Showing posts with label gorse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gorse. Show all posts

Tuesday 9 May 2023

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. 

 

A photo of a hill with some rocks in the foreground - a view of Tickleness Point from the rocky seashore.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View up Tickleness Point

 

A photo showing brown, crumbling soil on a slope with the blackened and burnt branches of some gorse bushes sticking out.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Burnt gorse

 

A photo of brown, crumbling soil on a slope, in the centre is a rabbit burrow and all around are burnt gorse branches protruding from the earth.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
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.

 

A photo showing a very grey scene over the Firth of Forth from Tickleness Point in Fife looking towards Edinburgh.  The hills of Edinburgh can be seen in silhouette.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
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.

 

A photo showing a grey, concrete building perched above some steep rocks.  The windows of the building have been bricked up.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
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.

 

A photo of an old, stone ruin beside the sea.  There is a curved passageway leading through it.  This is the ruin of the lime kilns at Tickleness Point.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Lime kilns at Tickleness Point

 

A photo showing the lime kilns in the distance.  the sky is grey and ominous and there is a faded rainbow on the right-hand side.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Lime kilns and rainbow

 

A close up shot of the ruins of the lime kilns showing that it is a crumbling stone structure with grass all around and bushes growing up to the left of it.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
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.

 

A photo of a hand holding up a small, ceramic skull (Skulferatu 96).  In the background are the lime kilns.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #96

 

A photo of a crumbling stone wall.  In the centre, in the crumbling cement, is a small, ceramic skull (Skulferatu 96).  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #96 in a gap in the crumbling cement

 

A close-up photo of the crumbling stone wall with a small, ceramic skull (Skulferatu 96) sitting in a hollow in the cement. Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #96 in a gap in the crumbling cement

 

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu #96
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