"Markinch parish is bounded by Kennoway, Wemyss, Dysart, Kinglassie, Leslie, Falkland and Kettle. It measures about 6 miles north to south by 4 miles broad. A small detached portion containing the village of Innerleven (or Dubbieside) lies at the mouth of the Leven and is cut off from the rest of the parish by that of Wemyss. The parish contains the villages of Markinch, Milton, Coaltown, Balcurvie, Windygates, Thornton, Woodside, Balbirnie Bridge and Kirkforthar Feus. Coal has been extensively worked, but the deposits at Balbirnie are becoming exhausted. There are paper mills at Balbirnie Bridge, Rothes and Auchmuty; flax and tow mills at Milton, Haugh Mill, Thornton and Sythrum; bleachfields at Rothes, Balgonie, Lochtyside and Kirkforthar Feus; a woollen manufactory at Balbirne Bridge and a power loom linen factory at Milton. There are also a number of flour, corn and saw mills in the parish; and a large distillery and malting establishment at Cameron Bridge. The parish church is at Markinch; there are chapels of ease at Thornton and Milton; a UP Church and a Free Church at Markinch; and a UP church at Innerleven. " edited from Westwood's Directory for the counties of Fife & Kinross published 1862.

Windygates is to the north of the River Leven, between Markinch and the town of Leven. Situated at the junction of the A911, A915 and A916, Windygates was once an important staging post on the coach route linking N and central Fife with the Pettycur ferry across the Firth of Forth. Still a major road junction, the centre of the village is now bypassed by a dual carriage way. Windygates has companies engaged in haulage and the supply of fencing, and the Cameron Bridge Distillery, founded in the early 19th century by the Haig family and now owned by United Malt and Grain Distillers Ltd, is still in operation.