Skulferatu #138 - Doo Cave, Wemyss Caves, East Wemyss, Kirkcaldy, Fife

On a pleasant summer’s day, I took a trip to what at the time of writing was the brand new train station at Leven, and from there I went for a walk along to East Wemyss.  Before hitting the coastal path that would take me to my destination, I trudged through the towns of Methil and Buckhaven, two places that were once at the heart of Scottish industry and have suffered heavily since its demise.  Even on a sunny summer day they looked depressed and downtrodden places.  Places neglected by those in power, they had that forgotten air of towns pushed aside and ignored.

 

On reaching the coastal path I trudged along to the village of East Wemyss before taking a path down to the sea.  There I soon arrived at the Wemyss Caves; a set of caves carved out of the rock by the sea around eight thousand years ago.  Though a local legend says that they were dug out of the rock by the Pechs (Picts), who were short ginger haired men with long arms.  It was also said that they had feet so wide that when it rained they sat with them over their heads as if they were umbrellas.

 

There were originally eleven caves, though only six exist today, the others no longer being accessible due to erosion or collapse.  The caves were used as shelters by the early peoples who inhabited Fife, and they are regarded as historically significant given the number of ancient carvings that have been found on their walls.  Of the sixty known Pictish carvings in Scotland, forty-nine were found within these caves.

 

Entrance to Doo Cave

 

On my visit most of the caves were closed due to storm damage, so my wandering around was mainly limited to Doo Cave, also known as Dovecot Cave.  This cave acquired its name for a reason that becomes obvious once you walk inside, there being hundreds of nesting boxes carved into the rock.  And though it is dreich and damp, it still seems to be popular with pigeons given the amount that fluttered in and out as I walked around. Then, as I stood very still to take a photo in the poor light of the cave, one rather confused pigeon decided that my bald head looked like a good place to land, making me jump as I felt its sharp little feet scrape against my scalp.  I think it got the bigger fright though, given the way it shot back out of the cave entrance.

 

Inside Doo Cave

 

Inside Doo Cave

 

Nesting Boxes

 

Nesting Boxes

 

Inside the cave

 

Looking out from the cave entrance

 

For many years the entrance to Doo Cave was walled up with an opening at ground level to allow access for gathering eggs or birds, with some openings higher up to allow the pigeons to get in and out. 

 

Doo Cave was once linked to another cave, West Doo Cave, which contained seventeen Pictish carvings.  Unfortunately, this cave collapsed due to the weight of a gun emplacement that was built above it in 1914.  There are various photographs and drawings of these now lost symbols which can found in old books documenting the caves and at the Wemyss Caves 4D website - Wemyss4D

 

Carving found in West Doo cave – from ‘The Sculptured Stones of Scotland’

 

After looking around the cave, and dodging pigeons, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me, on a cobwebby ledge by the carved stone nesting boxes.

 

Skulferatu #138

 

Skulferatu #138 on a cobwebby ledge

 

Skulferatu #138 on a cobwebby ledge

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #138

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 56.161236

Longitude -3.058774

 

what3words: barrel.ending.solving

 

I used the following sources for information on Doo Cave –

 

Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, etc. upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England and other Countries

By J.Y. Simpson

1867

 

The Sculptured Stones of Scotland

John Stuart

1867

 

Examples Of Printed Folk-lore Concerning Fife With Some Notes On Clackmannan And Kinross-shires

Collected by John Ewart Simpkins

1914

 

Wemyss4D (4dwemysscaves.org)

Skulferatu #128 - Phantassie Doocot, Phantassie, East Linton

‘Come to see victory

In a land called fantasy

Loving life, a new degree

Bring your mind to everlasting liberty…’

 

So sang Earth Wind and Fire in their disco banger, Fantasy, and it was off to a land called Phantassie that I headed today.  Well, when I say land, I mean a couple of fields and a farm.  I also wasn’t seeking the impossible goal of victory and liberty, but rather was looking to find a luxurious dwelling house for pigeons.

 

Wandering through and out of the town of East Linton I came to a rather fabulous and bent looking old building, Preston Mill.  This stone building with a red tiled roof looking a bit like some witch’s cap is an old watermill that was in the past used for grinding down, milling, grain.  The present building probably dates from around the 18^th century, though it is believed that a mill has stood on the site from sometime before 1599.

