This period may well have been the 'high water mark' in the village's history. By 1875 a powerloom factory had been built in the village but the population was steadily falling - to 483 in 1871 and to 414 in 1881. The old school had an average of 100 pupils in 1855, but by the time the new school opened in 1875  this had fallen to 56.

By 1895 the Valuation Roll records only 2 remaining small weavers, seven shops and the ever present Duncan's Blacksmith. By 1905 the linen mill had been taken over by the much larger Erskine Beveridge & Co Ltd, Dunfermline, and areas of the village (Ivy Place photo, above) were already in serious decline.

Paradoxically we see at this time the beginnings of what Dunshalt is today. The Valuation Roll in 1855 identifies 160 individual premises and an 1861 Census population of 567. By 1881 the population had already fallen to 414, despite the Valuation Roll of 1895 now showing no less than 230 individual premises.

The  25 inch Ordnance Survey Map of 1895  and 25 inch Ordnance Survey Map of 1912  provide an amazingly detailed picture of how the village looked at this time, with precise detailing of every individual building. By then the new school had been built in the centre of the village, the Post Office had been re-located to half way down Main Street and a Public House is recorded at what is now number 12 Main Street. Every water pump is marked, of which one remains in place today, just south of the Eden bridge.