Tuesday 26 October 2021

Skulferatu #47 - Seafield Tower, Kirkcaldy, Fife

 

The walk along the Fife Coastal Path, from Kinghorn to Seafield Tower, takes you up and down a narrow trail and past some spectacular scenery of jagged rocks and crashing waves.  There are lots of tiny coves and rocky pits and hollows to explore, and on a calm day you can see colonies of seals sunning themselves on the rocks exposed at low tide.

 

A picture of a ruined tower standing in the distance with rocks in the foreground.  This is Seafield Tower as seen from rocks by the Forth.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Seafield Tower as seen from rocks by the Forth

 

A picture of the ruins of Seafield Tower as seen from the Fife Coastal Path.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View of ruins of Seafield Tower from Fife Coastal Path

 

The ruins of Seafield Tower sit on the Fife coast between Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy.  It was built in the early to mid-sixteenth century on land that had been granted by King James II to Richard Multrare (Moultrie) in 1443.  It remained in the Moultrie family for several generations.  In 1631 the tower was sold by Robert Moultrie to James Law, the Archbishop of Glasgow for 19,700 marks (£1,095).  After the Archbishop’s death the tower went through several other owners before finally being abandoned and left to fall into ruin.  


A sketch of Seafield Tower taken from The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century Volume Three by David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross, published in 1887.
A sketch of Seafield Tower as it was circa 1887


It is thought that the ruin was used as a smugglers den for a number of years.  It was noted by David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross when they visited the tower in the late 1880s that smugglers seemed to have made alterations to the building. 

 

A picture of the ruins of Seafield Tower taken from the beach below.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Seafield Tower as seen from the beach below

 

A picture of the ruins of Seafield Tower standing on the rocky outcrop the tower was built on.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The ruins of Seafield Tower standing on a rocky outcrop

 

A picture showing the ruins of Seafield Tower from an angle that shows two of the outside walls have now gone leaving a clear view into the ruins of the interior of the tower.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The ruins of Seafield Tower

 

A picture of the ruins of Seafield Tower showing a view up from the beach below with sea grasses in front of the ruins of the tower.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The ruins of Seafield Tower

 

The Rev. James Taylor mentions the tower in his book ‘Historical Antiquities of Fife’.  He, however, felt it lacked any historical gravitas and wrote - ‘Passing onwards and eastwards, we come to the…tower of Seafield.  It is built upon a rocky ledge, which the waves wash, and has the broad Firth as its lawn.  Prominent for situation, the eye often turns to it, and the expectation is awakened, as if it ought to be the scene of something memorable.  But no legend of romance, no fact of history, no popular tradition, attaches to it.  It is a ruined tower by the sea and nothing more.’

 

A picture of the ruins of Seafield Tower looking with the sea in the background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View of the ruins of Seafield Tower looking on to the Forth

 

A picture showing the ruined interior walls of Seafield Tower.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Interior walls of Seafield Tower

 

A picture showing the view out over the Forth through a doorway created in tower wall.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View out over the Forth through doorway created in tower wall

 

It would appear that the tower originally consisted of five storeys and was part of an L shape castle constructed from local red sandstone and surrounded by a wall on the landward side.  It is likely that it followed the pattern of other castles in this area with storage on the ground floor, the Great Hall on the level above that and then the upper levels all being given over to accommodation.  Much of the building has now gone, with part of the tower collapsing in a storm in 2013.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in a gap in a wall inside the ruins of the tower.

 

A picture showing a hand holding up a small ceramic skull with a view of Seafield Tower in the background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #47

 

A picture showing Skulferatu #47 having been left in a gap in the wall of Seafield Tower, near Kirkcaldy in Fife.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #47 in a gap in the wall of the tower

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #47 at Seafield Tower, Kirkcaldy, Fife
Map showing the location of Skulferatu #47

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.084120

Longitude -3.159048

 

I used the following sources for information on Seafield Tower –

 

The Moultries

South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol 5

1904

 

John Gray Centre – Research Guide – Old Scottish Money

Research Guides - Money

 

The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century

Volume Three

By David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1887

 

Historical Antiquities of Fife, Chiefly Ecclesiastical, Connected with Some of its Districts

Volume Two

Rev. James W. Taylor

1875

 

The Scotsman – 8 Lesser-known castles of Scotland

11 September 2018

8 lesser-known castles of Scotland | The Scotsman

 

 

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