Tour Scotland 4K travel video of Winter road trip drive, with bagpipes music, from the harbour area to St Adrian's Church 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. The village itself was granted burgh of barony status in 1511, bearing the name from the Wemyss family who lived in Wemyss Castle. The harbour would become a major export point for coal by the late 17th century. The ships brought back imports of wood, iron and flax from the Baltic Countries. The industry, which saw trade with England and The Low Countries, started to struggle once the new docks were opened in Methil further along the Fife coast. Gradually, the demand for the harbour began to fall and it went into decline. The harbour has since been filled in and part of the old village restored. William Angus Knight, Professor of Moral Philosophy at St Andrews University, editor and biographer of William Wordsworth, lived here as a child from 1844. 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 from 1865 to 1867 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 around.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 & 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. 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. When driving on Scottish roads in Scotland slow down and enjoy the trip.
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