Culross and its history: From saints to accused witches

With its cobbled streets, yellow palace, and period garden, Culross is Scotland’s most complete example of a burgh of the 17th and 18th centuries. The National Trust for Scotland has been working on the preservation and restoration of the village’s buildings since the 1930s.

Culross is supposed to have been founded by St Serf during the 6th century. The saint led a very unusual life. The second son of Eliud, King of Canaan and his wife Alphia, daughter of a king of Arabia, Serf was elected as Pope when he travelled to Rome. He apparently fulfilled this role for seven years before travelling to Europe, and eventually Scotland.

In the Oxford dictionary of saints, David Hugh Farmer described St Serf’s life as “a farrago of wild impossibilities”.

Tradition has it that St Serf then founded Culross, where he became a contemporary of St Kentigern. The pet name of Mungo, which he is perhaps better known as, was given to him by St Serf.

Sir George Bruce also constructed Culross Palace between 1597 and 1611. (Image: Alexandra Baff)

READ MORE: Member of staff at Aldi Dunfermline running London Marathon for charity

Mungo was the son of Saint Teneu, a Brittonic princess who conceived Mungo when the Welsh prince Owain mab Urien raped her.

The historian Elspeth King has described Teneu as: "Scotland's first recorded rape victim, battered woman and unmarried mother."

The story goes that Teneu was thrown from Traprain Law for the shame of being an unmarried mother. Miraculously surviving the fall, she travelled across the Firth of Forth to Culross, where St Serf helped bring up her son.

As a result of his influence in the Kingdom, St Serf is now a common dedication for churches in Fife. There is also a Lockit Well in Culross which is believed to have been used by the saint’s followers.

A plaque near to the well states: “This historical water supply for Culross was believed to have been used by followers of St Serf.

“Fed by a stream from higher ground and filling a cistern behind the wall, the water flow was controlled by a lever that could be locked, hence the name ‘Lockit Well’.

“The stream descends the hill by Snuff Cottage, crossing Low Causeway at the Strynd Vennel and then flows into the Forth.”

The Lockit Well. (Image: Alexandra Baff)

Culross is also home to a Cistercian monastery, now a ruin.

Built in the 1200s, Culross Abbey, survived until the Reformation when the abbey church became a parish church.

However, in 1642 the north transept was converted into a tomb house by Sir George Bruce of Carnock. Effigies of him, his wife, and eight children can still be seen there today.

George played a big role in Culross’ history. The third son of Edward Bruce of Blairhall, he was a ship owner, engineer, and he built a stone tower in the Firth of Forth, south of Culross, back in 1590.

This became the first underwater pit shaft, and George is credited as being the first person to sink a mine to extend under the sea.

READ MORE: Dunfermline to be rebuilt in LEGO to mark 400th anniversary of Great Fire

As previously stated in the Press, in the tower George sank a shaft 40ft to the coal seam below. He then had a sister shaft built on the shore to drain the undersea workings using an ‘Egyptian wheel’.

The wheel was powered by three horses and had an endless chain of 36 buckets.

As 18 full buckets ascended, 18 empty buckets would then descend. The experiment was successful, and King James VI of Scotland even visited it.

The Moat Pit was eventually abandoned in 1625 after damage from a storm. Its remains are situated just below the high-water mark on Culross’ foreshore. Sir George also constructed Culross Palace between 1597 and 1611.

However, not all of Culross’ history is pleasant. King James VI was extremely scared of sorcery, and in 1597 he even published a treatise on witchcraft called Daemonologie. Culross was not able to escape the panicked witch hunts that occurred all over Scotland.

A memorial plaque for those accused of witchcraft in Culross now lies underneath an information board beside the bus stop on the village green. It faces the town hall, which was where those accused of witchcraft in the village were held.

The marker reads: "32 innocent women were accused of being witches. So many ordinary women were accused of being witches in Culross. Innocent victims of unenlightened times."