Fife Forge

03/11/2026

And He's Back Already Folks!

02/11/2026

02/11/2026

Free Chairs!

I am going over to Edinburgh tomorrow to pick up some free chairs for our Fife Forge / Lang Toun Little Museum events. I only need 8 and there are 50 on offer, (not that I can fit that many in the van).

Do any community groups or charities want any? PM me if you do and I'll fit as many as I can in the van and drop them off to you.

My thinking is that we can pool use of the chairs in the event more than one group wants them, but they would need to be stored by the groups at their own places when not in use.

Thanks

John

01/11/2026

Kirkcaldy Regeneration - A Town of Culture - A Statue Town?

That's Samhain over for another year and I managed to survive the night without being dragged down to Hell or dismembered by vengeful demons.

So what of Kirkcaldy and it's much maligned High Street? How do we make it busy and almost fully beautiful again? And as quickly as possible?

I've had various chats to people of late; visitors to Fife Forge and the Lang Toun Little Museum who love the place, but always recall the glory days of a busy High Street. I've also talked to friends and central and local government politicians and followed related chat on FB pages.

David Torrence, MSP wrote about building something like a Kelpies' sculpture in the waterfront as an idea. There is a lot to be said for building something big, bold, beautiful and Scottish. The numbers speak for themselves in terms of jobs created, money spent in Falkirk and tourism. 'The Kelpies generated £81 million over their first 10 years of the project.' So there is big merit in this type of project. I think the Falkirkians pulled a fast one grabbing the Kelpies concept; Kelpies are much more likely to (and there are legends around it) frequent the waters of the Firth along the south coast of Fife, than a dirty old Falkirk canal. Such projects however are big and complicated, take a lot of time and money and big players to bring it together.

So what can we do at a local level, that we can grab hold of and run with, that puts Kirkcaldy on the map for tourists to stay here; to spend some money here, rather than just walk through / drive to, take photos and go?

I first heard the phrase Kirkcaldy Town of Culture from George Proudfoot of the Civic Society. Kirkcaldy and Fife's history is deep and rich. As a new Langtounian I am amazed by it. But I am also amazed by the relative lack of physical recognition of it in Kirkcaldy.

Kirkcaldy and Fife have played a central part in Scottish history. We need to help rekindle this knowledge and take pride in it.

We have the great historic national monument that is Ravenscraig Castle, a beautiful Kirk, St Serf's Tower and Cave, many other beautiful churches and other buildings. We have a quality Museum and Art Gallery, and Theatre. We have smaller museums like the West Wemyss Mining Museum (Old Wemyss Ways Heritage Centre), the Polish Museum at the Polish Club and our budding Lang Toun Little Museum. We have natural beauty in the magnificent parks, Ravenscraig Park and Beveridge Park, and a magic unrivalled promenade and beach, sitting on the Firth of Forth.

We have great and talented Kirkcaldy men and women, past and present who are celebrated only in words and pictures and many only occasionally, if at all. It it is important their stories live on for future generations to celebrate and be inspired by.

So what can we do?

Kirkcaldy Statute Town? To Entertain. Educate. Inspire

Statues? Statues and sculptures, traditional and otherwise of Kirkcaldy and Fife's wise and wonderful.

The experience of the highly successful Wemyss Cat Trail project provides a perfect blue print for what can be done. Importantly it does not depend on government money, but existing community organisations and corporate partnerships and community drive. We have the artists and sculptors.

On the economics? The Wemyss Cat project was mostly funded by corporate sponsors. A little government money wouldn't hurt though. We can look at some international examples where statute towns have driven tourism growth, like Skopje, North Macedonia (over 1 million tourists annually). The Kelpies attract approximately 850,000 to 1 million visitors annually. Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh attracts 70,000 visitors each year.

Kirkcaldy has massive space in our jewel of a waterfront and waterfront parks (current and planned) in Beveridge Park and in Ravenscraig Park and Dysart for a start.

So Who Could We Immortalise in Stone or Resin (or whatever material the artist chooses)?

There are plenty of people and events to choose from; it's more a case of who gets left out. We need only start with 6 or 12 or so, Wemyss Cat-like. See my list below. Who would you add?

Build it and they will come.

JD

In no particular order:

Kirkcaldy:

Sir Michael Scot (wizard)
Adam Smith
Robert Adam
Sir Sanford Fleming
Jocky Wilson
Stevie "Braveheart" Ray
Guy Berryman
John Thomson
John Buchanan
Marjorie Fleming
Thomas Carlyle
Kath Duncan
Shirley Henderson
St Serf.
Queen Mary of Guelders
King James II of Scotland
William Sinclair (St Clair), the Earl of Orkney
Captain George Moodie (Cutty Sark)
Kathleen Dawson
Robert Nairn
Michael Beveridge
Willie McNaught
John McDouall Stuart
John Pitcairn

The 'Unknown' Coal Miner(s)
The Women Executed as Witches
The 200 Kirkcaldy men who were killed at the Battle of Kilsyth (August 1645).
Black Watch
Fife & Forfar Yeomanry
Lieutenant Colonel William Thomas Marshall (VC)
Pipe Major Robert Roy (MBE, DCM)
Rosabelle (of Ravenscraig)

Wider Fife:

Ian Stewart
Jack Vetriano
Dougrary Scott
Val McDermid
Ian Rankin
Proclaimers
Alexander Selkirk
Sir Andrew Wood (Scotland's Nelson)
Duncan MacDuff, Mormaer of Fife (circa 1056)
MacDuff of Fife (11th Earl or Mormaer of Fife killed fighting on the side of William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298)
Robert Duncan Milne (Pioneer of Sci-Fi)

Other:

Jack and Victor
Ebenezer Scroggie
John Paul Jones
William Wallace.

