Michael T Tracy

The History of Woodhead, Abdie Parish Michael T Tracy

Woodhead which lies in Abdie Parish, in the Kingdom of Fife dates back to the sixteenth century when the Abbot of Lindores first conveyed its lands to James McGill in 1565. Its lands are ancient and the history of those families who have farmed here for generations are venerable in their own right. Each local history has a value of its own as a small portion of the greater history of Scotland. We see how the inhabitants of secluded places such as Woodhead were often left to their own triumphs and sorrows that life has dealt them. However, the small glimpses we are able to get of those who came before use as they lived and worked, married, had children and died are powerful enough to give delight and awaken sympathy. The tenant farming families such as Page, Thomson, Buist, Black, Beckett, Younger, Douglas, Miller, Don, Wood and Crichton humble and forgotten as they now are, it is on their lives that ours have been built up. Woodhead's heritors are equally steeped in the ancient history of its lands with families such as McGill and Wilson have long been associated with the farm. Woodhead is such a place that is examined here in this narrative of its proud and ancient past.