Fife and Scotland - the offbeat perspective

Introduction to the East Neuk

There are no road signs or officially recognised boundaries to the local area known as the East Neuk of Fife but this is an area of Fife in which traditional employment has always been concerned more with fishing and agriculture rather than mining or industrial manufacture. Coal mining, while undertaken close to St Monans, was more in support of salt production rather than any desire to export or supply fuel to local industry.

A casual visit or drive-through might initially generate impressions of an area far off the popular track and promote illusions of 'just another mundane seaside area' but where astute observers might observe gates to fields that are far wider than the largest combine harvesters and where vintage Nissan huts still serve different purposes far different from that of original intent. In places, red brick buildings stand in isolation and provide more clues about recent history in the area. A visit to the small town of Crail and more specifically, the former air base known as HMS Jackdaw emphasises the point further. By way of a further clue, just think about aircraft and where Allied Forces in World War 2 suddenly found enough aircraft to attack Europe on D-Day on June 4th 1944?

A great many were stored on these fields in Fife and at nearby Balado near Kinross! Later, during the Cold War, a secret base intended to be the head of Scottish Government was built in the East Neuk of Fife. Today, this establishment is open to the public and is known as 'The Secret Bunker' arguably one of the best attractions of its type in Scotland. See Attractions in Fife for More Details.

There is no rail network in the East Neuk following the 'Beeching Axe' cuts begun in the 1950s and expanded in the 1960s. The coastal rail line between Leven and St Andrews was closed in 1965 and the rail link from Leven to Thornton near Glenrothes was closed in 1969. Before that time, however, Leven and the East Neuk had become popular with many tourists. Some of the towns along this coast had swimming pools of a coastal variety, caravan parks and one even had a holiday camp. Although much has changed in recent years, tourism still accounts for a fair proportion of the local economy.

For the most part, the road system tends to follow the coastline on account of the extinct volcanoes of 'Largo Law' and 'Kellie Law' with the former rising steeply from sea level to over 230 metres (950ft) and making it's peak the highest point of land in the Kingdom of Fife.

The Scottish Fisheries Museum and Chapel is located here close to the main lifeboat station and reflects past and present links to the fishing industry. The best 'fish suppers' can be bought and consumed here. Indeed, much of the fresh fish consumed in the Scottish capital city comes from the fish market at Pittenweem.

Elie, Earlsferry and Surrounding Area

The town of Elie lies at the Southern end of the East Neuk. It's different from many other villages in the area in that it remains a successful visitor resort and where many people choose to retire. At its centre, the hexagonal plan tower of the church is unusual as is the plaque displayed at kerbside. The plaque, remembering many from this community who died in World War One faces the main road junction of the town but unusually it adds details concerning what trade or career the lost generation were employed in before meeting their fates. A high number were chauffeurs or ploughmen and indicative of the landed estates surrounding this community at that time.

Neighbouring Earlsferry is where Macduff, Earl of Fife, set foot on safe soil after escaping from Macbeth in 1054 and later prompting establishment of a Royal Burgh with a ferry crossing of seven miles over the Firth of Forth to North Berwick. A small chapel became a stopping point for religious and pious pioneers intent on visiting the cathedral at St Andrews.

It became known as the Earl's ferry or Earlsferry and remained in regular use until a particulalrly violent storm in 1766 drowned seven local men and filled the harbour with sand. Ferry services were subsequently switched to the wider and better weather protected harbour at nearby Elie, the name of which is alleged to come from Eilean Ardross and where a farm called Ardross still exists to the immediate east of the town.

Ruins of Ardross Castle lie immediately adjacent to the main farm buildings and atop sea cliffs and amid ferns and long grass. The castle has little remains of historic or even cultural interest but there are remains of a small Pictish dwelling close to Ardross Farm and discovered circa 1923 when a tractor wheel fell through its roof. Please note it is important to seek permission of the farmer prior to visiting this site.

