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Tour
the seaside village of Elie
The two villages of Elie and Earlsferry are linked around a natural
harbor on the East coast of Fife, and are popular seaside resorts
with many facilities to offer both locals and visitors. Gone are
the days of the 1800's when the harbor was a bustling port.
Today Elie and Earlsferry have a more relaxed atmosphere where
people enjoy windsurfing, sailing and golf. The most famous Elie
golfer is James Braid who won the Open Golf Championship five
times between 1901 and 1910.
Earlsferry is a very old village where the ferries used to arrive
from North Berwick and other ports on the Lothian coast. The village,
however, owes its name to Macduff, the Thane of the Earl of Fife
in the 11th century. When Macduff was escaping from the clutches
of Macbeth he took refuge in a cave near Kincraig Point until
it was safe for a local fisherman to ferry him over the Firth
of Forth to Dunbar. Thereafter the village was known as Earlsferry.
Beyond Earlsferry lie the ruins of an old chapel which provided
shelter for pilgrims heading to and from the town of St Andrews.
There is also an old road leading from Earlsferry which crosses
the golf course and was known as " Cadgers Road." This led to
the Royal Palace at Falkland and was the route that carriers or
" cadgers " took to deliver fresh fish to the Royal Palace. There
are many historic building throughout the villages. One of the
oldest, known as the " Castle " stands in South Street and dates
back to about 1500. Also in South Street is Gillespie House which
was rebuilt in 1870 but kept the " Muckle Yett " doorway of an
earlier house on this site. Nearby, and in the High Street is
the old Parish Church built in 1639 by Sir William Scott of Ardross.
Its Tower, with its interesting octagonal shape, was added later
in 1726. Elie house built in 1697 was cursed by a gypsy. The curse
stated that only six generations of the residents, the family
of Anstruther's, would live in the house, and this is exactly
what happened.
Elie is ideally located for easy trips to St Andrews, Dunfermline,
Culross, Perth, Edinburgh, Falkland Palace, and all of historic
Fife.
If you would like to visit this area as part of a highly personalized
small group tour of my native Scotland please e-mail me at;
sandystevenson@thefreesite.com
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