St. Monans in the East Neuk of Fife is well worth a visit to capture the atmosphere of an old, close knit, Fishing community. For centuries the people of St. Monans lived, worked, and worshipped by the sea. It was part of their life and a constant struggle just to survive. The old houses of St. Monans reflect this struggle as they fight for a precious foothold on the rocky shores around the harbor. Even the old St Monans Church to the west of the village stands defiant on the sea shore.

The village was originally called Inverin but eventually took its name from St. Monans who lived in a cave near the Old Church and may well have been killed by invading pirates. The present Church was built in 1362 to replace an earlier Chapel on this site. It was built on the instruction of David II for his gratitude in being rescued after his ship was wrecked in the Firth of Forth.

Newark Castle, by the little town of St. Monance, consists of a few fragments of an early thick wall of enceinte, and a round tower and domestic apartments built at a much later date. It stands on a rocky cliff overlooking the Firth of Forth. It once belonged to the famous soldier, David Leslie, renowned in the civil wars of the seventeenth century, who built much of what now stands.

"The parish of St Monans (anciently called Abercrombie) stands on the shores of the Firth of Forth. It is bounded by Pittenweem, Elie, Kilconquhar and Carnbee. The parish extends about 1 mile along the coast and about 1.5 miles from north - south. The fishing village of St Monans, where the majority of the parishoners live, is situated nearly halfway between Elie and Pittenweem. It is a Burgh of Barony, governed by its baron Bailies and Council. There is a Sea Box Society connected with the village; Savings Banks and other social and benevolent institutions. The villagers catch great quantities of herring, cod, ling, haddock, etc. The inhabitants of the landward parts are chiefly employed in agriculture." edited from Westwood's Directory for the counties of Fife & Kinross published 1862.

Hellfire and Herring This evocation of a way of life in St Monans now vanished demonstrates the power of the word to make the local universal and to bring the past timelessly to life. Woven into the fabric of family life, village characters, church and school, Rush writes of folklore and fishing and the eternal power of the sea, the cycle of the seasons, the worlds of the imagination and the unknown, the archetypal problems of fathers and sons and mother love, and the inescapability of childhood influences far on into adult life.

If you would like to visit this area as part of a highly personalized small group tour of my native Scotland please e-mail me:

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