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The town of Newburgh
Newburgh is an attractive town with a history influenced by the river
Over 750 years old
Newburgh is around 750 years old. It was given its name in 1266 when it received a royal charter from King Alexander III. The nearby Lindores Abbey is even older. It was founded in 1191 by monks from Thiron, France, of the Tyronesian order begun by St Bernard of Abbeville.
The orchards of Newburgh
The monks developed the soil and planted fruit trees, to grow fruit for their own consumption, to make alcohol, to trade and to supply the Scottish royal court at Falkand.
The orchards stretched along the hillside where Newburgh is now. Their fruit was famous throughout Scotland.
Whisky in Newburgh
Lindores Abbey in Newburgh is also famous as the birthplace of Scottish Whisky owing to its links to Friar John Cor, a Tironensian monk at the Abbey.
The Abbey lands are home to the McKenzie Smith family and have been for the last 100 years.
Lindores Abbey Distillery, opened in 2017, has grown to become an important tourist attraction.
Industry in the town
Newburgh was a prosperous industrial town pulling in workers for the factories from surrounding towns and villages. For some time, Newburgh's industries chiefly consisted of the making of linen, linoleum floorcloth, oilskin fabric and quarrying. There was a net and coble fishery mainly for salmon and sea trout. The main employer from the early 1920s until the 1980s was the linoleum factory known locally as the "Tayside". Another factory, known locally as "The Oilskin", produced oilskin fabric for waterproof clothing such as fishermen's suits and Sou'westers.Today, only the nearby Chatchard Quarry remains in use.
Brief facts and figures
