




The picturesque Royal Burgh of Crail 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 many 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-
The town was surrounded by a continuous wall and it is likely that the Old Kirk of
St Mary, Crail's parish church, lay outside the walls. As the town grew, its streets
spread to meet the church which was re-
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.