About Crail

This picturesque Royal Burgh lies on the east coast of Scotland in our own little corner of Fife known as The East Neuk. Steeped in the history of Scotland, you can still hear the curfew bell which welcomed Mary of Guise to Scotland. (She was the mother of Mary Queen of Scots).

Crail is noted for its architecture with fine examples from merchant houses in the Marketgate and Nethergate to fisher lofts in the narrow streets leading down to the medieval harbour. There are many examples of Fife's stone buildings with red pantiled roofs and crow-step gables. Of the origin 3 medieval marketplaces the Marketgate survives with the mercat cross near to the old Tollbooth, now the Town Hall housing the library and rent office with the museum next door. For those interested, the other two were in Nethergate where the British Legion Hall stands and in the High Street on the spot now occupied by the Post Office and the Chippy.

There is evidence that Crail had been a settlement from very early times. These early days of Christian civilisation associated with the Celtic Church from the 5th to the 11th century are symbolised by the Sauchope stone in the burgh's Victoria Park. A castle was built by King David I in the 12th century, the castle where Crail House now stands fell into ruin in the 16th century but part of the wall remains, including the doorway used by the Kings of Scotland travelling to the harbour.

The town was surrounded by a continuous wall and it is likely that the Old Kirk of St Mary, Crail's parish, lay outside the walls. As the town grew, its streets spread to meet the church which was re-built and enlarged in the 13th century. In 1310 Robert the Bruce confirmed Crail's status as a Royal Burgh with the right to hold markets on a Sunday. The town's Marketgate became one of the largest market places in medieval Europe.

The Tollbooth, originally housing the gaol and council offices, was built in 1598 but its belfry containing a Dutch bell taken from the Kirk dated 1520 was added 200 years later. The weathervane on the top is a copper Crail Capon- a smoked or dried haddock, for which the burgh was famous.  Next door is Crail Museum and Heritage Centre where you can discover more about the burgh.

Crail Kirk, dates from c1243, and inside the Kirk you will find an ancient Pictish Stone. Preachers here have included the infamous James Sharpe, later Archbishop of St Andrews, and John Knox, who started a riot here which led to a path of destruction of the churches all the way to St Andrew in 1559 when the church's rich altars and images were destroyed. The Kirk attracts visitors from far afield but remains very much a centre of village life. You are especially assured of a warm welcome at worship and every Wednesday at 'chat bite' in the new Church Hall.