Glenrothes is located to the Northeast of central Scotland, in a little kingdom we call Fife. It’s a nice enough place… which is an understatement. It has won The Britain in Bloom award in 2011 and although it no longer takes part it really is a pretty in springtime.
Image Tudoran Andrei/Shutterstock
Glenrothes is less typical than many places design-wise being built in the post-second world war years as one of the designated ‘New Towns’. Glenrothes was designed to house the miners and was built across a large area of rural land that accounted for a fair few smaller communities. It’s weird to think that a town was planned and built but it was, and as late as 1949. Compared to everything else in Scotland, Glenrothes is just a baby.
One thing you will notice in Glenrothes is the remarkable neatness of it all. The streets are all squared off, the roads all neat. Everything is reasonably well-tended because it isn’t really that old. So because Glenrothes doesn’t have as much history as many other Scottish towns, we have included attractions in the rest of the local area, too.
So if you were in Glenrothes for a week and you wanted to see all the best bits – what would we recommend? Let’s find out!
Glenrothes in Five Minutes
If you were to spend an afternoon browsing the sights of Glenrothes; here is the Five Minutes Spare guide to what you should see!
The Riverside Park
When you are visiting a quiet town the one thing you can be sure of is that you can always find a way to get back to nature. The Riverside Park is a lovely area for walking, for taking the kids, and even for having a picnic. For the four or five days of summer, we have each year this is where the locals will flock to sunbathe. Glenrothes has a thriving digital technology industry and you can find many a boffin here, sharing a sandwich and a latte.
This park is particularly beautiful in autumn when the trees start to change colours. They have some good adventure play areas and the kids really love it. There is a miniature loch too, making it perfect for summer months.
Balfarg Henge
Because this is Scotland and very little makes sense here; you can find this smaller, more accessible version of Stonehenge in the centre of a residential estate in central Scotland. That’s right, outside someone’s front garden in Glenrothes there is a circle of standing stones. Rather than rip the stones out and disturb this ancient ritual ground; builders simply built around it. It was only in 1950, remember, so we had some appreciation of conserving the past.
That being said; it is very strange to find a stone circle faced onto by several houses. Kids play on it. Dogs pee on it. It is estimated that the stones were erected in 4000BC after a 1970’s excavation discovered burnt wood and bone they could date. What an awesome thing to have on your doorstep. You must check it out.
Glenrothes Heritage Centre
The Heritage Centre is basically a fancy way of saying it is a museum. The area was formerly part of the lands of the Duke of Rothes, and the museum tends to focus on the lands during this time. The Heritage Centre can trace the Earls and Dukes from the 16th century down to today, contains paintings and artefacts from ancient Fife, and can detail the places that makeup Glenrothes and some of the surrounding areas. These include:
- Markinch
- Kingussie
- Coaltown of Balgonie
- Milton of Balgonie
- Leslie
- Thornton
The Kingdom Shopping Centre
The aforementioned Heritage Centre is actually inside this shopping centre. Weirdly, all of the shops in Glenrothes are inside this shopping centre in the middle of town. When the Glenrothes Planning department were looking at expansion in recent years they were put off because the shopping mall is full. There simply isn’t room for any more amenities… or so they say.
Check it out if you are in Glenrothes and need somewhere to do your shopping. You can usually find all the teenagers of town here on any given Saturday afternoon.
The Coaltown of Balgonie
This is a neighbouring village that can give you a great glimpse into rural fife life if you are interested. It has a few interesting sites, but we most recommend the Balbirnie Stone Circle (Fifers love their circles) and the Dogton Stone (they also love a good stone). Balbirnie Castle is a must-see. There is a lot of history to this restored chateau. Unfortunately, it is now a hotel so if you want a good look around you may need to pay.
The Dogton Stone dates to 900 AD and was erected by the Picts. It is actually a Pictish cross that is still standing to this day. This is a rare, ancient site that you don’t see everywhere. The Balbirnie stone circle is the opposing part of the Balfarg Henge. It was built around the same time and is also surrounded by a housing estate. There is more of it left than there is the other. Also worth a quick look is the Ruins of Pitcairn House which are now pretty well preserved and act as a landmark in the Collydean area of the town. Originally built in the 1600s as a laird’s house what is left of it is it is still quite imposing.
The remains of Pitcairn House – the gable end is about 6 metres high.
Image: alanf/Shutterstock.com
Other Notable Attractions of Glenrothes
There really isn’t all that much history in Glenrothes. That being said, there are a few other attractions we didn’t mention yet. These include:
- Balbirnie Park – if you don’t like the Riverside Park then take a trip to the smaller (but wilder) Balbirnie Park.
- Visit the River Leven Suspension Bridge which is best seen at night.
- See the solemn statue of the Defenceless One to tug on your heartstrings. Presented by its German twin town Boblingen.
- Go fishing for trout in Upper Carriston fishery – or go to the Lomond Hills Fishery, depending on your choice.
Any Sporting Attractions?
Well if you like golf you are sorted as it has not one but two 18 hole courses! Glenrothes Golf Club located on the aptly named Golf Course Road is a challenging 18 holer in a parkland setting. It is a par 71, and at 6406 yards you will get a bit of gentle exercise playing it too. The other is the Balbirnie Park Golf Club, which is about a 7 minute drive away. It is another par 71 but slightly shorter.
If football is more your thing and you prefer the grassroots variety then pop along to the Warout Stadium, home of Glenrothes FC. They have recently moved up to senior level and currently play (2019-20) in the third tier of the East of Scotland Football League. This is part of the Scottish Football pyramid with the league above being the Lowland League, the winner of which plays off against the Highland league each year for a shot at getting into the Scottish League proper.
The Clubs only major honour to date was their 1-0 win in 1975 in front of a crowd of 17,776
In Name Only!
Whiskey drinkers will be familiar with the famous Glenrothes brand of Malt Whiskey, however, the world-famous Scotch is not produced in the town (or even close) being a product of one of the four remaining distilleries located in Rothes, Moray a good three-hour drive up the East Coast.
Bears the name but is produced Some 145 miles away in Rothes!
Editorial credit: enricobaringuarise / Shutterstock.com
Still got Time to Kill?
If you are still looking for a way to kill five minutes then see some of our other travel articles. You can even check up on law or learn a new skill – and all in five minutes. Have a look for yourself… you won’t believe the things you can do in just five short minutes…
