County town: Cupar
Fife is one of Scotland's ancient provinces, described as a 'kingdom' since at least the 12th century. It became a sheriffdom from the medieval period, with Cupar as its administrative centre.
Fife is a peninsula between the Forth and the Tay, known since at least the 12th century as the 'Kingdom of Fife'. St Andrews, on its north-east coast, was Scotland's first university town (1413) and the ecclesiastical capital of medieval Scotland, whose cathedral was the largest building in the country. It is also the home of golf — the Royal and Ancient Golf Club was founded here in 1754 on the Old Course, the oldest golf course in the world. The county's coal measures in the west made parts of it heavily industrial. Its fishing ports — Pittenweem, Anstruther, Crail — are among the most picturesque in Scotland.
The Statistical Accounts of Scotland — the Old Statistical Account (1791–99) and the New Statistical Account (1834–45) — provide detailed parish-by-parish descriptions of Fife at two moments of transformation. Aubrey draws on these accounts when generating reports for Scottish locations, providing historical context specific to the parish and county.
Scotland's 33 traditional counties, established as sheriffdoms from the 12th century onward, were the administrative framework of the country until the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 replaced them with regional councils. They remain the reference framework for historical records, genealogy, and cultural identity.
An Aubrey report for a specific location in Fife draws on historical maps, archaeological records, Domesday data, Statistical Account records, and landscape history to tell the full story of any site in the county.
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