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Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth.
Scotland's first Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city centre and 10 miles northwest of Edinburgh city centre. To the west of Rosyth lies Limekilns and to the east lies Inverkeithing.
Rosyth was founded along with the finished construction of Rosyth Dockyard in March 1916, built as a naval base for World War I battleships to protect the North Sea. Rosyth played a key role in World War II defending the North Sea especially during the German occupation of Norway. It was then redeveloped to maintain submarines and serve as a port and business park.
Rosyth is near the narrowest crossing point of the Firth of Forth, so has long been strategically important, evidenced by the 15th century Rosyth Castle. Rosyth is home to 12 Historic Scotland as well as sections of long distance footpaths the Fife Coastal Path and the Fife Pilgrim Way.
Today, Rosyth is a commuter town of Edinburgh and Dunfermline. Rosyth Railway Station is on the Fife Circle Line and the town is bypassed by the M90 motorway. Rosyth has a population of 13,570 (2020), making the town the 5th largest in Fife.
For the UK Parliament, Rosyth is located in the Dunfermline and Dollar constituency and is represented by Graeme Downie of the Labour Party, who won election in the 2024 General Election.
Rosyth has three representatives on Fife Council: Brian Goodall (Scottish National Party), Tony Jackson (Scottish National Party) and Andrew Verrecchia (Labour Party).
The associated military naval base closed in 1994, and no Royal Navy ships are permanently based at Rosyth, though some ships now return for docking and refit activities, including s and Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.
Rosyth's dockyards became the first in the Royal Navy to be when Babcock International acquired the site in 1987. The privatisation followed almost eighty years of contribution to the defence of the United Kingdom which spanned two World Wars and the Cold War with the Soviet Union, during which Rosyth became a key nuclear submarine maintenance establishment.
When the final submarine refit finished in 2003, a project to undertake early nuclear decommissioning of the submarine refit and allied facilities – Project RD83 – began pre-planning. The project was funded by Ministry of Defence, in accordance with the contractual agreement in place following the sale of the dockyard, but management and sub-contracting was the responsibility of the dockyard owner, Babcock Engineering Services. The main decommissioning sub-contractor was Edmund Nuttall Limited.
Work began in 2006 and was finished in 2010. The project completed ahead of programme and under-budget, which is unusual in nuclear decommissioning activities. Notably some nuclear liabilities do remain at Rosyth Dockyard.
The dockyard was the site for final assembly of the two s for the Royal Navy's future carrier project.
In November 2016 the UK Government announced that MoD Caledonia would close in 2022. On 1 April 2023 it was renamed HMS Caledonia and its future is assured.
There are Sea, Army and Air Cadets located in Rosyth. The Sea and Air cadets are located in the Naval Dockyard inside both HMS Scotia and HMS Caledonia, whereas the Army cadets is located next to Park Road Primary School on Middlebank Street.
Norfolkline was taken over by DFDS Seaways, who subsequently reduced the service to freight-only, three sailings a week in each direction. The service was terminated in 2018 following a fire aboard one of the ships.
In June 2022, it was reported that talks were underway to restore the ferry route, with DFDS Seaways operating a freight service from early 2023, with passenger service expected by summer 2023, however as of 2024 this is yet to start.
The Scottish National Housing Company (SNHC) was a Public utility set up in 1915 to provide houses for employees at Rosyth naval dockyard; shares were taken by Dunfermline town council with the Public Works Loan Board lending the money. Work on building housing for the dockyard workers had been delayed due to disagreements between the Admiralty and Dunfermline council about who should take financial responsibility (1909–15). Some workers were accommodated in temporary huts called East and West Bungalow village and nicknamed 'tin town'.
From the first proposals for a new settlement at Rosyth, it was suggested it should be developed along Garden City lines. The town planning scheme was passed in 1915 and the first houses were occupied in 1916. Raymond Unwin was appointed advisor to the Admiralty. Rosyth became the largest of the permanent First World War housing schemes in Scotland. Unwin's assistant Alfred Hugh Mottram worked on the layout and became the SNHC's main architect, designing over 1,400 cottage-style houses. Mottram also designed the B-listed Rosyth Parish Church (1930).
The main dock area – operated by Forth Ports – is ripe for further development. Since opening in 1997, the port has seen rising timber and cargo vessels use the facility. Its warehouse and logistics facilities make an ideal choice for exporters and importers.
A private developer owned site was developed into an £80 million business park – called Rosyth Europarc. More than of office and hi-tech manufacturing have already been developed. Companies like Intelligent Finance and Bank of Scotland are on site. To complement these developments, a new £8.4 million road was built to provide an enhanced link to the nearby M90 motorway.
The main road going through Rosyth is the A985 which links the town with Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay to the east as well as the Kincardine Bridge to the west which links the town to Falkirk, Stirling and Glasgow.
There are plans to build a new "Park and Choose" facility in Rosyth next to Rosyth railway station which would allow more bus and train connections as well as take pressure off of Halbeath in Dunfermline and Ferrytoll in Inverkeithing's Park and ride bus stations. It could potentially bring new routes to Rosyth and increase passengers.
East Scotland Stagecoach Bus connections:
There are Ember Coach busses running all day and all night to Dundee (stops in Kinross, Bridge of Earn and Perth) and Edinburgh including the terminal at Edinburgh Airport at night, during the day it stops at Ingliston Park and Ride and includes a free one stop tram to the airport terminal with the ticket. As of November 2024, a new service between Aberdeen and Edinburgh opened linking the town directly to Aberdeen with stops being the same as the Dundee route and additionally; Forfar, Brechin, Drumlithie, Newtonhill, and Portlethen.
Primary Schools located inside Rosyth:
Currently students from these schools go into Inverkeithing High School after Primary 7, but starting August 2026, students will start to go to the new Caledonia High School (Rosyth) which is currently under construction.
There is also a special education school located in the Dockyard called The Bridges Centre.
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