31/10/2026

The Man Who Strangled 100 Women & Burnt their Bodies

Today is Samhain or All Hallows Eve (Halloween) and we share some stories of Fife and Scotland's darker side.

'Samhain is an ancient Celtic spiritual festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, or the darker half of the year. The Celts also viewed Samhain as a liminal time when the boundary between our physical world and the spiritual Otherworld grew thin. Souls of the deceased were believed to return to their family homes. During this time harmful spirits and mischievous fairies were also free to cross over. '

In 17th century Scotland there lived a stout and fierce man with dead eyes who travelled Fife, from town to town strangling women using a gruesome wooden and chain metal garotte.

From Lairds to Common Folk everybody knew the man of the dead eyes; he was avoided by all and only spoken to out of necessity. Rather than face the gallows he was rewarded for his murderous work with food, lodgings and coin.

His method was to tie a women to a stake or a chair with a post behind, and strangle her by twisting and turning the garrotte (Wirreit), presumably as quickly as possible to reduce her screams and suffering. After the woman's gurgling subsided he would torch the co**se, sometimes by placing it in a tar barrel with peat and wood, and other times setting it alight at the stake, the woman having been smeared with tar before ex*****on.

Over 2,500 people met similar horrific ends in Scotland, 500 in England and 40,000 to 60,000 in Europe. Most of the victims were working or lower class women. In Kirkcaldy 18 people were executed for witchcraft including, Margaret Douglas, Margaret Lindsay, Isobel Thomson, Issobell Rannaldson,
Margaret Reid, Alison Dick &
William Coke.

The ex*****on site was either at Kirkcaldy's market cross (Mercat) or on communal grounds often near the shore to allow a large public crowd to gather and watch.

Of course the man of the dead eyes the subject of this story is a ex*****oner of 'convicted witches', a necessary profession in the dark times of witch hunting.

It is hard to imagine a more horrible death. Often the conviction followed weeks of torture and sleep deprivation before the woman could take no more and falsely confessed. Her physical, mental and spiritual state will have been shattered; forsaken by her neighbours, community, possibly her friends and family, and her church and civic leaders. If a devout Christian she will have probably believed God had also forsaken her. What point allowing the torment to go on?

What do we make of the ex*****oners, witch prickers, and harsh judges, the Scottish law makers, the leaders of the Church of Scotland and the local clergy, who facilitated the witch hunts, raised witchcraft hysteria and participated in the persecution and killing of women in their local communities?

It is said 'the men who took life as a profession—such as ex*****oners, witch-prickers, and harsh judges—were frequently thought to be shadowed, or even physically mimicked, by a shape-changing demon. This entity would urge them toward greater cruelty or drive them to madness and su***de once their grim work was done.' The evil Red Cap was one such demon.

Were the church and civic leaders just ignorant, superstitious educated men? Or was the Deil and his demons whispering in their ears? Or was it simply a revelation of the evil side of humanity on a mass scale as we still sadly see today? Fear not the supernatural beasts, for the monsters who look like us are already amongst us.

Attached are extracts from the Kirkcaldy Burgh Records of the witch hunts. They speak for themselves. The itemised accounting record is maybe the most disturbing part of the records; an atrocity matter of factly recorded in the financials. In relation to the ex*****on and burning of Alison Dick and William Coke:

'10 loads of coal to burn them. 5 merks.
Tar Barrel. 14 shillings
To him that bought the ex*****oner. 58 shillings.
To the ex*****oner for his paines. £8.14 shillings.
To his expenses here. 16s 4d.

Church and Parish of Kirkcaldy.'

There is still today no dedicated witch memorial stone or monument in Kirkcaldy to remember the accused witches and their unjust treatment and suffering. JD

30/10/2026

Jocky Wilson & The Deil Meet at The Kirkcaldy Crossroads - The Four Corners

Fife Folk often say "the De'il's deid, and buried in Kirkcaldy". Well sometimes, and more likely often around Samhain he manages to claw himself up past the rich veins of coal and beach pottery and out of the deep sands of the Kirkcaldy Promenade Beach.

As Samhain or All Hallows Eve (Halloween) draws closer we share some stories of Fife and Scotland's darker side.

'Samhain is an ancient Celtic spiritual festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, or the "darker half" of the year. The Celts viewed Samhain as a liminal time when the boundary between our physical world and the spiritual Otherworld grew thin. Souls of the deceased were believed to return to their family homes. During this time harmful spirits and mischievous fairies were also free to cross over. '

According to Fife folklore, World Champion Kirkcaldy darts player Jocky Wilson was initially a passionate, but mediocre darts player who was frequently laughed out of Kirkcaldy pubs.

