Culross
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 Culross (includingCulross Town House) and the Firth of Forth | |
  Culross Location withinFife | |
| Population | 2,280 (2020 includingValleyfield)[1] |
| Community council |
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| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DUNFERMLINE |
| Postcode district | KY12 |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
| 56°03′19″N3°37′45″W / 56.0554°N 3.6293°W /56.0554; -3.6293 | |
Culross (/ˈkurəs/;Scottish Gaelic:Cuileann Ros, "holly point")[2] is a village and formerroyal burgh, and parish, inFife, Scotland.
According to the 2006 estimate, the village has a population of 395.[3] Originally, Culross served as aport city on theFirth of Forth and is believed to have been founded bySaint Serf during the 6th century.
The civil parish had a population of 4,348 in 2011.[4]
A legend states that when the Brittonic princess (and future saint)Teneu, daughter of the king ofLothian, becamepregnant before marriage, her family threw her from a cliff. She survived the fall unharmed, and was soon met by an unmanned boat. She knew she had no home to go to, so she got into the boat; it sailed her across theFirth of Forth to land at Culross, where she was cared for bySaint Serf; he became foster-father of her son,Saint Kentigern (or Mungo).[5][6][7][8][9]
The parish appears to have originally centred further west. The original church, later known as the "West Kirk" perhaps dates to the 11th century but was abandoned around 1500 and, therefore, did not come into play in 1560 at the time of theReformation; however, it continued to be used for burials into the 20th century, being a long-established burial ground.[10]
TheCistercian Abbey, dedicated to theVirgin Mary and Saint Serf, was built around one mile (1.5 kilometres) to the east in 1217, being founded byMalcolm, Earl of Fife. Part of this became the parish church in 1560 and was restored in 1905. A Chapel of St. Mungo (now wholly lost) was erected in 1503 byRobert Blackadder,Archbishop of Glasgow.[11]
The first recorded minister was John Dykes (1567). He was replaced in 1593 by Robert Colville, ofLinlithgow, who ministered until 1629, when replaced by his assistant Robert Melville. John Duncan MA took over in 1632. Duncan was pensioned off in 1642 but is recorded as joining the camp ofGeneral Leslie at Newcastle 1646–1647 during theEnglish Civil War.[11]
In the 17th century, its most notable minister was the CovenanterJames Fraser of Brea, who took over in 1689.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the town was a centre of thecoal-mining industry.[8][9] SirGeorge Bruce of Carnock, who builtCulross Palace and whose elaborate family monument stands in the north transept of the Abbey church, established a coal mine at Culross in 1575. In 1590, he constructedthe Moat Pit at Culross, the first coal mine in the world known to extend under the sea.[12] The mine worked what is now known as theUpper Hirst coal seam, with ingenious contrivances to drain the constant leakage from above. This mine was considered one of the marvels of the British Isles in the early 17th century, described by one visitor,John Taylor, as "a wonder ... an unfellowed and unmatchable work",[13] until the Moat Pit was flooded in a storm on 30 March 1625.[12][14] In fact the Moat Pit was one of more than 20 shafts in and around the village sunk by Sir George, his son and grandsons between 1575 and 1676 when the mining migrated eastward as accessible reserves were exhausted.[15] Culross Colliery, the collective term used for the pits around the village, was one of the largest, if not the largest, in Britain at this time. Some of the coal was used for housefires and industry but the greater part and the basis of the Bruce family wealth was used to evaporate seawater to make salt.
From 1575salt panning was to become Culross's primary industry.[16]: 9–10 There were seven salt pans at Culross in 1573. ThePrivy Council of Scotland allowed the proprietors, led by John Blaw and Alexander Eizatt, to export salt and they undertook to pay a duty in silver to theScottish royal mint. In 1574,Regent Morton revoked licences to export salt because of a shortage of salt in Scotland.[17] By the time of his death in 1625 Sir George Bruce had 44 salt pans in operation of which half were believed to be in Culross.
The need to make and maintain the pans and the picks, mattocks and other tools of mining created a need for skilled smiths. One offshoot of this was the town became known for its monopoly on the manufacture ofgirdles, a colloquial name for flat iron plates for baking over an open fire.[18][8][9] It is argued that the engineering and metal working skills developed in this period make Culross the cradle of subsequent Scottish industry.[19]
There was a considerable export trade by sea in the produce of these industries, and the prevalence of red roof tiles in Culross and other villages in Fife is thought to be a direct result of collier ships returning to Culross withDutch roof tiles as ballast. In the late 18th century,Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald, established kilns for extractingcoal tar using his patented method.[16]: 12–13
The town's role as a port declined from the 18th century, and by Victorian times it had become something of aghost town. The harbour was filled in and the sea cut off by the coastal railway line in the very early part of the 20th century. The outer pier has recently been the subject of restoration work.[20]
Notable buildings in the burgh includeCulross Town House, formerly used as acourthouse andprison,[21] the 16th-century Culross Palace, 17th-centuryStudy, and the remains of the Cistercian house ofCulross Abbey, founded 1217.[22][23][24] The tower, transepts and choir of the Abbey Church remain in use as the parish church, while the ruined claustral buildings are cared for byHistoric Environment Scotland.[25]
The West Kirk fell out of use before 1633, when it was noted as no longer serving as the parish church.[26] The West Kirk was also the site where four women executed for witchcraft in 1675 were alleged to have congregated.[27]
Just outside the town is the 18th-centuryDunimarle Castle, built by theErskine family to supersede a medieval castle.[28]
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, spent much of his early life in Culross, where his family had an estate.[29] A bust in his honour, the work ofScott Sutherland, can be seen outside the Town House.[30] He was the firstVice Admiral of Chile.[31]
The war memorial was erected in 1921 to a design by SirRobert Lorimer.[32]
During the 20th century, it became recognised that Culross contained many unique historical buildings, and theNational Trust for Scotland has been working on their preservation and restoration since the 1930s.[23]
Prior to the 1890s, the parishes of Culross andTulliallan formed anexclave ofPerthshire.[33] It is within theDunfermline and West FifeWestminsterParliamentary constituency.[34]
Several motion pictures have used Culross as a filming location, includingKidnapped (1971),[35]The Little Vampire (2000),[36]A Dying Breed (2007),[citation needed]The 39 Steps (2008),[35] andCaptain America: The First Avenger (2011).[35]
In September 2013, theStarz television seriesOutlander started filming in Culross for its premiere in August 2014.[37][35]
Culross is twinned with Dutch town ofVeere, which was formerly the port through which its export goods entered theLow Countries.[38]
The parish of Culross, along with its neighbouring parish of Tulliallan, also Dunblane Diocese, formed a detached part of the earldom, later the stewartry, of Strathearn, which explains why both were in a detached part of Perthshire until 1891, when they became part of Fife.
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