Culross
Historic Culross is one of Scotland's most picturesque towns.
St. Serf founded Culross ('pronounced coorus') in the fifth century. The whitewashed, red-tiled buildings are well preserved, such as the Town House, where witches were tried and held while awaiting execution. The nearby ochre-coloured Culross Palace, built by wealthy coal merchant George Bruce in the late 16th century, is not a palace at all but a grand and impressive house, with lots of small rooms and connecting passageways, with wonderful painted ceilings, pine panelling, antique furniture and curios. The garden is planted with grasses, herbs and vegetables of the period.
A cobbled alleyway known as Back Causeway, complete with a raised central aisle formerly used by noblemen to separate them from the commoners, leads up behind the Town House to the Study, a restored house that takes its name from the small room at the top of the corbelled projecting tower, reached by a turnpike stair. Built in 1610, its oak panelling in Dutch Renaissance style dates from around 20 years later.
Further up the hill from the Study lie the remains of Culross Abbey, founded by Cistercian monks on land given to the church in 1217 by the Earl of Fife. The nave of the original building is a ruin, a lawn studded with great stumps of columns, though the overall effect is of grace and grandeur. A ladder leads to a vaulted chamber, now exposed to the elements on one side, which feels as if it is suspended in mid-air. This adjoins the fine 17th-century manse and the choir of the abbey, which became the Parish Church in 1633. The graveyard of the church is also fascinating.