As you can see from the aerial photograph above, Elie and Earlsferry is blessed with some of the best and widest sandy beaches in this part of the region and which is why it became a very popular resort and especially when it had an operational rail station. In wartime, many Polish soldiers resided in the town and were responsible for the fifty-ton concrete sentinels designed to stop invasion tanks from leaving the beach if such a German invasion had taken place. The photograph showing these blocks is an old one to show how they were before some began to fall down the hillside due to coastal erosion. Polish soliders also built the Earlsferry town hall and one remained to operate the local post office for many years after the war was over.

Today, the wide sandy-base harbour is typically home to many yachts, marine cruisers and other leisure craft. The old grannery, once a prominent feature of the old pier, was pulled down years ago to make way for the establishment of a new sailing clubhouse.

Although the harbour was widened and assumed different interest from about 1850, the more offbeat interest of this article relates to the small promintory south of Elie and close to the modern lighthouse pictured above. It's called the 'Lady's Tower' and was built circa 1750 on the solid rock as a special summerhouse for Lady Janet Anstruther who resided at Elie House on the outskirts of the village. It was built on the promintory with excellent views over the sea and where tall arched windows pemitted magnificant views. Despite the period, it had a form of central heating driven by boilers in the adjacent structure now largely destroyed and fallen into the sea by coastal erosion.

Of the 'Lady' herself; it seems she enjoyed bathing naked in 'Ruby Bay' located below the tower and where a small cave served as a changing room. Before bathing, legend has it that a bell ringer would wander the streets of Elie and Earlsfarry to warn residents to steer clear of Ruby Bay. It's said that her political and local power caused a small community to be removed because it 'spoiled her view' from nearby Elie House. Ruby Bay is actually a is a misnomer and refers to garnets sometines washed into this narrow enclave.

Walking out from Elie to the Lady's Tower was always an enjoyable walk and especially ideal for anyone accompanied by a dog. Back in the 'old days' there was a major coastguard station house in Elie supported by a small 'spotting hut' located near the Lady's Tower and a telegraph pole with wooden steps on either side where the bravest could climb up and get a superior view of the Firth. As a school holiday project, I was one of a small team who rebuilt the coastal path between Elie and St Monans; a task that took seven weeks to complete! Sadly, much of that work has been eroded or neglected in modern times and little remains of that route.

Today, Elie and Earlsferry remains as a popular destination for many people whether for a break or more permanent residence. The harbour sports many yachts and motor cruiser vessels and is ideal for many water sports. There are many hotels in the community and tourism definitely plays a major part of the local economics. The local golf club used to have a hut in which a submarine periscope had been installed but I'm not sure whether it still remains.

Just a few miles inland from Elie and Earlsferry lies the small community of Kilconquhar whose church is pictured above and is located beside a picturesque lake. On the outskirts of the village lies the Kilconquhar Castle Holiday Estate where houses are rented out on a short term self catering basis. The facility also includes a gym and swimming pool. Details are available by clicking on the link above.

Shell Bay neighbours Elie and Earlsferry and is a community largely comprising mobile homes and a clubhouse beside the beach. It might offer cheaper accomodation alternatives for some. http://www.abbeyford.com/our-parks/elie-holiday-park Click on the link for more details. Colinsburgh is nearby with another challenging golf course.

St Monans (formerly known as St Monance).

Until fairly recent times, this community was commonly known as St Monance and where it shared many common traits of the neighbouring villages and particularly in association to its small fishing fleet. More importantly though were the boat building and construction yards owned by Millers and whose company had been building ships there for more than two centuries. It had four major facilities and provided the bulk of employment in the town. No. 4 shed always had the most spectacular launches because the vessel had to drop several feet even at high tide and created the biggest waves imaginable. The excitement that often drew crowds to the harbour during a launch evaporated in 1992 with an annoucement concerning closure of the yards.

Years ago, this village used to be called St Monance and had a rail station and four large sheds beside the harbour where Millers had been building boats for more than two centuries. Although quite a small place, it had a fairly magnificent parish church dating back to the fourteenth century.

At the harbour side was a red and white painted deactivated mine with a brass plate and a slot where loose change could be dropped inside and in support of the RNLI. The shipbuilding industry that had employed many men is gone. The only thing that seems the same is the old parish church lying towards the west of the village and accessed by crossing a stone bridge over a brook.