 

Preston Mill

 

Preston Mill by the River Tyne

 

Strolling past and over the River Tyne, I made my way down through Phantassie on a gentle path that led me through some fields to the Doocot.  Around me birds sang, and a gentle wind made the wires on the telegraph poles hum in a low meditative way.

 

Path down to Phantassie Doocot

 

So, you may wonder, how did Phantassie get its name?  Some say it comes from the Gaelic for a gentle and damp slope, but as Gaelic was not really spoken around here that seems unlikely.  Others say that it is a made up name coming from the French ‘fantaisie’ (fantasy) and point out that in 1654 the area was recorded as Trapren. By 1800 it did however have the name Phantassie, which was sometimes spelt with a ‘ph’ and at others with an ‘f’.

 

Arriving at Phantassie Doocot I found it to be quite a strange looking little building, with one side having the appearance of a series of concrete collapsed hats designed by some brutalist architect, and the other, with its sloping tiled roof and entry holes looking more like a little fortress.

 

Phantassie Doocot

 

View of Phantassie Doocot

 

Phantassie Doocot

 

Sloping roof of the doocot

 

Entrance holes for the pigeons

 

The Doocot was built sometime in the Sixteenth Century and is a Beehive Doocot with five hundred nesting places inside.  It is unusual in its design in that it has a horseshoe parapet with a sloping south facing roof that would protect the birds from the wind.  This is a design that was popular in the south of France, so it may be that the designer or builder had some connection there. 

 

Doocots or Dovecotes were introduced to Britain by the Normans in the Eleventh Century and were basically buildings designed for pigeons to nest in.  These nesting houses were not built for altruistic reasons, but rather that during the winter months pigeons were seen as a good source of fresh meat.  By building a place for hundreds of them to gather and nest it made it easy to gather them, and their eggs, up to eat.

 

There was, of course, one big problem with the pigeons in the Doocots, and that was the amount of grain they could eat.  Something that didn’t bother the landowner who owned the Doocot, as he got the plump juicy birds to eat, but his tenant farmers would often have to watch in despair as the pigeons munched away at their crops.

 

While watched by some nesting pigeons, and a couple of inquisitive crows, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me in a gap in the stonework of the Doocot.

 

Skulferatu #128

 

Skulferatu #128 in a gap in the stonework of the doocot

 

Skulferatu #128 in a gap in the stonework of the doocot

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #128

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 55.987858

Longitude -2.647786

 

what3words: hunk.collapsed.blush

 

I used the following sources for information on Phantassie Doocot –

 

East Lothian

by Thomas Scott Muir

1915

 

Preston Mill and Phantassie Doocot

National Trust for Scotland

by Clare White and Gillian Simison

2012 

Skulferatu #43 - Rosyth Doocot, Rosyth, Fife

 

Walking away from Rosyth Castle, across an abandoned rail track and up a wooded hill, I came across Rosyth Doocot almost hidden amongst the trees.

 

Rosyth Doocot, hidden amongst the trees

 

Rosyth Doocot

 

The Doocot is from the Sixteenth Century and has over one thousand five hundred stone nesting boxes inside for pigeons.  It must have been a pretty smelly place in its day, but the pigeons were a year round source of meat and eggs for the local community.

 

The Doocot is now empty except for some discarded beer cans and a couple of chairs sitting inside.  The chairs give it a slightly surrealist feeling and I half expected a couple of actors to appear from the side shadows and perform ‘Waiting for Godot’ or something of that ilk.

 

Interior of the Doocot

 

On the lintel above the door are the remains of a carving of a serpent.  This represents the old biblical saying of – ‘Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.’

 

Entrance to Doocot, with remains of carved serpent on lintel above the door

 

View of Dovecot and Details from The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland

 

I left a Skulferatu in the wall of the Doocot.

 

Skulferatu #43

 

Skulferatu #43 in hole in wall at Rosyth Doocot

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #43

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.024808

Longitude -3.429101

 

I used the following sources for information on Rosyth Doocot –

 

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

By David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1887

 

Tourist Information at site