One night after an unsuccessful match (probably at The Path or The Freurs Arms,) he pushed out into a bitter cold night and wandered the dark streets of Kirkcaldy clutching his darts, until he found himself at the 'Four Corners'. The Four Corners was an old crossroads in Kirkcaldy where Rosslyn Street, Loughborough Road, and St. Clair Street meet between Gallatown and Sinclairtown (before roundabouts were invented, (also by the Deil)).

Jocky found the sweeping wide crossroads quiet and empty, and the air strangely warm. He was startled by a voice calling his name from behind, for Jocky hadn't heard any footsteps approaching. Jocky turned to find a heavily set, tall, dark stranger, black as the Earl o' Hell's waistcoat. The Gudeman beamed a wicked grin and beckoned for Jocky to handover his darts. Jocky was somewhat spell bound and complied.

The Auld Clootie took Jocky's darts, inspecting the barrels, stems and flights with his sharp fire eyes. He then took each dart one by one, rubbed them in his giant hands, smoothing the flights and finally licking the tip of each dart with his long sharp tipped tongue.

By accepting the darts back some say Jocky sealed a Faustian pact: he instantly acquired superhuman mastery over darts in exchange for his soul. When he returned to his local pub, The Lister, Jocky's revolutionary and accurate technique stunned his mates, followed by the whole darts world and beyond; Jocky became a Legend.

Of course this story is just a bit of fun parrelling the story of Robert Johnson, the great Bluesman. Jocky honed his natural talent into world championship skills through practice, practice, practice. He was never poor at darts. I am sure Jocky would have liked this story.

Many legends, tales of woe and horror start out as tongue in cheek stories; stories to entertain and scare. Unhappily many historic stories arose through ignorance, ill-will, manipulation and deception ending in real horror. The accused being the victim and the accusers, the church and community leaders the perpetrators. But that's another story for another day good folk.

Here are some old Scottish and Fife sayings, and substitute names for The Deil (it was feared you would summon him if you spoke his name).

The Devil's boots don't creak.

Black as the Earl of Hell's waistcoat, meaning something is pitch black, filthy, or deeply covered in dirt.

Auld Clootie: Referring to his cloven hooves (cloots).

Auld Hornie: Pointing out his beastly horns.

The Gudeman: An ironic title used to flatter him so he wouldn't cause mischief on local farmlands.

JD

29/10/2026

The Dark Warlock Lord Soulis, Michael Scot, (The Wizard of Balwearie), the murderous, blood-soaked goblin Robin Redcap, the Torture & Murder of Children & Boiling Alive in a Cauldron

As Samhain or All Hallows Eve (Halloween) draws closer we share some stories of Fife and Scotland's darker side.

'Samhain is an ancient Celtic spiritual festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, or the "darker half" of the year. The Celts viewed Samhain as a liminal time when the boundary between our physical world and the spiritual Otherworld grew thin. Souls of the deceased were believed to return to their family homes. During this time harmful spirits and mischievous fairies were also free to cross over. '

Folk this tale of horror takes place in Hermitage Castle, Liddlesdale Valley, Scottish Borders. The Kirkcaldy connection is Michael Scot, The Wizard of Balwearie, Kirkcaldy taught the Warlock Lord Soulis his dark arts.

However, Soulis took Michael Scot's teachings way beyond the shadows into the darkest places of Hell. Whispering in his ear, leading him to damnation was Soulis' 'familiar', the blood-soaked goblin Robin Redcap.

A Robin Redcap is a short, sturdy goblin or demon with fiery red eyes, long teeth, eagle talons, and heavy iron boots. Redcaps possess unnatural, terrifying speed and superhuman strength. They inhabit ruined castles and ambush travellers, famously soaking their hats in their victims' blood to survive—if the blood on their cap dries out, the redcap dies.

Hermitage Castle even today is a forboding place sitting isolated in the windswept borders of Scotland. The Dark Warlock Lord Soulis (Sir William II de Soules) was the Lord of Hermitage Castle in the early 14th century.

Soulis formed a dark pact with the Redcap; in exchange for additional powers, including invunerability from harm by normal weapons like swords, ropes, and arrows Soulis helped the Redcap torture and murder townsfolk, including hundreds of children in dark rituals in the depths of the castle.

On discoverying the evil the angry townsfolk petitioned King Robert the Bruce for justice.
King Robert obliged and said "Boil him if you like, just let me hear no more of him".

The townsfolk captured Soulis, and because ropes could not bind him, they wrapped the Dark Wizard in heavy sheets of lead and boiled him alive in a cauldron at the nearby stone circle of Nine Stane Rig.

The Robin Redcap was much too quick though and escaped justice. So beware when walking near any castle ruins and keep an eye on your weans, especially near Samhain, when Robin Redcaps are at their thirstiest.

Yet another reason to restore Ravenscraig Castle, Kirkcaldy. 😁

Guardians of Ravenscraig Castle Kirkcaldy

JD