Crail, Parish Church. View from north.

Description Crail, Parish Church. View from north.

Date c. 1885

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 739200

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of F 1946

Scope and Content West Tower, Crail Parish Church, Crail, Fife, from the 'back-stile' in the north wall of the churchyard Crail Parish Church stands within a tree-lined churchyard on the north side of Marketgate at the eastern end of the town. It was built in the late 12th century as a simple Romanesque building consisting of nave and chancel, and was gradually altered and enlarged over the centuries. The Scottish photographer, Erskine Beveridge, photographed the west tower on a visit to the churchyard c.1885. This tower, possibly the oldest in Fife, dates from the early 13th century, and is constructed of coursed masonry divided by string-courses into six stages. The top belfry stage, with lancet windows and a crenellated parapet, was added in the early 16th century. The squat octagonal stone spire dates from the same time. On the north side is an enclosed staircase with a lean-to stone roof which rises to the belfry stage. The belfry houses a fine Flemish bell which was cast in Belgium by Peter van den Ghein in 1614. It was removed from the tower of the tolbooth (town hall) in 1702 in exchange for the original church bell of 1520 which, being bigger, was considered more useful in a prominent position in the centre of the burgh. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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