text: Charlestown was established in 1756 by Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin. The planned village is laid out in the shape of a letters C and E, for Charles Elgin. It was established as a harbour town for the shipment of coal mined on Lord Elgins Fife estates, and for the production of lime. The harbours outer basin was built around 1840. In 1887, on the occasion of Queen Victorias Golden Jubilee, the Queens Hall was built at the village centre, to designs by Robert Rowand Anderson.
  Shipbuilding was carried on at Charlestown in the 19th century, as well as ship-breaking. Some of the German Imperial Fleet were brought here from Scapa Flow after World War I to be broken up.