Tour Scotland 4K travel video of photographs, with Scottish music, on an ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to the church and cemetery in Crail, East Neuk of Fife. There has been a church at this location since at least the twelfth century. The earliest known parish church on this site was a two celled Norman building. It was consecrated in 1243 to Saint Maelrubha and after a successful petition by the Prioress of Haddington, became Collegiate in 1517, by which time it was known as St. Mary's. Between its foundation and 1815 there were many modifications and additions. In 1815 Robert Balfour undertook the first major renovation and a second was carried out by Judith Campbell in 1963. Saint Maelrubha lived from 3 January 642 to 21 April 722. He was an Irish monk who founded a monastery at what is now Applecross on the West Coast of the Scottish Highlands. Maelrubha's name can be found in many different forms, including Máelrubai, Máel Ruba, Maol Rubha and Malruibhe. He was said to have been descended from Niall, King of Ireland, on his father's side. He was born in Derry and educated in Bangor. In 671, Maelrubha sailed from Ireland to Scotland with a band of monks. They spent two years travelling the country and spreading the Christian message, mainly in Argyll and the western side of the Highlands, founding a number of churches. In 673 he settled in a remote location now known as Applecross on the west coast overlooking the north end of Skye and Raasay, and established a monastery. This became known in Gaelic simply as a'Chomraich or The Sanctuary. From his base at Applecross, Maelrubha and his followers mounted missionary journeys across much of northern Scotland, an area extending from Isle of Lewis and the Western Isles in the west to Durness in the north and Keith in the east. There are conflicting stories about how Maelrubha met his end. The most popular is that while travelling through Strathnaver he met a band of Danish Vikings and was killed by them. This helps give him an aura of martyrdom, but would have happened a good 70 years before the first recorded Viking raids on Scotland. Another story has him dying at Urquhart, while yet another has him simply dying of old age, he was 80 at the time, peacefully at his monastery at Applecross. Many churches across the Highlands and Islands are dedicated to St Maelrubha, including the surprisingly modern Episcopal church at Poolewe. A number of other features are also named after him, including Loch Maree and the settlement of Amulree in Perthshire where an early church was dedicated to him. Robert Balfour was born about 1772, the son of a farmer of Kilmany, Fife. He is said to have worked as a mason in Edinburgh for the Adam brothers and later set up business in St Andrews. In August 1799 he petitioned for a piece of ground to the north east of Shore Bridge for a workshop and yard. He lived in Balfour House, The Shore, which appears as Shore Bridge House, St Andrews in the Census of 1851. He seems to have served on the Town Council in St Andrews but resigned in October 1804 and refused to accept office again in 1809 as he also did in 1823. He threatened interdict against the building of a slaughterhouse at Shore Bridge on 10 August 1850. He is said to have been responsible for several houses in St Andrews which show a marked influence of the Adams. He appears to have retired in the 1830s. In the 1851 Census he is listed as living in Shore Bridge House but gives his occupation as a farmer with 117 acres employing 4 ploughmen. He presumably retained his father's farm. In 1858 he is listed as a shareholder when the Western Bank of Scotland collapsed. Balfour died aged 97, almost blind, in 1867. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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