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Abbeys
in Fife.

It’s 20:56 in Fife.
Fife

Abbeys, cathedrals and old churches.

Fife was one of the great religious centres of medieval Scotland, and the ruins it left behind are some of the most moving places to visit here. There's the abbey where Robert the Bruce is buried, the vast ruined cathedral that was once the largest church in Scotland, and a Cistercian abbey on the hill above a village of cobbled streets. Some are grand and roofless, open to the sky, while others are small, quiet and still in use. Climb a tower for the view if you can, and look out for the carvings and old gravestones that tell their own stories.

Lindores Abbey Distillery→
The Priory Doocot, Crail→
Culross Abbey→
St Andrews Cathedral→
The Bruce Vault, Culross Abbey→
Dunfermline Abbey and Palace→
Abbey of the day19 hours ago

Dunfermline Abbey and Palace.

The royal abbey of Dunfermline, burial place of Robert the Bruce and St Margaret, with a great Romanesque nave and the ruins of a royal palace.

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From Issue 5 of Hidden Scotland magazineIssue 518 hours ago

Walking Through Time in Culross

A walk through Culross in Fife, from the palace George Bruce built on coal mined beneath the Forth to The Study, the Town House, the old wells and the abbey ruins.

Read the story
From our guide16 hours ago

Culross Abbey.

St Mungo, the founder of Glasgow, is thought to have once been a member of the early Christian community that sprung up here in Culross. The abbey site was once home to a Cistercian monastery, originally built in the 1200s; among the present-day ruins, a parish church still stands.

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Did you know15 hours ago

Charles I, the last monarch to be born in Scotland, was born at Dunfermline in 1600.

After the Reformation of 1560, Queen Anna of Denmark created an imposing palace at Dunfermline, in Fife, with the monks' guesthouse at its heart. Charles I was delivered here in 1600, and he was the last monarch to be born in Scotland.

See Dunfermline Abbey and Palace · Fife
Quiz14 hours ago

The oldest written record of whisky-making in Scotland, from 1494, names one man. Who was he?

Lunch12 hours agoFifeCrail Harbour Gallery and Tearoom600 yardsFifeReilly and Sons Lobster Hut600 yardsFifeAnstruther Fish Bar4.0 miles

Lunch near The Priory Doocot, Crail.

The three good places closest to it: Crail Harbour Gallery and Tearoom, Reilly and Sons Lobster Hut and Anstruther Fish Bar.

See The Priory Doocot, Crail
From our guide11 hours ago

Inchcolm.

The presence of a stunning 12th century abbey – the best preserved group of monastic buildings in Scotland, no less – helps give this fascinating Firth of Forth island its nickname ‘The Iona Of The East’. You’ll also find two lovely beaches, plenty of coastal birdlife and a series of wartime fortifications, including a WWI ammunition tunnel.

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Fife9 hours agoFifeAbbot HouseAttractionFifeDunfermline Abbey and PalaceUnder a mile awayFifeSt Margaret's CaveUnder a mile awayFifePittencrieff ParkUnder a mile away

The oldest secular building in Dunfermline is known in the town as the pink hoose.

Abbot House on Maygate is the oldest secular building in Dunfermline, with a core that goes back to the 16th century, and its walls have earned it the local name of the pink hoose. Today it holds a shop of work by local makers, a coffee shop and a book nook, a few steps from the abbey.

Find out more about Abbot House
From our guide7 hours ago

St Monans Auld Kirk.

Crouched on a weather-beaten cliff-edge under a distinctive octagonal tower, St Monans Auld Kirk is thought to be the closest to the sea of all Scotland’s churches. It’s been a landmark since the Middle Ages, with the current structure dating back to the mid-1300s, and the graveyard that still surrounds it stands in silent testament to the often perilous East Neuk fishing industry.

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Quiz4 hours ago

The monks of Lindores Abbey in Fife, beside whose ruins a whisky distillery now stands, kept the largest what in Scotland?

Did you know3 hours ago

The words King Robert the Bruce are carved in huge letters round the top of the tower of Dunfermline Abbey.

Bruce was buried at Dunfermline Abbey, in Fife, in 1329, without his heart, which was taken to Melrose Abbey. In 1819, while the new Abbey Church was being built, bones believed to be his were found, and he was reinterred in the centre of the new church. His grave lies under the pulpit, beneath a large brass marker, and the tower above carries his name in large stone lettering round its crown.

See Dunfermline Abbey and Palace · Fife
From our guide1 hour ago

St Andrews Cathedral.

The tall but fragmented ruins of St Andrews Cathedral – eternally open to the coastal elements – are all that remains of what was once the grandest medieval church in Scotland. Much of its importance was down to the fact that relics of St Andrew, their provenance unknown, were apparently brought here in the 700s. The cathedral museum is well worth a look, and includes a remarkable 1,250-year-old shrine to a Pictish king.

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