Cameron is a parish in east Fife, Scotland, 3½ miles south-west of St Andrews.Gazetteer of Scotland, publ, by W & AK Johnston, Edinburgh, 1937. Article on Cameron. Places are presented alphabetically
It is bounded on the north by the parish of St Andrews, on the east by Dunino, on the south by Carnbee and Kilconquhar, and on the west by Ceres. From east to west it is 5 – 6 miles long and in breadth about 4 miles.The New Statistical Account of Scotland by the Ministers of the Respective Parishes, Vol. IX Fife-Kinross. Publ. William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, 1845; article on Cameron
The earliest forms of the name are from the twelfth century and appear as Cambrun. The etymology of the name is uncertain: it may derive from Pictish, Scottish Gaelic, or be a Gaelicised Pictish name. The first element could thus be Gaelic cam or its Pictish cognate *cam (both meaning 'crooked'), and the second element could be a Pictish word *brun, cognate with Welsh bryn ('hill'), or Gaelic bruinne ('chest, front, breast') or perhaps brú ('belly'). The later development of the name was influenced by the widespread Scottish personal name Cameron (from Gaelic cam shròn 'crooked nose').Simon Taylor and Gilbert Márkus, The Place-Names of Fife, 5 vols (Donington: Tyas, 2006-12), III 90.
It contains the hamlets of Lathones, Denhead (first mentioned in 1581, from Scots den, 'steep valley', and heid, 'head or end', thus 'the end of the steep valley')Simon Taylor and Gilbert Márkus, The Place-Names of Fife, 5 vols (Donington: Tyas, 2006-12), III 463-64. and Radernie (first mentioned in 1329, from Gaelic ràth 'ring-fort' and an uncertain second element, possibly Gaelic àirne 'sloe', feàrnach 'alder', or Èirinn 'Ireland').Simon Taylor and Gilbert Márkus, The Place-Names of Fife, 5 vols (Donington: Tyas, 2006-12), III 125.Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, by Francis Groome, 2nd edition 1896; article on Cameron
The civil parish has a population of 415Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved March 2016. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish 1930 and its area is 9325 acres. It is also a Community Council area. The number of community councillors to which each area is entitled is determined by population and Cameron is therefore entitled to eight councillors.Cameron Community Council http://www.cameroncc.org.uk/ retrieved May 2016Fife Community Council web site showing Cameron community council area www.fifedirect.org.uk/CommunityCouncils retrieved May 2016
Cameron was originally part of the parish of St Andrews, but was erected into a separate parish in 1645 by act of parliament and the first minister of the parish, George Nairne, was inducted in 1646. With the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894 the Parish Council was established. It ceased in 1930 when parish councils in Scotland were abolished,Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 but civil parishes persist for census and other non-administrative purposes.
The church is nearly in the centre of the parish, just north of Cameron Burn as it leaves Cameron Reservoir. It was built in 1808 to a plain design, replacing the old church on the same site which was in a very ruinous state. The church is covered in blue slate, with a belfry on the west gable.Web site of Historic Environment Scotland (former Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland), Cameron Kirk Canmore retrieved 2 April 2019 Ecclesiastically the parish is now linked to the parish of St. Leonards in the town of St Andrews, with the minister covering both churches.St Andrews Presbytery web site http://www.standrewspresbytery.org.uk/standrewschurches.cfm?ChurchID=18 retrieved May 2016
The most significant mansion in the parish is that of Mount Melville, former residence of the Melville family, which lies just inside the northern boundary of the parish. It was acquired in 1698 for General George Melville of Strathkiness and the present house was constructed in 1820-1821. The house and grounds continued in Melville family ownership until 1901. In 1947 Mount Melville house and gardens were acquired by Fife County Council with the mansion becoming a maternity hospital known as Craigtoun Hospital. The gardens were then established as Craigtoun Country Park.
During the 19th century, the burgh of St Andrews implemented several poorly planned schemes to provide a public water supply to the town, but problems were resolved in 1911 when they built Cameron reservoir, in the centre of the parish, which supplied water to St Andrews from then until the early 2020s.
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