Culross is a scenic village in Fife.

Home » Helen Rose Hillwalking Diary » Culross February 2014

Culross February 2014

Helen Rose Outdoors

The Glasgow HF Outdoor Club www.glasgowhf.co.uk arranged a Saturday linear walk to Culross from Kincardine. These are villages in Fife, a county in the East of Scotland, north of Edinburgh. Kincardine to Culross is part of the Fife coastal path. However, our walk did not follow the coastal path but headed inland. These villages are accessible by public bus from Glasgow and as most of us on the walk are over 60 years old, we benefitted from the concession bus pass allowing us to travel free on buses throughout Scotland.

We took the public bus to Kincardine and walked from there through the grounds of Tulliallan Castle, now used as a Police College, in very pleasant winter weather. We have had a strange winter in central Scotland this year with no snow and very little ice so conditions underfoot were not slippery. Tulliallan Castle has Sculptured Stone and is a top destination for Megaliths and Prehistory worldwide.
.We left the Tulliallan estate and walked to Peppermill Dam Loch with densely wooded shores in Devilla Forest. The loch is a reservoir built to service a paper mill. The water is no longer used for industrial purposes. It was a very pleasant walk around the loch to the dam where we stopped for elevenses with views over the loch.

We walked through the forest and on to open moorland alongside fields on good paths until we reached the outskirts of Culross. On the way we stopped at the original parish church of Culross, known as the West Kirk situated nearly a mile west by north of the Abbey Church, on the old road leading through the moor to Kincardine. The pronunciation is Cooross and takes its name from Cul, which signifies a bank or back; and Rosse, which was the ancient name of Fife, because it lies in the western corner of Fife. The l is not pronounced. We spent some time exploring Culross Abbey. Culross Abbey succeeded to the title of the old monastery and is an oblong building of three storeys, flanked by turrets at the east and west extremities of its south front, which, standing on the crest of the hill, both commands a magnificent prospect, and, when viewed from below on the water, forms, with the church and monastery ruins, a most imposing and picturesque group, overshadowing the town of Culross.

From the Abbey it was a short walk into the village of Culross. During the 20th century, it became recognised that Culross contained many unique historical buildings and the National Trust for Scotland has been working on their preservation and restoration since the 1930s. David in our group had lived in one of the listed buildings some years ago and was pleased to have the opportunity to revisit the house and have a photograph taken outside of it. As the house is occupied it was not possible to see the inside. The village is very picturesque with cobbled streets and is a popular visitor attraction.

Notable buildings in the burgh include Culross Town House, formerly used as a courthouse and prison, the 16th century Culross Palace, 17th century Study. As it was out of season, the palace was closed including the highly praised tearoom. We had some time before the bus was due so we walked along the promenade of the Firth of Forth. This is near to where the River Forth comes out to the North Sea. From Culross, it was the bus to Kincardine to connect with the bus back to Glasgow. A free day out with a lovely walk thanks to Stephen and a visit to a very scenic village that has been on my list of places to go in Scotland.