Culross Tourist Attractions
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Much of the picture-book burgh of Culross (6mi/9.6km west of Dunfermline) is now in the hands of the National Trust for Scotland. It is a popular spot with tourists as it is probably Scotland's best surviving example of how the middle classes lived between 1600 and 1800. At that time the settlement was a busy center where the inhabitants earned their living from coal, salt and the manufacture of cast-iron plates on which the famous Scottish scones were baked. Work on restoring the village started in the 1950s. Distinctive features include the cobbled alleys, whitewashed houses, red pantile roofs, stepped gables and outside stairways leading to first-floor entrances.
Town House
The square at the end of Sandhaven is dominated by the Town House (1626) which was crowned with a belfry in 1783. The municipal scales, known as the tron, stood on the stone plinth opposite.
Culross Palace
Behind "Bessie's" lies the recently restored "Palace". This Dutch-style mansion was built in 1597 for the wealthy businessman Sir George Bruce. Note the elegant double staircase and the beautifully painted ceiling beams. The inscription "SGB 1611" is thought to refer to this year of completion and the year in which Sir Bruce was knighted.
Back Causeway Houses
A row of delightfully restored 17th C houses line Back Causeway. Note the stepped gables and roofs of Dutch hollow tiles.
Tanhouse Brae
In Tanhouse Brae the meat cleaver and scales identify the 17th C Butcher's House and at Snuff Cottage the opening line of an old Scottish saying "Who would have thought it" can be read. The second line "it was made for noses" can be seen on the house of a snuff-maker in Edinburgh. Both the Coachman's Cottage and the old Tanhouse date from the end of the 17th C, while the House of the Evil Eyes (16th C) opposite the church owes its name to the gable's weird-looking windows. The local parish church (1633) includes the chancel and central tower of a Cistercian abbey (1217).
Chapel of St Mungo
On the road to Dunfermline stands the Chapel of St Mungo (1503), which is now just a ruin. It is said that St Mungo - the patron saint of Glasgow - was born here.
Bishop Leighton's Study
The "Study" (1633) on the market square, where Bishop Leighton of Dunblane conducted theology lessons, has an impressive gabled roof and lookout tower, while the oldest house in Culross bears the inscription "1577"; the replica Mercat Cross on the gable front was completed in 1588. An educated sea captain is said to have written the Greek inscription "God provides and will provide" on the adjacent house.
Town Buildings
The road back to the parking lot passes the Nunnery - look for the veiled head of a woman on the stepped gable, the Ark, which was once a seamen's hostel, and Bishop Leighton's House which dates from the second half of the 17th century.
Map - Culross
