Greetings Travelers
During one of my recent early springtime rambles in the Fife countryside, I discovered 2 interesting churches.
This first building is Dunbog church which was built in 1827 and has been closed since 1983, the same year I was born. The nearby town of Newburgh is where the current church services have been held since this somewhat of-the-beaten-track location closed its doors 40 years ago.
The surrounding area offers many great photography opportunities.The churchyard is locked of to the public which I guess means no living soul has sat on this bench for 40 years.The whole area appears frozen in time.
The surrounding countryside reminds me of the paintings by Victorian landscape artist John Constable. The old wooden fencepost lining the fields with their rusted barbed wire have most likely been here longer than I have been alive.
This is a very rural part of the country ,lined with wooded hills and fields stretching on for miles in all directions. Think of Tolkiens Shire in Middle Earth and your not far from how things look and feel here.
"The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say"
J.R.R Tolkien
Lord Of The Rings
Following this winding country road from the car pack next to Dunbog church, we come to an even more interesting structure which now lies in ruin.
This incredibly picturesque building looks like a location from a fairytale or fantasy. Almost too aesthetically perfect to be a real location.Its the ruins of St Magridin's church now known as Abdie church,a pre-reformation structure built in 1242 and consecrated by Bishop David de Bernham.
This building houses some very old gravestones.
The style of the markings on this stone lead me to believe is of Pictish origin which would potentially make it more than 1000 years old. This area was a stronghold for The Picts, Scotlands indigenous tribal people who occupied the country before the Romans.I haven't been able to find to much information on this stone but it's likely it was excavated in this area.
This effigy dates from sometime in the 14th century.It is housed in this modest little building to protect it from the elements.I am more than a little surprised its not in a museum.It looks quite beautiful lying here on its bed of eternal Autumn.
This grave slab dates back to the 15th century, another example of a very well-preserved 500+ year old stone.
Although the oldest parts of this church date back to 1242ad it was expanded in 1661 and used as a burial ground.
Some very well-weathered iron bars still hold strong in this stone window.I wonder how many winters they have endured?
This tiny little cottage would have been used to keep a nighttime vigil over the graveyard whenever a new grave was dug to deter bodysnatchers from digging up corpses to sell to medical science.
It seems people were being buried hee as late as the last years of the 19th century,a time when body snatching was a common practice in Scottish graveyards.
There is even a memorial plaque here dated to 1977 and one as recent as 2017.I wonder if these people are actually laid to rest here or perhaps it is just a memorial stone.It's also possible that these people wished their ashes to be scatered in this tranquil and ancient sacred place.
I can't help but wonder how old this door is and how many people have walked through it over the years. Being under an archway will have protected it from the weather but it still looks like it's seen centuries' worth of rain.
That's all for now folks.I hope you enjoyed the video and photographs of this lesser-known part of the world.Stay tuned for more adventures in ancient Fife real soon!
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