Tour Scotland 4K Summer travel video, with Scottish music, of St Adrian's Church and graveyard on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to West Wemyss, Fife, Britain, United Kingdom. St Adrian's is at the northern end of West Wemyss Churchyard which opened in 1703 and is reached by red gravel paths leading from the gates in the north and east sides of the boundary wall. The architect of the present St Adrian's was Alexander Tod. The money for the building was donated by the Wemyss family to provide a place of worship for the villagers of West Wemyss. Alexander Tod was a Fife born carpenter who settled in Edinburgh and is known to have worked on Pilkington's Barclay Church. He rose to the position of an inspector of works and in 1865 and was responsible for the building of the Normand Road UP Church in Dysart designed by James Brown of Glasgow. His expeditious handling of that contract came to the notice of Mrs Millicent Wemyss of Wemyss Castle who appointed him master of works to the Wemyss and Torrie estates which had extensive colliery and harbour interests as well as agricultural land. In 1894 Tod became acquainted with Robert Stodart Lorimer through the formation of a chapel in Wemyss Castle and more particularly through the building of the East Lodge and West Wemyss Manse which in some degree set the style of the harled Scots vernacular idiom adopted on the Wemyss estate thereafter. Tod's practice was continued by his son Alexander Stewart Tod who was born on 25 December 1889 and joined his father in the master-of-works office on leaving school, his practical training with his father being supplemented by books and evening classes. In 1915 he was called up for military service, and while serving in the army his father died in 1917. The post of master of works was kept vacant for him and he returned to the Wemyss estate office on demobilisation in 1919. About 1950 John Carroll, owner of the textile factory at East Wemyss invited Tod to carry out work on his premises. This was encouraged by the Wemyss family, but as a salaried estate employee he was at first reluctant to undertake it and passed the commission to the much older Archibald Welsh of Kirkcaldy who was architect to the Kirkcaldy and District, previously Pathhead and Sinclairtown, Co-operative Societies. Welsh then invited him to become a partner, the practice then becoming Welsh and Tod. Alexander Stewart Tod died on 9 January 1964 and was succeeded as master of works of the Wemyss estate by his son Charles Robert, a surveyor, who had been articled to Archibald Welsh in 1946. Welsh only briefly survived Alexander Stewart Tod, the Welsh & Tod practice then becoming Stewart Tod & Sons, although Stewart Tod Junior remained an associate in David Carr's practice which he had joined in 1955. The architectural side of the Tod practice in Kirkcaldy was also looked after by his wife Vivienne until 1970 when Carr took Stewart Tod into full partnership and the practices merged. The surname Wemyss is derived from the Scottish Gaelic uaimh which means cave. Sir Michael Wemyss along with his brother, Sir David, and also Scott of Balwearie were sent to Norway to bring back the infant Queen Margaret, the Maid of Norway, in 1290. Sir Michael Wemyss swore fealty to Edward I of England in 1296 but then changed his allegiance to Robert the Bruce. In 1513 Chief Sir David de Wemyss was killed leading the Clan Wemyss at the Battle of Flodden. John Wemyss was knighted in 1618 and created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1625. David Wemyss, 4th Earl of Wemyss was nominated as one of the trustees for the Treaty of Union with England. In 1707 he became Vice Admiral of Scotland. During the Jacobite rising of 1745, David Wemyss, Lord Elcho, joined the Jacobite leader, Charles Edward Stuart in Edinburgh. Lord Elcho accompanied Stuart into England and was also present at the Battle of Culloden. The chiefship of the Clan Wemyss and the estates in Fife devolved upon the 5th earl's third son, James Wemyss, born 1726, died 1786, who was MP for Sutherland and married Lady Elizabeth Sutherland in 1757. James Wemyss's great grandson married Millicent, daughter of Lady Augusta Gordon, and illegitimate granddaughter of William IV of the United Kingdom. Their son, Michael Wemyss, married Lady Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck, last surviving god-daughter of Queen Victoria. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome. The date for astronomical Summer in Scotland is Tuesday, 21 June, ending on Friday, 23 September.
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