The Parish of Abercrombie or St Monan's

Abercrombie or Abercrombin appears to have been a Parish since 1174. Towards the end of 1646 another name was added, viz. the Barony of St Monan's. For some years after this the Parish was designated in Presbytery records as "Abercrombie with St Monan's". In the course of years Abercrombie was dropped and St Monan's became the sole designation. At the beginning of the 19th. century Abercrombie was revived as the proper name of the Parish and was applied to in all public documents.

The village, now known as St Monans has at least six different sources of the saint's name, all differing widely, but the most likely appears to be, that it took its name from a hermit or religious recluse, belonging to a neighbouring monastery (Pittenweem), who, in the sixth century when Eremite devolution was prevalent, is said to have lived here. The precise spot pointed out (in the year 1844) as his habitation (St Monan's Cell or Cave) was then covered by a byre. A path, which is an ancient right of way, proceeds from Braehead at the top of the Dawsie Wynd, leading to the Church. On the right, at the lower end of the path, is what is left of the cave, overhung by a mass of dark coloured whinstone. The name turns up all over Scotland. e.g. in Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake are the following lines: The stag at eve had drunk his fill, Where danced the moon on Monan's rill.

The Parish of Abercrombie is situated on the Northern shore of the Firth of Forth, opposite to North Berwick Law, and about midway between Fifeness and Leven-water, about 10 miles from each. It is bounded by the Parishes of Elie and Kilconquhar on the West, and Carnbee on the North and Northeast, and by Pittenweem on the East, and by the Forth on the South, in the shape of nearly a parallelogram, a mile and a half long, from South to North and a mile wide from West to East.

There is a very abrupt ascent from the low and rocky beach, consisting of sandstone and limestone to the arable part of the Parish. This arable land, for about a quarter of a mile descends gradually and then re-ascends till it reaches its highest point at the farmhouse and steading of Abercrombie. From this the ground falls in all directions to the boundary.

The climate is fairly mild. In winter and early spring there are occasional violent gales from the south-east, of several days duration. The effect of these was to bring ashore vast quantities of sea-weed, which, at one time, the farmers on the estates of the Anstruthers of Balcaskie, made use of as manure.

In contrast to the southern boundary of the Forth, on the west is the small stream in times gone by called Inweary (Inverie) , rising in the marshes of Kilconquhar Parish, and after a course of about two miles falls into the Forth close by the old church of St Monan's. On the North-east there is the Dreel burn, rising in the heights of Baldutho, and after a course of five or six miles, with Carnbee and West Anstruther Parishes on its left bank and Abercrombie and Pittenweem on its right , falling into the Forth at West Anstruther.

There were several perennial springs in the Parish, the water excellent and was well adapted for domestic purposes. There is one spring (chalybeate) situated on the East Braes, contaminated by drainage from old coal workings(q.v.). It is said that at one time fishermen washed their nets here because they thought that the iron in the water would strengthen them. This spring was originally St Monan's Well and thousands of pilgrims visited it to cure their ills, from Bubonic Plague and Smallpox to Infertility and Chilblains!

The position of the rocks along the seashore is diversified, and the stratification very varied. The rocks, consisting of sandstone and limestone, run out from the land in parallel ridges, of different elevations. The direction of the ridges is from NE to SW, and their dip to the SE in various angles to the horizon. A wide opening occurs in general, between these ridges, (about 200 feet) and presents an obvious and natural harbour opposite to the middle of the village. The sides of this inlet, instead of dipping like consecutive ridges in one direction, expand and mutually fall back, forming a spacious entrance, of which due advantage has been taken in forming the harbour. The original pier (on the site of the present middle one), was built by Baron Newark in the 15th. century. In 1863 the foundation stone of a new pier, to the east of the old one was laid and was finished in1865. The old West Pier was demolished and a new harbour was surveyed, designed and constructed by Thomas and David Stevenston (Thomas's son was Robert Louis, of Treasure Island fame) The foundation stone was laid by John Williamson, W.M. of Lodge St Adrian. There is an account of this ceremony contained in the Fife News dated 11 October, 1879. (Murray Library, Anstruther).Further improvements were carried out in1885 and both basins were deepened in 1902/5.

