FIFE

I shall be visiting this town and indeed this part of the golf course next week. I am so looking forward to the visit to my childhood home.

The forecast was for snow last night, and I was hoping to find lots of snowy fences. Instead we've had sleet and rain, so this is my fence photo for January. The fence is supposed to demarcate the boundary to the nature reserve. The wind and tides have put paid to that.

I attended this school from the ages of 4 - 6 years of age. My teacher was Miss Brown and she taught me how to write (on a slate), do simple arithmetic, and also how to knit. It is now a job centre I think.

I attended this school from the age of 6 - 8. My teachers was Miss Sturrock, She was a gifted teacher, and I learned so much here, including poetry, art and the appreciation of music. It is now converted into private dwellings.

I attended this school from the age of 9 - 11. My teacher was Miss Gray and she was very strict. I learned the hard way how to pay attention in history lessons, as well as many other things.

Blackfriars is the modern name for the Dominican friary of St Mary which existed in St Andrews, Scotland, in the later Middle Ages. Behind this ruin is the Madras College which I attended from the age of 11 for almost a year before we moved to England. I am not listed in the famous Alumni, but one of my good friends, Gavin Brown, is: Professor Gavin Brown (1942 – 2010) - Professor of Pure Mathematics at University of New South Wales, Australia . I used to sit next to him when we were at the Burgh School. He was very brainy.

On Sunday afternoons, during term time just after church, students in their scarlet gowns take a traditional walk along the long pier and back The more daring students walking back along a narrow and high part of the wall. It's a lovely sight to see. If it wasn't windy, Ii used to walk along the top wall of the pier, gripping a tight hold of my dad's hand. I didn't walk on the top of the pier this visit, but did climb the ladder to the top to get this photo.

In the background one can see the Cathedral of St Andrew (often referred to as St Andrews Cathedral). It is a ruined Roman Catholic cathedral in St Andrews, and was built in 1158 and became the centre of the Medieval Catholic Church in Scotland as the seat of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and the Bishops and Archbishops of St Andrews. It fell into disuse and ruin after Catholic mass was outlawed during the 16th-century Scottish Reformation. It is currently a monument in the custody of Historic Scotland. The ruins indicate that the building was approximately 119m (391 feet) long, and is the largest church to have been built in Scotland. One can a;so see St Rule's tower located in the Cathedral grounds This tower predates the cathedral, having served as the church of the priory up to the early 12th century. The building was retained to allow worship to continue uninterrupted during the building of its much larger successor. The views from the top are wonderful.

St. Rule's Tower, sometimes referred to as the Square Tower (108 feet high), affords a wonderful panoramic view over the town and harbour and to the surrounding countryside. Access to the tower requires an entrance token which can be obtained at the cathedral visitor centre. The climb to the top of the tower is via a rather narrow and steep spiral staircase (151 steps) on which it is difficult to pass those headed in the opposite direction. The PiP shows an old pen and ink drawing - date unknown. When I was a child climbing the the square tower was free for everyone. The buildings haven't changed though.

The Chalmers Lighthouse was built in 1880 at the harbour entrance, to commemorate Dr Thomas Chalmers, a mathematician and professor of theology. The octagonal Lighthouse seen today was built to mark the end of the breakwater and stands 9 metres high. Most of the tower is painted white, whilst the service room below the unusually small lantern is painted black. A light is no longer shown from the tower, although it still operates a nautophone fog signal, housed in one of the window holes around the top of the tower, and a decorative white light is still shown from it's lantern. A new light, seen in the photo, was established in front of the Lighthouse, consisting of a plain unpainted metal pole with two LED units.

This is a fine example of a Victorian drinking fountain, which celebrates the versatility of cast-iron to decorative effect. It was cast by the Alexander Russell at the Kirkcaldy Foundry in 1824 and was one of a series placed along the length of the "Great Fife Road". The fountain is located in Newport 0n Tay in the Kingdom of Fife. It is a substantial canopied cast-iron drinking fountain of Moorish design, prominently sited just by the pavement. Concrete stone steps to dais and concrete covered plinth. There are 8 columns on chamfered bases with foliate detailing to base, capital and interior supporting 8 arches with scallop edging. Plaques in roundels above all arches decorated with herons and stags and inscribed 'KEEP THE PAVEMENT DRY'. There is a plaque on the east side inscribed 'THE GIFT OF MRS BLYTH MARTIN 1882'. (The Blyths were a Dundee family). There are stylised creatures between plaques and a ribbed domed roof of traceried metal with floral designs. The fountain is painted cream colour, the plaques and capitals painted red and creatures and roof ribs painted gold. In the background it's possible to see the River Tay road bridge linking the Kingdom of Fife to the county of Angus. I think it has been recently painted. It didn't look as posh as this when I was a child. ;-) The fountain was designated as a Category B listed building on 27/11/2002.

On the Horizon from left to right one can see The Isle of May, which is approximately 8 km off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is 1.8 kilometres long and less than half a kilometre wide. The island is owned and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage as a national nature reserve. The Bass Rock is just right of centre and is a volcanic crag in the Firth of Forth that towers 106 metres above sea level. It is home to a large colony of gannets. To the right is the North Berwick Law, a volcanic plug. The summit bears remnants of an Iron Age hill fort, and the ruins of later military buildings that were once used by lookouts in both the Napoleonic Wars, and in World War II. Since 1709 the law has been topped with a whale's jawbone. Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Berwick_Law