In 1801, merchant and politician Sir Robert 'Floating Bob' Preston, 6th Baronet, commissioned the English landscape architect, Sir Humphry Repton, to design a parkland setting for his classical mansion, Valleyfield House.

Botanist David Douglas worked there as an apprentice gardener for a time.

By 1918, the estate had been abandoned by its owners, the East of Fife Coal Company, who had opened the Valleyfield Colliery in 1912.

Preston Island by Low Valleyfield, now a peninsula as the result of the landfill of ash from nearby Longannet power station, was the site of coal mining and major salt works from the 17th century onwards.

[4] The workings at Valleyfield connected to those at Longannet coal mine to the west, and under the Firth of Forth to those at Bo'ness on the south bank opposite.