The former rail station was where the ‘Union Of South Africa’; a huge coal burning locomotive was offloaded from the railway and carried on a massive road truck at low speed to Lochty farm and where it ran short journeys for a time. Not long after that, the rail station became another part of the Beeching cuts and where the rail station lay disused for a long time before the old rail bridge was pulled down and the main road was straightened with much of the former rail station area converted into the small ‘Nethergate Industrial Park’ that exists there today. It was about that time when the old signposts came down and the village became known as St Monans.

There’s a bit of a ghost story I was told about concerning the old church when I was much younger and where I tended to dismiss it as fantasy. My source was adamant that there was a book kept in a special cabinet within the Waid Academy Library in nearby Anstruther and held details about the event but I remain quite sceptical about this nobody has ever stepped forward to confirm or deny such existence. Nevertheless, I shall relate it in the way it was related to me and in hope readers might either verify or deny this story.

According to this myth, there was a young man who had to rise early in the morning and had the duty of lighting the boilers in the old church and well in advance of the congregation due to arrive in the morning and so that they would be warm. On one particular day, however, and having performed his duties, he ventured into the church and saw a bright light descending from the roof. As he approached, facial features appeared within the light!

The man was so scared that he ran towards the Laird’s house located at Abercrombie; a distance of nearly two miles, and where, upon admittance and seeing a painting upon the wall, swore that the image in the picture was the face he had seen in the light! Variants of the story say that he died from fright and exertion and that the picture was that of the Laird's late wife! Since no other accounts of this kind have been reported since; I’m inclined to stick with my original assertion unless somebody knows otherwise! By way of a side line, there are ruins of a small chapel and graveyard that that lies just north of Abercrombie but it's not the ideal place to find safe automotive parking. Getting to it means crossing a road where motorist visibility is minimal so beware but the secluded and serene place is wonderful and unique. Please note that good footwear for a rugged walk is advised.

The Old Church of St Monans lies closer to the sea than any other in Scotland with the southern wall less than twenty metres from the cliff. By any measure though, it’s certainly the largest and most recognisable feature of the town and especially when viewed from offshore.

In a similar vain, ruins of Newark Castle stand on a tall promontory overlooking the Forth and where tales of the ‘green lady’ have been the stuff of legends often connected with Scottish Castles. In folklore and tradition, green has always been regarded as an unfortunate colour and often pertaining to death. It’s the one colour that brides should never wear to a wedding lest misfortune be challenged – or that was how the ‘green lady’ stories were portrayed and where the ghost typically had a green dress or coat.

All I can say is that I visited Newark Castle many times in childhood and at different times of the day spanning from dawn to dusk and I’ve yet to see the lady in question. It's also a similar tale told about other castles in Scotland so I'm inclined to think this is a myth.

On one occasion though, my friends and I discovered a yellow torpedo shaped object lying on the beach immediately below the castle. Being cautious, we decided to alert the local police station at St Monans. I remained at distance from the object on guard while my friend ran to the police station in St Monans. Later I learned that my friend's report was initially disbelieved and where he returned in a police van and where the local policeman entered into a hyper-active state. In retrospect, it was like Captain Mannering of ‘Dad’s Army’ urging everybody, i.e. Roy and I, to stand back and touch nothing! It was actually quite humorous to observe the local village bobby in such a flap! Navy people came and went, picking up the device and prononcing it as a harmless training torpedo! There isn't a police station in St Monans these days!

Although the St Monans area isn’t usually associated with the coal industry, there was a mine on the site of what is now called the ‘Coal Farm’ located to the east of the village and where thirty-six miners were employed. The output of this pit was used to drive the water pumps to fill some of the salt pans whenever there was insufficient wind to drive the windmill pictured right. The salt pans employed twenty people.

Today, the local windmill pumping station has been restored to some extent and where, during its heyday, the windmill pumping station drew salt water into the more landward pans. It's worth noting that salt was a highly prized commodity at that time and where it was commonly employed to preserve meat and such installations were thus highly profitable.

