History in Bow of Fife, Collessie & Letham

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Old photographs of Collessie, Ladybank & District Thanks to Mr Ed Boyle of Cambuslang who has sent in a selection of historical photos from Ladybank, Giffordtown and Collessie for all to enjoy.

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Brief History of Collessie

Long before Collessie developed as a medieval village, the area south of Kinloch House was a prominent early settlement location where archaeologists have found evidence of late Neolithic to early Bronze Age tools - pottery shards that suggest tribesmen made the hills and marshes around Collessie their home and hunting grounds. 

A Pictish (6th-­7th century) standing-stone is visible at Newton Farm, just outside Collessie. It depicts a naked warrior carrying a rectangular shield and a spear which has a round object or weight on its lower end. This carving is one of the few stones to depict a single warrior and remains an important artefact for the area.

In medieval times this old weaving village was known as Kirkton of Collessie, conspicuous by its elevation in a marshy area rich in peat. Collessie Church was already ancient by 1243 and over the centuries the estate has been divided many times into Easter and Wester areas.

Collessie village has long been an agricultural centre with handloom weaving a subsidiary industry. Local legend has it that Collessie was once the regular haunt of King James V when he was resident at Falkland Palace, walking incognito around the countryside as ‘the guid man of Ballengeich' (Ballenguich was a gulley at the foot of Stirling Castle used by the King as a secret exit). It's said many subjects failed to penetrate his disguise as he walked along the shores of the now drained Rossie Loch.

The most prominent building in the village is the Church built in 1839 but whose graveyard includes several 17th century monuments. Amongst the most notable, the Tomb of Sir James Melville of Hallhill, a noted courtier to Mary Queen of Scots and James VI whose personal memoirs remain an important historical record of the latter 16th century. Friends of Collessie Church, a local charity, hold much archive material relating to the Church, the Village and the Parish of Collessie which is available on request. They are currently compiling Collessie's Churchyard book - a list of everyone buried in the graveyard from the 17th century until 1911.

Next to the church is the former manse (The Glebe) begun in 1796, while the schoolhouse dates from 1846.

Before the railway came to Collessie in 1846, there were 108 residents, mostly handloom weavers. At this time industrial power looms were introduced to larger villages and towns like nearby Auchtermuchty, making many folk redundant, but the railway gave the men of Collessie employment laying the track. Post WW2 the railways were run down and Collessie station closed in 1955. Today there is no station or shop in the village.

Though many new houses have been built, Collessie remains home to many 18th and 19th century weavers cottages and distinctive thatched cottages clustering in narrow, windy roads around the square-towered church.

Poet Robbie Kennedy Bennett whose father, Cecil Kennedy Bennet, was born in Collessie and grew up in Ladybank, has written a number of poems about the area. Read his work, 'Collessie'. 

Brief History of Monimail

Thought to derive from the Gaelic monadhmaol, ‘the bare hill', Monimail village and its surrounds were once owned by the See of St Andrews. There has been an Episcopal residence here since the days of Bishop William Lamberton (1298-1328), of which Monimail Tower remains a relic.

15th or 16th century Monimail Tower was excavated in 1987 and restored to a high standard of authenticity between 1992-1997. The architectural detail, notably the Renaissance-style portrait roundels on the parapet, is comparable to that at the near contemporary Falkland Palace, making it one of the finest surviving early Renaissance buildings in Scotland. The Tower is sadly all that remains of a larger edifice overlooking the parish graveyard, in which the Earls of Leven, and prominent landowners the Balfours and the Melvilles are buried.

Melville House at Monimail dates from 1692. Built in 1697 by James Smith for George, 1st Earl Melville, it originally incorporated the 15th Century Monimail Tower. Once dubbed the most important Renaissance building in Scotland after Holyrood, it's mile-long beech-lined approach avenue was formerly considered one of the finest entries of any mansion. Owenership of the estate transferred out of the Melville family by 1950 and the property functioned as a private school and Fife Council property until 2001 when it was bought by developers. The restoration of the property, supervised by Scottish Heritage, has resulted in a lavish and striking mansion built for grand entertaining.

Melville Doo-cot located a half-mile to the southeast of the house was restored by the Cupar & North Fife Preservation Society in 2007. Originally a windmill, when converted to a doocot the top was removed to form a single pitched roof. Doocots provided protected nesting places for pigeons whose young were culled for food. Their feathers were used in pillows and their manure used on the farm, or sold for industrial use.

Monimail Parish Church was built in 1794-97. Its notable four-stage gothic tower dates from 1811.

Brief History of Letham

Letham belonged to the Archbishop of St Andrews and the archbishop rented out portions of the surrounding land. In 1551 a grant of lands was made to Elizabeth Lindsay and her family with a part rent of ‘four thraives of straw' for use of his Tower at Monimail. Letham (with Monimail) was acquired by Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairney (Baron Melville of Monimail, 1616).

Letham supported a parochial school in 1804, and in 1820 extended a parish library and brewery for ‘table and small beer'. Most folk however were employed in agriculture. Letham was once known for its fair during the 1st week of June although this substantial market appears to have discontinued in the mid 19th century. Today Letham is described as ‘a large hillside hamlet' and is largely 18th and 19th slated single storey cottages, many with original and interesting features. For some wonderful pictures of Letham through the ages, see the photos on Letham's own community website. See also article A History of Letham: talk by Donald Dallas.

Brief History of Bow of Fife

Bow of Fife is a cluster of houses on the A91 Auchtermuchty to Cupar road. Its main landmark is the disused, red-spired Monimail Free Church of 1897-8. Writing in the 1790s, the Minister of Monimail, the Rev Samuel Martin, commented,

"whether this uncommon name (Bow of Fife) is taken form the bending of the road as some suppose, or as others from the meetings of the farmers in old times, to fix the process of grain (the bolls being pronounced bows) cannot be determined. It has been thought, that this spot is nearly the centre of Fife: this is also offered as the reason of the name' (ie the focus of an estate)."  

Sir Robert and Lady Spencer Nairn make their attractive woodland garden at Barham available for tours through the summer months as part of Scotland's Gardens Scheme. Daftmill Farm is writing it's own chapter in Bow of Fife's history - it is home to one of Scotland's newest and smallest malt whisky distilleries. But don't get too excited, the malt is still maturing slowly in their bond!

Extracts from ‘Villages of Fife', 2002, Raymond Lamont-Brown; ‘Fife in History & Legend', 2002, Raymond Lamont-Brown; Collessie: A Parish Alphabet, George Calley

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