Leaping into spring with some great Scottish architecture and history from the Kingdom of Fife!
I love history and I love architecture, and when the sun is shining at the end of winter and beginning of spring there is no better chance to capture the Auld Kirk's surroundings in Kirkcaldy, Scotland.
The first Kirk or church we are looking at is situated on the side of Kirk Wynd.
Kirk being the Scottish for church and Wynd being the Scottish for an alley or narrow street.
Fun fact : the name a wynd actually derives from the Old Norse venda meaning to turn. The wynd would turn off the main street so you knew it was curved!
It is up hill, which means getting to it is via steps, and you can see the Kirk through the archway.
Here we see the steps down to Kirk Wynd and we are not standing on the top of the steps.
Looking at the side of the magnificent Auld Kirk.
It is still a functioning church, and it has now been renovated. The last time I took pictures there was scaffolding and a screen around the church.
Kirkcaldy Old Kirk is the site of the first Christian worship in Kirkcaldy after the Celtic missionaries brought the faith here in the 5th century.
Courtesy of the Kirkcaldy Old Kirk Heritage Group.
I love the clock tower as you can see it from many directions, and it dates back to the 15th century.
I love the fact it is rectangular in shape as opposed to cylindrical. That is just me though .. or is it!
We shall wander round the outside and look at the buildings and some graves.
I do love info pictorials to give you an idea of what history you are looking at!
It gives you details of buildings that are now long gone, together with notable celebrities.
Adam Smith was baptised here and I am sure you know of him, the extraordinary economist and Wealth of Nations author.
The door was closed unfortunately.
I find graveyards and cemeteries fascinating.
I remember the first time Mrs T saw people eating their lunch in the sun in a graveyard quite strange.
Although we are looking around the Auld Kirk, we do see the tall spire of another church a few yards away.
Back in the days when there were churches galore it was common to see two three and even four churchs in close proximity.
Stained Glass windows and grills
One thing of beauty around churches are the stained glass windows.
But they get vandalised and they are hard / expensive to repair.
So the solution to stop neds breaking them is cover them with wire meshes or screens.
I don't know if these portakabin buildings are a left over from the renovation works or if they are some sort of church office.
They do mar the church view though.
Black and white view of St Bryce Kirk on Kirk Wynd
It came out quite good, what do you think?
Around the back amongst the gravestones they had another info block, artistically framed to be like a gravestone.
Those with money would have fancier gravestones and even monuments.
The rear of the church looks so different without the view of the old tower.
You also see the round window that is so common in churches.
I know it is a bit morbid to like gravestones...
... but don't you like the angle of this one, it give off Halloween vibes!
One other wonderful thing about this time of year is that the trees are naked, they have no leaves and so don't hide objects behind them.
This makes for gorgeous shots with the blue sky and white clouds.
I thought I would include this family gravestone that dates back to the 1700s...
The history is amazing imagine all the people that have stood where we are looking over the years...
There we have it, our time to leave. I must say they have given the old place a great clean and you would not think it is centuries old.
I mentioned bare naked trees, well as we leave to get back to Kirk Wynd by the other set of steps we pass these tall trees which make for another final shot!
View from the gardens of St Bryce Kirk
Cheers everyone!
Do you wander round graveyards or look at old churches? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for visiting and I hope you managed to get out for a walk this week.
All images and ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo unless otherwise stated. Note images are all snapped by me with my Google Pixel 9 XL Pro smartphone on the 14th March 2025 and some were used in canva to make the lead image.
@tengolotodo March 17th 2025
Travel Digest #2502.
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Hiya, @lizanomadsoul here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Your post has been manually curated by the @worldmappin team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!That is awesome, thank you @lizanomadsoul and @worldmappin , have a wonderful day :)
Keep up the great work 💪 You too have a wonderful day.
Thank you
I like old cemeteries as well, and love to look through the headstones. It's peaceful and quiet, I like visiting them. Maybe that means on my last visit I'll happy there too! lol You got some great pictures, I love all of history you have around you. Very interesting that Adam Smith was born there.
You're title almost made me think of Albuquerque, they rhyme! But then again I don't pronounce the words quite as the same as you!
haha I like it! And that reminds me of "Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque!" the lyric from Prefab Sprout and their hit The King of Rock 'N' Roll!!
Hehe thank you that is my ttt inspiration sorted for tomorrow!
Oh I love your thinking...
Love it! They are peaceful and I had quite a few good times in cemeteries over the years!
I happen to love song! Prefab Sprout, what a good band! It's been a few years since I listened to them! I got to work on the TTT thing too, no idea what I'm doing as of yet!
Yeah they are are great, and it all works out superbly. On Sunday Newcastle United won their first domestic trophy at football for 70 years. Newcastle being in the North East of England where Prefab Sprout are from!
Thanks again and I shall keep an eye out for who you choose to highlight today!
The pictures all look amazing. It offers a nice view for us who are not in the actual place. It's like a free travel offered by the writer. Thanks for sharing these amazing photos in your adventure :)
Quite an immersive view Tengo!!!
Stone churches have this vintage castle like look to them..
They really do, the similar designs and same stonework helps!
Very impressive. I think I would have to alot myself a good deal of time if I ever get the chance to visit this part of the world. Just so much to see!
There really is heaps. Then throw in everything that is only accessible via car lol and you will never run out of stuff to see!
I bet!
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Thanks guys and here is to a great new week.
Building and infrastructure made long time ago always stand the test of time. Gravestones won't be fascinating to me at night time. Imagine ghost roaming around😬.
hehe I used to live on a farm and our house was right beside a graveyard. This was in the countryside on a little island. It was dark there were no street lights and only three houses. We had to walk past the graveyard to get to and from our house. In the winter it was dark at 2 in the afternoon. When you are a ten year old child that was scary 👻
When passing the graveyard I bet you run as fast as you could😬😂
haha yes 🤣
😆😆😆
even you can take good photos in a cemetery 😍
I'm looking for a word to describe everything I've just seen and I can't find it! But it really is very impressive. I am particularly morbid about reading the tombstones in cemeteries, especially the ones that say things about the deceased. I also like to check the year they were born and died to see how old they were. hahaha. I'm not a stranger, but that makes me curious! Thanks for those images, Ed. I hug you.
I too get fascinated by the dates and their ages! So if you are morbid about it all then so am I! Here is a morbid hug Nancy
Love the architecture
Great pictures
Thank you, great architecture makes for great pictures.
It sure does
History , traditions in beautiful constructions that seem fairy tales outings
They are beautiful buildings and oh yes fairies could have been hiding there!
Sure!!!
The place was so serene. The medieval structures of the area stand as a majestic reminder of the past. The gravestones stand each telling its own quiet story. Wonderful place to visit. Nice shots 😍
Oh yes that is a very apt description, gravestones each telling us its own quiet story. I like that 😎. It is a serene calming place to visit. Wishing you a wonderful day and thanks for popping in.
You're welcome 😍 But I think when it's dark, these gravestones take on a different presence 😀 just my imagination lol
Oh yes when it becomes dark then it gets spooky 👻 hehe for sure when we are children!
Absolutely! The dark seems ten times scarier back then, lol