Like Elie and Earlsferry, and elsewhere in the East Neuk, St Monans has enjoyed past and modern tourist success with a large caravan park located on its east side.

St Monans is one of the East Neuk communities that used to have an open air swimming pool and the remains of this structure can still be seen. It'll be described in more detail in a different article.

Pittenweem

The place name ‘Pittenween’ is derived from the old Pictish language and translates as ‘the place of caves’ and perhaps with reference to St Fillan’s Cave and others. For centuries, the village has always had a close association with the sea and fishing. In olden times, and while the men were at sea, the women were often engaged in the job of repairing damaged nets.

The harbour developed in several stages and where, initially, boats were hauled onto the beach but as the harbour developed, and the vessels grew larger, the harbour became an important aspect and asset of the town. Even today, the Pittenweem Fish Market forms an important part of the local economy and where travelling fishmongers often obtain their stock before heading into Edinburgh and other nearby cities and towns. It’s hardly surprising then to learn that the local ‘fish and chip’ shops in both Pittenween and nearby Anstruther are typically finalists or winners of many awards from the Seafood industry.

Pittenweem is one of the East Neuk communities that used to have an open air swimming pool and the remains of this structure can still be seen. It'll be described in more detail in a different article.

Anstruther and Cellardyke

Although often associated with the family surname of Anstruther, the place name actually translates as ‘Little Stream’ from the old Pictish language and perhaps in reference to the Dreel Burn that runs through the village. It was this stream that once provided a power source for the local mill via a waterwheel. In local and modern parlance, the name, Anstruther, is often contracted and locally referred to as ‘Enster' in parlance.

’Like many villages along the southern coastline, Anstruther started as a fishing village and in the early 1930s, the harbour was so crowded that it was possible to walk from one side to the other without getting wet feet and merely by jumping from boat to boat. Sadly, and beginning from about that time, the herring stocks in the Forth became over fished and as the number of boats declined, many skippers preferred the harbour at Pittenweem. Today there is far fewer fishing craft based at Anstruther but the strong connection with the sea is still celebrated by a mid-year summer festival.

The strong connection with the sea doesn't end there. The Royal National Liftboat Institution (RNLI) has its largest lifeboat based in Anstruther and where awards for gallantry have been received on five separate occasions; a truly magnificent record for this station and where a lifeboat service has been operating for about one hundred and sixty years.

The Scottish Fisheries Museum is based just across the road from this station and where, in recent years, the musuem has been engaged in the restoration of several old vessels like the one hundred and four year old drifter ‘Reaper’. The museum was opened in 1969 and contains largely comprises set pieces, models and includes a chapel where the names of fishermen lost at sea are recorded on brass plates.

The local school of Waid Academy was initially established with a view to teaching the children of fishermen and where nautical skills like navigation featured highly in the old curriculum. The school is named after Lieutenant Andrew Waid (1736-1804) whose last will and testimony envisaged such a school but whose legacy proved inadequate. Later, with accrued interest and aided by the Educational Endowments (Scotland) Act of 1882, his dream became possible and Waid Academy became one of the first new and pioneering learning centres to benefit from the new rules and where other schools benefited from the experience.

In 1959, a Coat Of Arms, approved by the Lord Lyon was granted to Waid Academy. It reads, ‘Multi Perransibunt Et Augebitur Scientia’ which roughly translates into modern English meaning that ‘many will pass through and knowledge will be increased'.

In modern times, the Academy has extended its facilities to the local community and where its resources are available to the public outside normal school hours. This includes usage of its indoor swimming pool and playing fields.

These days, the neighbouring area of Cellardyke can be regarded as having merged with Anstruther and where the old coastal area retains narrow streets and the Dutch form of building of several centuries ago. Known formerly as Nether Kilrenny (Scots for ‘Lower Kilrenny’) and since it was part of Kilrenny parish or else Sillerdyke, a reference to sunlight glittering off fish scales trapped in fishing nets while the nets were hung out to dry on the walls (dykes) of Skinfast Haven harbour. In the mid-nineteenth century, Cellardyke was a booming town with about two hundred fishing craft using the port at peak times and where there were about fifty local boat owners. Much of the catch was salted, smoked then sent to London. Much of the fleet met with disaster during a storm in 1898 and what remained soon relocated to Anstruther harbour.Today, Cellardyke harbour is home to a few small shellfish and pleasure craft.

