Exploring Crail

Fife holiday 2026 #4

The planned walk for the second full day was from Leven to St Monans, about 13 miles. I'm sure it was beautiful but, having walked what was (for me) quite a distance the day before, I decided to err on the safe side and have a gentler day. I also wanted time to explore the area in greater detail and take a few, more considered photos, so I ambled around Crail all morning. It was bright and dry but freezing cold! I had to go back to base and put a few more clothes on, including my woolly hat, which I was glad to have taken with me. I'm not sure you should need a woolly hat in June but that's the UK for you! 

Beyond the harbour to the west there's a curve of beach, the end of which you can see in the photo above. I spent some time round the harbour, taking more note of the various old buildings. The large white building on the right was once the Customs House,  a late 17th century building with crowstep gables. Some of the adjoining cottages are even older than that.

It was in the harbour that I spotted my first eider ducks - a mummy and two chicks. A true coastal duck, they are resident all around the Scottish coast and the far north of England. It's an amber listed species, meaning it requires monitoring but is not yet critically endangered or facing severe, immediate extinction risks. We saw quite a few of them on our walks and thankfully there appeared to be good numbers of chicks still surviving. 

There are some wonderful old buildings in Crail. Look at the one above, gorgeous red sandstone and rough hewn stones. The marker above the front door was, annoyingly, obscured by the creeper. I've looked it up online and found: 'The date stone above the front door of 'The Auld Hoose' reads 1686 but is actually a marriage lintel reflecting the earliest owners of this ancient house - George Dishington and Jean (or perhaps Isobel) Strachan. The house is actually older than 1686 and a part of the garden wall has been dated to 1540.'

Along Marketgate, you can see the old Mercat (market) cross, signifying the right of the village to hold a market. The shaft dates from the 17th Century. The cap and unicorn and the octagonal steps were added for Queen Victoria's jubilee in 1887. It was here that important proclamations were read. Punishment was also served here, with miscreants attached by an iron collar to the cross.

Also on Marketgate, one of the finest houses in the village, Kirkmay House, which sits in its own grounds within a large gateway. The Georgian Regency era house was built in 1817 by Robert Ingis, the owner of Kirkmay Estate. It later became a hotel and is now, apparently, converted into flats, which perhaps accounts for the blocking up of some of the original windows. 

Next door is St Mary's Church, parts of which date back to 1175. Its graveyard has many interesting tombs, with some  large family plots. I don't fully understand the history of the Scottish church but apparently John Knox preached here in 1559, starting a riot and setting a mob on a path of destruction of churches all the way to St. Andrews! Life is quieter now.

The church door was open but there was a man painting the door, with tarps spread on the floor and paint paraphernalia all over. I judged it best to leave him to it and not try to barge through his working area - so I never got to see inside. 

Beyond the church, on the edge of the village, I found a charming community garden and woodland, quite idyllic, with flowerbeds and lawns giving way to a sinuous walk through a wood bisected by a little stream. Volunteers were busy planting out bedding plants and their friendly border collie came to suss me out and see if I was worth 'herding'.

For me, the most fascinating of Crail's buildings is 'The Doocot' or dovecote. It's a 16th century 'beehive' doocot, with 700 nest boxes, used to house pigeons that provided food - meat and eggs - and whose droppings were used for tanning leather and making gunpowder. In 1503 King James IV ordered all local lords to build doocots to help provide food for the community but, as the years progressed, there were complaints that pigeons from neighbouring properties were eating grain before it was harvested. By 1617 another law was necessary, restricting doocots to owners of land that produced enough grain within 2 miles of the doocot. This was to ensure that the pigeons fed on the landowner's own crops.  The building has recently been extensively restored. 

The Doocot stands at the far eastern end of Crail village, overlooking the rocky coastline. There's a large wind farm out to sea, which you may just about be able to discern on the horizon.

Watch out for the rain!!