There are said to have been six seams of coal in the Barony of St Monan's, splint and cherry. These seams ranged in thickness from18 inches to 7 feet. In former times coal was worked to a depth of 10 fathoms; but had been given up for about 25 years and when it was resumed in about 1820, the shafts were driven to a depth of 27 fathoms. The working of coal was completely abandoned because of the lack of capital to invest in it. There are understood to be several seams of coal in the lands of Abercrombie.

Other minerals which abound , but do not appear to have been developed, are limestone and ironstone. The limestone rock is very deep and is understood to be continued under and across the village till it reappears, with very prominent features, like the other ridges on each side of it, on to the sea. Ironstone was found in considerable quantities on the beach and is formed chiefly of small stones and was used by the shipmasters as ballast. The nature of the arable soil is of a light loam, friable, with very little clay, quite free of stones and is fertile and manageable. It is perfectly adapted for green crops, but yields all the usual crops with abundance.

One of the earliest documents connected with the parish is a charter granted to the feuars of St Monan's by Sir William Sandilands, dated 1622. One of the most important clauses in this document is that by which 'the said bailies, council, feuars and inhabitants of our said town of St Monance, their heirs and successors shall be holden and restricted to repair, beet (refurbish) and uphold the Kirk and Kirk-yard dykes of St Monance, in timber, slate, lime and glass, sufficiently, as effeirs, in time coming.' There was no mention of metal and so the Kirk stood open for a whole summer at one time, for the want of a latch!! This clause was not lost sight of by the heritors of future days. Sandilands was paid £10 for the 'mair' and also given fish from every boat every year. He also kept the mineral rights for himself.

There was one eminent person in British history connected with the parish, one, Lieutenant-General David Leslie who, according to Sibbald (History of Fife, Cupar Edition, 1803, p335) was created Lord Newark by Charles II . The name Newark had belonged to the residence of Sir James Sandilands and became the property of David Leslie by purchase. It is understood that this is the General Leslie who made so distinguished a figure in the civil wars in the middle of the 17th. century. He defeated Montrose at Philiphaugh, 13th. September, 1645, and he completely suppressed the civil war in Scotland in1647. When Cromwell invaded Scotland in 1650, David Leslie sustained a signal defeat at the battle of Dunbar. The reason for the defeat was because of the zeal of the Committee of the Church and State, who precipitated him into a battle for which he was not ready. He was overthrown on 30th. September 1650, and confined in the Tower of London. However, justice was done, as he was later acquitted of misconduct and restored to his command. To mark his release, he built the Doocot in 1660.

The biggest landowners, according to a valuation in 1695 were, Sir Robert Anstruther of Balcaskie, Sir Alexander Anstruther of Newark and, to a lesser extent, the Earl of Balcarres.

The earliest entry in the parochial registers is 16th. April 1597. It is very brief and not very legible, appearing to record the settling of an account. Matters of discipline were often dealt with by the Kirk session, extending to all manner of delinquencies. The first volume of the register ends in 1638 and the second begins in 1641 and goes on to 1660, the third from 1664 to 1681. Then there is a blank until November 1689 and since then records have been kept regularly. The first record of a marriage is in 1634 and there are only three records of births and baptisms before 1707.

In those days, St Monans was one of the principal fishing stations on the east coast of Scotland, mainly line fishing (for white fish ) and herring fishing. Children were used to gather bait, the women folk baited the lines and the men ( including boys from 14 to 18) went a-fishing. The herring fishing season was in the winter and spring months, locally, then to the North-east of Scotland starting in June and finally to Lowestoft and Yarmouth, in England at the back end of the year.

The most memorable occurrences in those days (the 19th. century) were losses by sea, from swamping of boats and other accidents, for the 30 years from 1800, four boats perished with the loss of five lives in each, one with four and one with three. These boats crews were composed of near relations making the catastrophes more afflicting to survivors. The worst happened at Kings Lynn, Norfolk on Friday 19th. November, 1875, when three boats were lost. The Quest, the Beautiful Star and The Thane, all with seven men in each. In all with two boats from Cellardyke, 37 men were lost, leaving 19 widows and 72 orphans. These tragic events served to bring the people together, by awakening and bringing in a great deal of good feeling, mainly by raising substantial sums of money for the dependants.