Taking both communities together then the local population is about three thousand five hundred residents and approximately double that of other East Neuk communities and where the only sizeable supermarket in the East Neuk is located.

Crail

The picture on the left is one of my oldest and shows my late grandfather competing in plough trials held at Kirkmay Farm near the village of Crail soon after World War One was over.

Although uncertain of the exact date, I'm led to believe it was between 1918 and 1921 and where he was an employee on that farm at the time. It’s also where my late father spent much of his youth and before joining the Royal Air Force. This is the same small village described by Lord ‘Haw Haw’ as an ‘industrial city’ which had been totally destroyed by the Luftwaffe during World War II as a cover up for the massive failure in a German attempt to destroy the Forth Bridge.

Even in modern times, Crail is about as far from being an industrial town as any place could be and I'm guessing local residents and visitors are more than happy about that!

Perhaps the best-known feature about Crail is the tiny harbour and where some have arguably claimed it to be the most photographed small harbour in the World. Obviously, that’s quite a boast, but it is certainly true that over many years, pictures of this harbour, often shot from the cliffs nearby, have appeared on many book and magazine covers and in television commercials. The number and size of the boats in the harbour today are small with most regular users being creel fishermen who fish for lobsters and crabs and with a ready local market in the local hotels and restaurants in the area.

A mixed seafood platter served in Crail is delightful and maybe as good as any served elsewhere in the World! Prepared by highly regarded chefs in some hotels, it comprises the freshest seafood supported by the freshest vegetables grown in local soil.

What might seem incredible though is the huge tonnage of potatoes shipped out from this small harbour in the immediate post war years to feed a starving population in Northern Europe and particularly in the Netherlands. Like other small villages, the Dutch connection goes further with many older buildings retaining the Dutch building style of an earlier period and merging with different styles of later periods.

The harbour entrance and exit is parallel to the small sandy beach beside it and meaning that pilots of any vessel approaching the harbour must first steer into the small cove before turning ninety-degrees starboard before entering the harbour.

To help with this during adverse weather or at night, there are two tall concrete towers built on different levels in the village, each with a light on top. On seeing the lights align vertically on approach and steering towards them while maintaining this alignment means going in the right direction to safely enter the cove.

Crail is fortunate to have emulated St Andrews with one of the oldest golf courses in the World and often where designers of the famous old course also applied their skills to this nearby location. As such, both courses share similar challenges and weather. This is golf at its best where onshore and offshore winds compete in differing degrees according to season and make this course more unpredictable than most. Being lesser known brings the blessings of ample car parking and a less formal clubhouse. From an honest and practical perspective, visitors to the area have a much higher chance of playing at Crail than at St Andrews and likely to benefit from the experience.

Please see the Attractions>Top Attractions In Fife>Crail Golf Course section of this web site for more details.

Driving to Crail Golf Course means driving past the former HMS Jackdaw airbase closed in 1958 and where, during wartime, aircraft launched from this base provided aerial protection of shipping sailing to and from Leith near Edinburgh and Methil in Fife. In addition, Consolidated PBY Catalinas flew air-sea rescue missions and 'watchdog' missions concerning the location of the battleship Tirpitz, sister ship of the more famous Bismark, and largely confined to moorings in Norway. Tirpitz was ultimately destroyed and sunk without ever firing a single shot at a British warship!

Crail lies close to St Andrews and where a number of other unique locations of interest are located nearby and includes attractions like the Secret Nuclear Bunker described in far greater detail elsewhere on this web site. Please see Attractions>Top Attractions In Fife>Secret Bunker. Crail is also located close to Kellie Castle and a new golf course at the closeby hamlet of Kingsbarns.

Credits:
Photographs by Chris Schubet, Jim Bain, Sandy Gemmell and Alandon. Graphics by Advision ProServe. Text by Alandon.