Rosyth - town in Fife, Scotland, UK

Rosyth is a port in Fife in central Scotland. It was built from 1909 as housing for the workers at the Royal Navy dockyard so it's modern and industrial, with a population in 2016 of 13,780.

Understand

Dunfermline was effectively the capital of Scotland from the 11th century. It was reached from Edinburgh by the "Queen's Ferry" and a highway, later designated A823 / B980. The town grew rapidly to the east and south through 19th century coal-mining and other industry, and Rosyth and Inverkeithing were its main ports. In 1909 Rosyth was hived off to become a separate "garden city" or planned development along the highway from the ferry. Commercial shipping moved elsewhere, but Rosyth developed into a large Royal Navy base, with docks and various on-shore facilities. In 1964 the Forth Road Bridge opened, connecting with the M90 motorway north to Perth, and with a spur A823(M) for Dunfermline. These roads took the through-traffic off the historic highway and became the east and north boundaries of Rosyth. The Navy presence declined from the 1990s and large tracts of dockland and housing were transferred to civilian ownership; this process continues. From 2002 Rosyth was for few years a ferry port but this didn't prosper.

Get in

By road

Rosyth is 12 miles north of Edinburgh, follow M90 across the new Forth road bridge. (Cyclists must use the old bridge A9000). For the town, exit at junction 1C. For the navy base and industrial estate, exit at junction 1B immediately after the bridge.

By train

Rosyth is on the Fife Loop Line, with trains every 30 min from Edinburgh via Haymarket (for airport), Dalmeny (for South Queensferry), North Queensferry and Inverkeithing, taking 30 min. A walk-up single from Edinburgh is £6. These trains continue via Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath to Glenrothes-with-Thornton. Make sure you're on the clockwise loop train: the anticlockwise train is also shown as Glenrothes-with-Thornton but from Inverkeithing it follows the coast east to Kirkcaldy, with Rosyth receding behind you. If in doubt in Edinburgh, step aboard then you've got 20 min to Inverkeithing to decide whether to stay on or get off and await the next train.

Rosyth railway station 📍 is north side of town by the A823(M) terminus. It's just a platform halt with ticket machines but no staffed office or toilets.

By bus

Stagecoach Bus X55 runs every 30 min from Edinburgh via the old Forth Bridge and Ferrytoll P&R, taking an hour to Rosyth and continuing to Dunfermline.

Bus 7 runs along the coast every 30 min from Leven via Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn, Burntisland, Dalgety Bay and Inverkeithing to Rosyth, and continues to Dunfermline.

Bus 19 runs every 20 min from Lochore to Lochgelly, Cowdenbeath, Halbeath (for inter-city buses), Dunfermline and Rosyth.

Rosyth doesn't have a bus station or main stop. Buses ply east-west along Admiralty Rd A985 and southeast to northwest along Queensferry and Castlandhill roads.

But not by boat

• Not unless you're in the Royal Navy. A passenger ferry plied between Rosyth and Zeebrugge from 2002 to 2010 then was axed, so there are no direct ferries between Scotland and continental Europe. A freight line continued until 2018 then that too was ended. Given the trends in 21st century travel and haulage, there's no prospect of these ferries resuming.

Cruise liners sometimes anchor in the channel off Rosyth, but they take their passengers ashore via tender to South Queensferry, to be met by tour coaches and bagpipes, and they don't use Rosyth.

Get around

The buses above cross the strung-out town, and together they have a service every ten min to Dunfermline.

Taxi operators include Taxi Rosyth +44 1383 411414, J&C +44 1383 414141 and Canmore Cabs +44 1383 622266.

