Crail

Crail Scottish Gaelic:Cathair Aile
Crail harbour
Crail Location withinFife
Population	1,640 (2022)
OS grid reference	NO613078
Council area	Fife
Lieutenancy area	Fife
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ANSTRUTHER.
Postcode district	KY10
Dialling code	01333
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	North East Fife
Scottish Parliament	North East Fife

seal of Crail

Crail(;Scottish Gaelic:Cathair Aile) is a formerroyal burgh,parish andcommunity councilarea (Royal Burgh of Crail and District) in theEast NeukofFife,Scotland.

The locality has an estimated population of 1,630 (2018).

Etymology

The nameCrailwas recorded in 1148 asChereland in 1153 asKarel.The first element is thePictish*cair(c.f. Welshcaer) meaning "fort",though this word seems to have been borrowed intoGaelic.The second element may be either Gaelicail,"rocks",or more problematically Pictish*al;no certain instance of this word exists inP-Celtic.However, if the generic element were Pictish, then this is likely of the specific.

History

The site on which the parish church is built appears to have religious associations that pre-date the parish church's foundation in early medieval times, as evidenced by an 8th-century cross-slab preserved in the church.The parish church was itself dedicated (in the 13th-century) to the early holy man St.MaelrubhaofApplecrossinWester Ross.

Crail Castlewas an occasional residence ofDavid I of Scotlandduring the 12th century but subsequently fell into ruin.

Crail became a royal burgh in 1178 during the reign of KingWilliam the Lion.Robert the Brucegranted permission to hold markets on a Sunday.

Mary of Guise,afterward consort ofJames V,landed in Crail in June 1538 after a severe storm, and was hospitably entertained in the ancient mansion of Balcomie Castle, whence, accompanied by the king, she proceeded to St. Andrew's.

John Knox,visiting Crail on his way toSt Andrewsin 1559, was moved to deliver a sermon inCrail Parish Church.Afterwards, protesters went through the church and forcefully removed images which were put in place by previous generations but were now considered ideologically unsound.In August 1583, many of the inhabitants of Crail attacked nearby Wormiston House, which belonged to Sir John Anstruther. They filled up newly made ponds and ditches, and destroyed a plantation of ash trees. They were vexed at Anstruther because his new ditches had been built on land they claimed to belong to them as common land. ThePrivy Council of Scotlandordered them to rebuild the dykes.

In 2017, the Community Council was granted the Letters Patent to the Crail Shield and Coat of Arms.This was lost when the Royal Burgh of Crail Council was abolished in 1976.

Architecture

Crail Tolbooth(on the left)

The most notable building in the town is the parish church, situated in the Marketgate – from the mid-13th century St Maelrubha's, in later medieval times St Mary's, but now, as part of theChurch of Scotland's ministry, known just as Crail Parish Church. It was founded in the second half of the 12th century.From early in its history, it belonged to the Cistercian Nunnery of St Clare inHaddington, East Lothian,and remained the Nunnery's possession until theReformation.The kirkyard also includes a war memorial gateway of 1921.

Crail Tolboothis near the juncture of Tolbooth Wynd and the Marketgate. It stands on its own at the edge of the large marketplace with itsMercat crossin the centre of the town. This is where the Sunday markets were once held. (The former marketplace is now used as a car park.) The tolbooth has a characteristic tower dating from about 1600 and a European-style roof, similar to buildings in Holland. The weathervane on the spire is in the form of a smoked haddock (known locally as aCrail Capon) rather than the traditional cockerel form.

The Crail Museum and Heritage Centre, largely staffed by volunteers and open every day in summer, is sited in a neighbouring building, also of historical interest, at the top of Tolbooth Wynd. It houses temporary exhibitions and has a permanent exhibition onRNAS Crail.

TheGolf Hotel,on High Street, is Category A listed, dating to the 18th century or earlier.

Harbour

In 1610, the eastern pier was described as "new foundit" (newly built); however, by 1707 it was called "old and ruinous", requiring rebuilding.

The west pier was rebuilt in 1828 byRobert Stevenson.This work incorporated the crane on the southwest corner which lifts timbers into slots to seal the inner harbour.

The structure of the inner walls of the harbour features a highly unusual vertical coursing of the stones.

Notable residents

• Andrew Duncan,minister exiled for opposing the policies of James VI ( c.1560–1626)
• James Sharp,became Archbishop of St Andrews (1618–1679)
• James Oswald(1710–1769), composer
• William Dickson,footballer (1866–1910)
• Oswald Wynd,author (1913–1998)
• Joan Clarke,cryptanalyst and former fiancée ofAlan Turing(1917–1996)
• King Creosote,singer-songwriter (1967–)

Carboniferous fossils

On the beach beside the harbour, there are fossilised trees related toHorsetails,dating back to theCarboniferousgeological period.

Sport

TheCrail Golfing Society,formed in 1766, is the seventh-oldest in the world. Their oldest course,Balcomie,was formally laid out byTom Morris Sr.in 1894, but competitions had been played there since the 1850s.

Public transport

Stagecoach East Scotland's bus service 95 fromLeventoSt AndrewsviaPittenweemandAnstrutheris the only bus service which serves Crail.The hourly service runs every day.

Gallery

• 
  The unusual stonework at Crail Harbour
• 
  Crail Harbour
• 
  House near the harbour
• 
  Crail Harbour
• 
  Viewing the harbour from above
• 
  Boats in Crail Harbour

References

Citations

Sources

• Bell, Andrew (1793).The Statistical Account of Scotland.Vol. 9. Edinburgh: Printed and sold by William Creech; and also sold by J. Donaldson, and A. Guthrie, Edinburgh; T. Cadell, J. Stockdale, J. Debrett, and J. Sewel, London; Dunlop and Wilson, Glasgow; Angus and Son, Aberdeen. pp.439–458.
• "Crail".City Population.Retrieved15 August2020.
• Conolly, Matthew Forster (1869).Fifiana, or, Memorials of the east of Fife.Glasgow: John Tweed.
• Groome, Francis, Hindes(1882). "Crail".Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland: a survey of Scottish topography, statistical, biographical, and historical.Vol. 2. Edinburgh: T.C. Jack. pp.299-300.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Lewis, Samuel(1851). "Crail".A topographical dictionary of Scotland, comprising the several counties, islands, cities, burgh and market towns, parishes, and principal villages, with historical and statistical descriptions: embellished with engravings of the seals and arms of the different burghs and universities.Vol. 1. London: S. Lewis and co. pp.235-236.
• Masson, David,ed. (1880)."The register of the Privy Council of Scotland (1578-1585)".3.4.Edinburgh: H.M. General Register House:p616.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
• Merson, William (1845).The New Statistical Account of Scotland.Vol. 9. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons. pp.941–969.
• Rogers, Charles (1877).Register of the Collegiate Church of Crail.London: Grampian Club.
• Scott, Hew(1925).Fasti ecclesiae scoticanae; the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation.Vol. 5. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. pp.191-195.
• Wood, Walter (1887). Brown, J. Wood (ed.).The East Neuk of Fife: its history and antiquities.Edinburgh: D. Douglas.

External links

• The Royal Burgh of Crail and District Community Council