The parish church is conveniently situated for the great bulk of the population, but, up till comparatively recently, not for the minister and his family. The manse was situated at Abercrombie and the original parish church, abandoned in 1646 was only about a five minutes walk from the manse, in the grounds of Balcaskie estate. The present church, which is on the site of the original St Monan's shrine, is said to have been built about the fortieth year of David II's reign(1369) . Tradition says that he and his queen, narrowly escaping shipwreck on the "stormy frith," had found a landing on the shore hard by St Monan's, and that, as an expression of gratitude for their deliverance caused a chapel to be built to St Monan, the tutelary saint of the place. By David's charter, dated in Edinburgh, he grants to this chapel the lands of Easter Birney in Fife, and some lands in the sheriffdom of Edinburgh. James III gave it to the Black-friars. It had afterwards a convent at Cupar annexed to it and both it and the convent were annexed by James V to a convent at St Andrews. The church is situated at the west end of St Monans and separated from it by the small burn of Inverie, and within fifty yards of what is known as St Monan's Cell or Cave. The church is a beautiful specimen of Gothic architecture, in the form of a cross, with a steeple of hewn stone in the centre, square so far and terminating in a spire of eight sides. There is no sign of building to the westward; but to the north and south of it are two transepts at right angles to the main construction. It was a most uncomfortable place of worship, damp, cold, its walls covered with green mould and presented an aspect of chilling desolation, and by 1772 the church was in a ruinous condition, the transepts were without roofs. The then incumbent decreed against the heritors for extensive and substantial repairs. The feuars did not think this was a burden for them to bear and the matter was taken to the Court of Session and the feuars were found liable. They did then apply a repair, but only partial, and nothing like that which was necessary as had been deemed by the Presbytery and it remained in this state till 1825 when the then minister, the Rev. Robert Swan, brought the state of the church to the notice of the Presbytery. An inspection was made and it was decreed that the building be condemned. The heritors protested and asked for a delay, a further meeting was convened and an architect was employed (a Mr. Burn) who deprecated the idea of it being abandoned to ruin and gave his decided opinion as to its capability of its being repaired into a beautiful specimen of ecclesiastical architecture and a place of worship well adapted for seeing and hearing.

This report was immediately accepted by the Presbytery and acted upon and work commenced in June 1828. The remains of General David Leslie and his successors were buried in the north transept, but were removed during the rebuilding of the church, when the floor was lowered. Seat rents were established to help defray the expenses of renovation and were continued on until the early part of the twentieth century. A number of changes and improvements were made to the church in succeeding years, but much more needed to be done. It was in the 1950's that a sister of the late Rev. Dr. Turnbull, who had been minister for very many years, left money in her will for 'the restoration of the church'. It was thought by many that she had meant renovation, but the powers that be at church headquarters took the literal meaning of the word restoration and decided to go ahead and restore the church to its original form. As a result the church was closed for worship for approximately four years while the work of restoration took place. The level of the floor was raised, the vestibule which had been added at the east end of the church was removed and the entrance built up.

This meant that the only entrance to the church, apart from through the vestry, was by the double doors in the south transept, as a result there was no vestibule. The pulpit was moved from its offset position at the left of the chancel to the centre of the west wall under the window which was reduced in size. The church was finally rededicated in 1961.

Old St Monans has many distinctive architectural features. House walls are mainly 'harled', many roofs are pantiled and the tiles are not nailed down. As a result the gable walls were continued above roof level to prevent the wind getting under the tiles. Sandstone is difficult to cut diagonally, so the tops of the gable walls were finished with the distinctive 'crow steps'. Houses of more than one story had an outside stair to the upper flat. Very few are left now, as many were removed to widen the streets. In comparatively recent years, the National Trust for Scotland have restored many of the old houses in St Monans as well as in other East Neuk towns.

There were salt pans, on the East Braes, just past the site of the putting green and bathing pool. These were in use in the 18th. century, when sea water was evaporated using fires fuelled by the local coal. The windmill (Roondel) on top of the raised beach, pumped the sea water up into the pans. The salt and coal operations lasted about 30 years and by1844 the salt factory had completely disappeared. The ruined windmill has since been upgraded and grassy 'hollows' mark the location of the salt pans.
John Cunningham Fairlie March 1998

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