election in the2024 General Election.
Rosyth has three representatives on Fife Council: Brian Goodall (Scottish National Party), Tony Jackson (Scottish National Party) and Andrew Verrecchia (Labour Party).
Rosyth is best known for its large NavalDockyard, formerly theRoyal Naval Dockyard Rosyth. The town was planned as agarden city with accommodation for the construction workers and dockyard workers. Today, the dockyard is almost 2.2 square kilometres (0.85 sq mi) in size, a large proportion of which wasreclaimed during construction.
Rosyth,Inverkeithing and nearbyCharlestown were major centres ofshipbreaking activity, notably the salvage of much of the German fleet scuttled atGutter Sound,Scapa Flow,[12] theCunard Line'sRMS Mauretania, and theWhite Star Line'sRMS Olympic.
The associated military naval base closed in 1994, and noRoyal Navy ships arepermanently based at Rosyth, though some ships now return for docking and refit activities, includingSandown-classminehunters andQueen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.
Rosyth's dockyards became the first in theRoyal Navy to beprivatised whenBabcock International acquired the site in 1987. The privatisation followed almost eighty years of contribution to thedefence of theUnited Kingdom which spanned twoWorld Wars and theCold War with theSoviet Union, during which Rosyth became a keynuclear submarine maintenance establishment.
When the final submarine refit finished in 2003, a project to undertake earlynuclear decommissioning of the submarine refit and allied facilities – Project RD83 – began pre-planning. The project was funded byMinistry of Defence, in accordance with the contractual agreement in place following the sale of the dockyard, but management and sub-contracting was the responsibility of the dockyard owner,Babcock Engineering Services. The main decommissioning sub-contractor wasEdmund Nuttall Limited.
Work began in 2006 and was finished in 2010. The project completed ahead of programme and under-budget, which is unusual in nuclear decommissioning activities. Notably some nuclear liabilities do remain at Rosyth Dockyard.
The dockyard was the site for final assembly of the twoQueen Elizabeth-classaircraft carriers for the Royal Navy's future carrier project.
A number ofMinistry of Defence establishments and military bases are located both in and around the Naval dockyard at Rosyth.
In November 2016 the UK Government announced thatMoD Caledonia would close in 2022.[13] On 1 April 2023 it was renamed HMS Caledonia and its future is assured.[14]
There are Sea, Army and AirCadets located in Rosyth. The Sea and Air cadets are located in the Naval Dockyard insideHMS Caledonia, whereas the Army cadets is located next to Park Road Primary School on Middlebank Street.
Starting in 2002, an overnightferry service linked Rosyth withZeebrugge inBelgium. This service was discontinued bySuperfast Ferries in September 2008, but recommenced in May 2009 under new operatorNorfolkline.[15] They ran three sailings a week in each direction.
Norfolkline was taken over byDFDS Seaways, who subsequently reduced the service to freight-only, three sailings a week in each direction.[16] The service was terminated in 2018 following a fire aboard one of the ships.[17]
In June 2022, it was reported that talks were underway to restore the ferry route, withDFDS operating a freight service from early 2023, with passenger service expected by summer 2023, however as of 2024 this is yet to start.[18]
The fifteenth centuryRosyth Castle stands on the perimeter of the dockyard complex, at the entry to the ferry terminal, and was once surrounded by the Firth of Forth on almost all sides, until land reclamation by the docks in the early 1900s.
