Danskins’ Strathkinness depot employs thirty people and their fleet of lorries

covers over one million miles a year and carries the family and village names to

all parts of mainland Britain.

J, & D. Walker, Livestock Removers

At one time there were four ‘smiddies’ in the village, but since the 1920s

there has been only one, on Lower Main Street, run at first by Mr. Andrew

Cunningham and afterwards by Mr. James Walker. Mr. Walker came to

Strathkinness in the early 1930s to work with Mr. Cunningham. He then went

to Leuchars for eight years but returned to Strathkinness in 1943 to take over

the smiddy. Mr. Walker was the last blacksmith in Strathkinness to shoe

horses. He did beautiful wrought iron work some of which can be seen in the

village, such as the Church gates and the gate of the former Manse.

About fifteen years ago Mr. Walker’s three sons set up an animal transport

business on the site of the old smiddy.

J.

& D. Walker’s main work is the moving of animals; sheep, cattle and

pigs. They travel mainly within a radius of twenty miles of Strathkinness

but they have carried animals to all parts of Scotland and to many parts of

England. Their large articulated lorries are a familiar sight on the roads for

many miles around.

Their ‘floats’ are washed out behind the former Wilson’s Bottling Plant

on Sunnyside, and as the site on Main Street is restricted they also keep some

of their lorries there. At times they use their cabs to pull other trailers, but

they do not themselves transport anything other than animals.

In addition to the family they employ one man, and one woman in the

office.

Ed. Cockburn — Agricultural Engineers

An indispensible business for a village like Strathkinness is an agricultural

engineering business, about which Mrs. Margaret Cockburn writes:

‘An agricultural engineer is important in a village like Strathkinness which

is surrounded by many farms. Ed Cockburn’s workshop (part of which was

originally a piggery) in Upper Main Street, fulfils the needs of farmers in

keeping their machinery in working order. In addition, Cockburn’s cater

for anybody else who has need of a special engineering job. Almost any

item can be designed and made to order; from a special bolt, hand rails for

the Church Hall steps, or a friendly neighbour’s garden gate, brackets to

support a nearby pottery shop sign, to something literally the size of barn

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