CRAIL HISTORY AND GUIDE
The Story of an Ancient Scottish Burgh
by Trevor Smith
I Sign copies of Crail History and Guide with:
Best Wishes, Trevor Smith,
but am happy to insert any greeting of your choice.
Crail in the East Neuk of Fife is celebrated as having one of the most picturesque harbours in Britain, set in a eautiful, biologically and geologically rich coastline, but less well known is Crail’s long and colourful history now brought to life in this book.
I begin by discussing the activity of pre-historic hunter-gatherers in nearby Fife Ness, then visit Constantine’s and Caiplie caves with their early Christian symbols and long history of human habitation.
I unearth some of the oldest written references to Crail, and look at the history of St Mary’s Church, with its graveyard memorials, and the symbolism of the 8th century Pictish cross slab.
The book discusses Crail’s former prosperity as an international trading centre, its weekly market ratified by Robert the Bruce, and its fluctuating success as a fishing village, while emphasising the dangerous nature of the coastline with which mariners have had to contend.
We witness the effects of plague and civil war in the mid 1600’s, and the shameful witch hunts. In the 1880’s, Crail’s legendary isolation was broken by the arrival of the railway, when it re-invented itself as an immenselypopular holiday & golfing resort, in which Crail Golfing Society played a significant part.
Crail’s twentieth century history is dominated by the role during World War II and beyond of its now abandoned airfield at Balcomie currently the venue for motor sports and car boot sales.
The book ends with some bedtime reading - a swashbuckling account of a duel between master swordsman, Sir William Hope of Balcomie, and his French counterpart. Full of fascinating insights into the life of earlier centuries in Crail, this book is essential reading for residents and visitors alike.
I begin by discussing the activity of pre-historic hunter-gatherers in nearby Fife Ness, then visit Constantine’s and Caiplie caves with their early Christian symbols and long history of human habitation.
I unearth some of the oldest written references to Crail, and look at the history of St Mary’s Church, with its graveyard memorials, and the symbolism of the 8th century Pictish cross slab.
The book discusses Crail’s former prosperity as an international trading centre, its weekly market ratified by Robert the Bruce, and its fluctuating success as a fishing village, while emphasising the dangerous nature of the coastline with which mariners have had to contend.
We witness the effects of plague and civil war in the mid 1600’s, and the shameful witch hunts. In the 1880’s, Crail’s legendary isolation was broken by the arrival of the railway, when it re-invented itself as an immenselypopular holiday & golfing resort, in which Crail Golfing Society played a significant part.
Crail’s twentieth century history is dominated by the role during World War II and beyond of its now abandoned airfield at Balcomie currently the venue for motor sports and car boot sales.
The book ends with some bedtime reading - a swashbuckling account of a duel between master swordsman, Sir William Hope of Balcomie, and his French counterpart. Full of fascinating insights into the life of earlier centuries in Crail, this book is essential reading for residents and visitors alike.
To Get Your Copy of Crail History and Guide, Click the Buy Now Button.
Post free within the UK and Europe if buying direct from Crail Bookshop.
|
|