The Scottish National Housing Company (SNHC) was apublic utility company set up in 1915 to provide houses for employees at Rosyth naval dockyard; shares were taken by Dunfermline town council with thePublic Works Loan Board lending the money.[19] Work on building housing for the dockyard workers had been delayed due to disagreements between the Admiralty and Dunfermline council about who should take financial responsibility (1909–15).[20] Some workers were accommodated in temporary huts called East and West Bungalow village and nicknamed 'tin town'.[21]
From the first proposals for a new settlement at Rosyth, it was suggested it should be developed alongGarden City lines.[22] The town planning scheme was passed in 1915 and the first houses were occupied in 1916.[19][4]Raymond Unwin was appointed advisor to the Admiralty. Rosyth became the largest of the permanent First World War housing schemes in Scotland.[4] Unwin's assistant Alfred Hugh Mottram worked on the layout and became the SNHC's main architect, designing over 1,400 cottage-style houses.[23] Mottram also designed the B-listed Rosyth Parish Church (1930).[24][25]
Scottish Enterprise Fife is now working in partnership with various private sector organisations to explore the future development of Rosyth. The agency is looking at ways to expand the ferry services to other European and domestic ports. It also wants to help create new business infrastructure in and around Rosyth – which in turn will bring economic benefits toFife and beyond.
The main dock area – operated by Forth Ports – is ripe for further development.[needs update] Since opening in 1997, the port has seen rising timber and cargo vessels use the facility. Its warehouse and logistics facilities make an ideal choice for exporters and importers.
A private developer owned site was developed into an £80 million business park – called Rosyth Europarc. More than 13,000 m2 (140,000 sq ft) of office and hi-tech manufacturing have already been developed. Companies like Intelligent Finance andBank of Scotland are on site. To complement these developments, a new £8.4 million road was built to provide an enhanced link to the nearbyM90 motorway.
TheM90 motorway andA823(M) motorway bypass the town which link Rosyth toDunfermline,Perth, andKinross to the north, as well asSouth Queensferry andEdinburgh to the south.
The main road going through Rosyth is theA985 road which links the town withInverkeithing,Dalgety Bay to the east as well as the Kincardine Bridge to the west which links the town toFalkirk,Stirling andGlasgow.
There are plans to build a new "Park and Choose" facility in Rosyth next toRosyth railway station which would allow more bus and train connections as well as take pressure off of Halbeath in Dunfermline and Ferrytoll in Inverkeithing'sPark and ride bus stations. It could potentially bring new routes to Rosyth and increase passengers.[26]
There is one Train Station in Rosyth in the extreme north of the town -Rosyth railway station. It is a part of theFife Circle Line and mainly serves two train routes towards:
There are bus connections connecting Rosyth with various places in Scotland.
East Scotland Stagecoach Bus connections:
There areEmber Coach busses running all day and all night toDundee (stops inKinross,Bridge of Earn andPerth) andEdinburgh including the terminal atEdinburgh Airport at night, during the day it stops atIngliston Park and Ride and includes a free one stop tram to the airport terminal with the ticket. As of November 2024, a new service betweenAberdeen andEdinburgh opened linking the town directly to Aberdeen with stops being the same as the Dundee route and additionally;Forfar,Brechin,Drumlithie,Newtonhill, andPortlethen.
There are 4 Primary Schools currently located inside Rosyth as well as aFife College Campus inside the Dockyard area of Rosyth.
Primary Schools located inside Rosyth:
Currently students from these schools go intoInverkeithing High School after Primary 7, but starting August 2026, students will start to go to the new Rosyth / South West Fife High School which is currently under construction.
There is also a special education school located in the Dockyard called The Bridges Centre.
On 11 July 2024, construction for a future high school started in Caledonia Heights, Rosyth to replace the 50 year oldInverkeithing High School in the neighbouring town of Inverkeithing.[29] It is planned to open to students by August 2026. The current name for the school is South West Fife High School however, this could change. It is projected to be able to handle 1,735 students which is more than Inverkeithing High School has enrolled.[30] The school will likely teach students from Rosyth,Inverkeithing,Hillend,Dalgety Bay,North Queensferry,Aberdour,High Valleyfield, and also from SouthernDunfermline.
The town has arugby union club,Rosyth Sharks, which play in theCaledonia Midlands Three league and afootball clubRosyth FC that plays in theEast of Scotland Football League.
Morthouse – located in the Church of Scotland cemetery.
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