Skulferatu #126 - Coastal Turret, Ravenscraig Park, Kirkcaldy

 

It was one of those days made for walking, cool and sunny with no wind.  So, I jumped on a train and headed over to Kirkcaldy, a town in Fife.  I have always meant to do a bit of exploring around Kirkcaldy, as I don’t think I’ve had a serious wander about there since I was in my early teens.  All I can really remember from then is going to a swimming pool somewhere near the sea front, and that there was a big ugly shopping centre, now demolished.  There was also a café, which may have been part of the swimming pool complex, that had a really good jukebox.  I have memories of drinking cups of tea to Bowie, Blondie, The Undertones, and lots of other stuff that blew my mind at that age.

 

Arriving in Kirkcaldy, I wandered down through the town, down the High Street to the seafront.  Though lively, the town seemed almost to have a bit of a split personality with trendy sushi places and cafés sitting next to run down looking betting shops, charity shops, bargain shops and derelict buildings.  The town centre is one of those places full of potential and screaming out for a bit of investment.  Maybe one day it will get some.

 

Wandering along the seafront I passed by old industrial buildings, new industrial buildings, and a few rather bland housing estates.  After cutting down by a rather ancient graveyard I ended up on the beach along from the castle at Ravenscraig, and just down from Ravenscraig Park.  There I spotted a small turret on a wall reaching out towards the sea.  It looked like it should be part of some grand Disney style castle, so intrigued I decided to go and explore. 

 

Ravenscraig Beach

 

View along to the Coastal Turret

 

The Coastal Turret

 

Bathing…at this point

A view of the Costal Turret

 

A view of the Costal Turret

 

Leaving the beach, I wandered up some stairs past an old Doocot and moseyed on to the little tower.  There was no castle, just this little turret on the curve of a sea wall.  It was nothing more than at attractive little folly to add a bit of interest to the wall.  The wall that runs around Ravenscraig Park and overlooks the Forth.  The park was originally part of the grounds of Dysart House and was gifted to the people of Kirkcaldy in 1929 by Sir Michael Nairn, an industrialist who owned several linoleum factories in the area.

 

A view of the Costal Turret and the Forth

 

Doorway into the Coastal Turret

 

View out from the Coastal Turret

 

View along the coast from the Coastal Turret

 

The Lookout Tower was built in the early 19^th Century, it serves no real purpose and was built as a folly or a gazebo.  It is however quite an aesthetically pleasing little building, especially when viewed from the beach.

 

After taking in the views, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me, in a gap in the wall by the tower.

 

Skulferatu #126

 

Skulferatu #126 in a gap in the wall by the Coastal Turret

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #126

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 56.118922

Longitude -3.136093

 

what3words: decent.orange.reduce

 

I used the following sources for information on the Coastal Turret –

 

Historic Environment Scotland - Ravenscraig Park Lookout Tower

Skulferatu #96 - Tickleness Point, Burntisland, Fife

Sometimes I go and have a wander around a place just because I’ve seen it named on a map and have liked the name.    And that was the main reason I decided to go for a walk around this bit of the Burntisland coastline, I mean how could I resist a name like ‘Tickleness Point’?  Why it bares that name I have no idea, but it brought back childhood memories of the Mr Men books and Mr Tickle.  Hmmm, do you think in this day and age that particular Mr Man would be written into existence, what with his proclivity for the inappropriate touching, or tickling, of random people?  Probably not.

 

Only a short walk from the railway station, Tickleness Point is part of the Lammerlaws, on a peninsular that sticks out from the coast at Burntisland. 

 

I made my way along a path that curved up and around the hill at Tickleness Point.  Nearing the top, the earth was exposed and crumbling under the charred branches of burnt gorse.  Blackened branches that looked like they had been clawing their way out of the ground in a futile attempt to escape the flames. 

 

View up Tickleness Point

 

Burnt gorse

 

Burnt gorse and rabbit burrow

 

At the top of the hill were some ditches and mounds which are all that remains of a fort which once stood there.  The fort was believed to have been built by Oliver Cromwell’s men in the early 1650s, during the Third Civil War.  And, given the view over the Forth I could see why they would have built a fort there.

 

View over the Forth to Edinburgh from Tickleness Point

 

The military history of Tickleness Point did not end with Cromwell, as during World War II it was in use again, and a concrete pill box from that time still stands above some steep rocks overlooking the sea.

 

Pill box on the rocks overlooking the sea

 

Near to where Cromwell’s fort stood are the remains of some lime kilns.  Lime kilns were used in the production of quicklime (Calcium Oxide), a product which had, and still has many uses.  It is used in the manufacture of cement and mortar, as a fertilizer, and was once used to mask the stench of rotting corpses.  Something that would have been quite important in the overcrowded graveyards of old.

 

Lime kilns at Tickleness Point

 

Lime kilns and rainbow

 

Lime kilns at Tickleness Point

 

Nothing much is known of the history of the lime kilns, but they do make a nice landmark.

 

I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk around Tickleness Point in a gap in the crumbling cement of the lime kilns.

 

Skulferatu #96

 

Skulferatu #96 in a gap in the crumbling cement

 

Skulferatu #96 in a gap in the crumbling cement

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #96

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.057339

Longitude -3.223469

 

what3words: spray.distracts.fats

 

I used the following sources for information on Tickleness Point –

 

Canmore – Tickleness Point

Canmore - Tickleness Point, Burntisland

 

 

The History of Burntisland

by Andrew Young

1913

 

For anyone unfamiliar with Mr Tickle, a narrated cartoon of the book is available on –

https://youtu.be/gPC3MmdTb-E