DYSART, royal burgh and seaport, Fifeshire, Scotland, on the shore of the Firth of Forth, 2 m. N.E. of Kirkcaldy by the L.N.E.R. Pop. (1921) 4,598. Many ancient houses in High street bear inscriptions and dates. Scarcely anything is left of the old chapel dedicated to St. Dennis, which for a time was used as a smithy; and of the chapel of St. Serf, the patron saint of the burgh, only the tower remains. The chief industries are the manufacture of bed and table linen, towelling and woollen cloth, flax-spinning ; there are power-loom factories and coal is exported. In smuggling days the "canty carles" of Dysart were professed "free traders." In the 15th and 16th centuries the town was a seat of the salt industry, but the salt-pans have been abandoned. During the time of the alliance between Scotland and Holland, which was closer in Fifeshire than in other counties, Dysart became known as Little Holland. To the west of the town is Dysart House, the residence of the earl of Rosslyn. With Burntisland, Kinghorn, Buckhaven, Methil and Inverleven Dysart forms one of the Kirkcaldy district group of parliamentary burghs. The town is mentioned as early as 874 in connection with a Danish invasion. Its name is said to be a corruption of the Latin desertum, "a desert," which was applied to a cave on the seashore occupied by St. Serf. From James V. the town received the rights of a royal burgh. In 1559 it was the headquarters of the Lords of the Congregation, and in 1607 the scene of the meetings of the synod of Fife known as the Three Synods of Dysart. Ravenscraig Castle, on the shore to the west of the town, is the Ravensheugh of Sir Walter Scott's ballad of "Rosa belle." William Murray, a native of the place, was made earl of Dysart in 1643. This borough was added to Kirkcaldy in 193o.