See

• Rosyth Castle, Murray Rd KY11 2XB, 56.0235°, -3.4314°. Closed. Ruin of a 15th century tower house which fell derelict in the 18th. It was originally on a tidal islet in the Firth of Forth but became engulfed by land reclamation and navy docks. Eventually the Admiralty sold off this tract of dockland to civilian industry, and the castle remains an incongrous medieval islet amongst modern industrial units, trucks and cable drums. The interior is unsafe and closed off. In 2021 access to the exterior is also closed but you see enough from the street. 2021-10-07
• The Forth bridges are prominent to the east: two road, one rail. The only one you can walk or cycle over is the old Forth Road Bridge, see North Queensferry.
• Rosyth Old Kirk 📍 was 12th century, part of the Monastery of Inchcolm (visited by boat trips from South Queensferry). It remained in use as a church to the 19th century, when its "morthouse" was built for secure storage for unburied bodies, as these were prize game for body-snatchers. (No, not Burke and Hare, their merchandise was fresher still.) The church now just a ruin on the coastal footpath.
• Limekilns 📍 is where the coast upriver breaks free of dockland. Yet it's a good example of the little ports that were important to early modern industry in Fife, until shipping outgrew them and concentrated into fewer larger ports. Limestone, quicklime and fishing were its trades and a ferry plied across the Forth to Boness.

• Charlestown 📍 the next port has a massive bank of 18th century limekilns for production of quicklime. The village also exported coal and had ship-breaking yards. A block back from the coast, cottages are grouped around the green, a Georgian planned community.

Do

• Walk the Fife coastal path although Rosyth is frankly its ugliest section; use OS Landranger Map 65 "Falkirk". Coming from North Queensferry, follow B981 under the three bridges and inland to the junction. You may as well follow Milne Rd directly west through the dockland industrial estate, as swinging inland doesn't improve the view. This eventually leads you onto Caledonia Way and A985. 200 yards further west you turn south off the main road onto the path back down to the coast at Limekilns, and continue west via Charlestown and Torryburn towards Culross. See North Queensferry and Aberdour for the route east of the bridges.
• Golf: see Dunfermline, Pitreavie GC is the closest.
• Highland Games are held in Ballast Park in Inverkeithing in early August, see North Queensferry#Do.

Buy

• Tesco by the railway station is open M-Sa 07:00-22:00, Su 09:00-20:00.

Eat

• Mid-town by the corner of Queensferry Rd and Park Rd are Bella e Buena, Palace Cafe and Chopsticks. Pepe's Piri Piri is a chain outlet further south on Queensferry Rd.
• Panas, 170 Queensferry Rd KY11 2JF (South side of railway station), +44 1383 418444. Tu-Th 16:00-22:00, F Sa 12:00-22:00, Su 14:00-21:00. Panas gets good reviews for its Indian cuisine. 2021-10-07
• South by the junction of A985 and Queensferry Rd are Taste of India, Black Box Burgers and Stephen's Bakery. Rosyth Fish Bar is on Heath Rd next to Hillpark Hotel.

Drink

• Rosyth lacks free-standing pubs, but there's Goth Bar within Gothenburg Hotel and Gladyer Inn within Hillpark Hotel.

Sleep

• OYO Gothenburg Hotel, 138 Queensferry Rd KY11 2QY, 56.041°, -3.424°, +44 1383 349002. Central budget hotel, sometimes noisy. B&B double £50 2021-10-07
• Queensferry Guest House is a B&B at 189 Queensferry Rd just north of the Gothenburg, tel +44 1383 233838.
• Hillpark Hotel, 10 Heath Rd KY11 2BT, 56.035°, -3.421°, +44 1383 419977. Smart clean place south near the docks. B&B double £90 2021-10-07
• Caledonia Hotel, Hilton Rd, Rosyth KY11 2BA, 56.029°, -3.436°, +44 1383 420101. This has rooms though it's more like a sports bar. It's by the entrance to MoD Caledonia, the Navy training and reserves base. B&B double £70 2021-10-07
• Three Bridges B&B on Forbes Rd wasn't open in 2021.

Connect

Rosyth has 4G from al UK carriers, which extends north into Dunfermline and east into North Queensferry and Inverkeithing. As of Oct 2021, 5G has not reached this area.

Go next

• The ancient capital city Dunfermline is only 3 miles north.
• See the fish at Deep Sea World in North Queensferry, 3 miles south.
• Culross is a charming 17th / 18th century village 8 miles west.
• Edinburgh is within 20 min by bus or train.