Publication Account
Date 1987
Event ID 1016844
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016844
Ceres was a burgh of barony under the control of the Hopes of Craighall. The weigh-house servd as a burgh tolbooth and as a venue for the Barony Courts. The building is a plain, two-storey, single-bay unit similar in form to an urban counting house. The roof is fmished with scrolled skewputs. At the entrance are the burgh jougs for the retention of wrong-doers during market day. They comprise an iron collar attached to a short length of chain stapled to the wall and served a similar purpose to the pillory in England. Over the door is a panel depicting scales with a weight on one side and a bale on the other. This is superscribed: 'God bless the just'.
The building was gifted to the Central and North Fife Preservtion Society who opened the Fife Folk Museum in this and the adjoining premises in 1968. The weigh-house now selVes as the entrance to the museum complex. The collection is based on the economic and social life of Fife with special emphasis on rural activities. Items of everyday life are displayed in a cottars living room of the last century and fme gowns, lace and linen have their place in the Costume Room. The garden gallery overlooks the Ceres Bum and the Bishop Bridge (NO 400114) dating from the 17th century. Buildings on the other side of High Street provide a venue for agricultural and countryside interpretation. The museum has a comprehensive collection of tools associated with the crafts and trades common in the small burghs and landward areas of Fife. These include the tools of a stonemason, blacksmith, cartwright, cobbler, reed thatcher, tinsmith, baker and weaver.
There are a number of 17th century and 18th century houses in the vicinity of the museum, one having a lintel inscribed M.M. 1669, another 1707 A.P. M.B.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).
