Falkland Palace

The historic village of Falkland sits at the foot of East Lomond Hill in Fife. The settlement grew around Falkland Palace - a former country residence of Scottish monarchs. Mary, Queen of Scots, was a regular visitor. The grand building and its beautiful grounds are now managed by the National Trust. Being reasonably local to us, it was an easy property to tick off the list. Since re-joining the heritage organisation, our plan has been to visit one or two places per month. We had seen the inside of Falkland Palace around 15 years ago, when Nicole's parents came over from Germany. The time was right for a return trip.

We arrived late morning on a warm Sunday and our itinerary was a palace tour, followed by lunch in the formal gardens. One thing unavailable to view today was the tapestry collection, currently removed as a precautionary measure due to water ingress. A fine example of a Renaissance palace, Falkland was commissioned by James IV and his son James V between 1510 and 1541. A royal hunting lodge, later expanded to a castle, had previously stood on the site. James V died here in 1542, aged just 30. Legend insists his passing was brought about by the shock of his army's defeat at Solway Moss in a border conflict with English forces. It is more likely that James succumbed to cholera or dysentery. The next monarch to breathe his/her last in Scotland was Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. James was succeeded by his infant daughter Mary. His widow (Mary of Guise) stayed frequently at Falkland and the new queen made many recorded visits during her tumultuous reign. She enjoyed hunting, horse riding and tennis (more of that later). Following the Union of the Crowns in 1603, Falkland became less important as a royal retreat. Subsequent Stuart monarchs Charles I and II both came to Fife, but only briefly. The palace was damaged by fire during the Cromwellian Republic and began to decay from 1660 onwards. It was saved from complete ruin in the late 19th century by John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute. Innovative and in possession of deep pockets, the new owner gave the ailing building a new lease of life and his great-grandson Ninian lives on site today as hereditary Keeper. The National Trust entered the picture in 1952. The tour took us through the warren of recreated royal apartments. The ornate Falkland Bed was reputedly made for King James VI in 1618. The Queen's Room is laid out to reflect how Mary might have used it to entertain guests. The Chapel Royal is the only part of the palace where you can see original details. A wooden screen and ceiling date from 1540, when the place of worship was completed. The body of King James lay in state for a month here, following his death. The tour ended on an elevated balcony overlooking the gardens. A giant chessboard was painted on concrete below. Expanses of lush lawn were dotted with mature trees and we climbed down for a stroll through the three hectares of peaceful grounds. The gardens are not original. They were designed by Percy Cane in 1947 after a spell of potato growing for the war effort. With little surviving historic evidence to work from, Cane created a modern layout that is widely acknowledged for both its historic connections and artistic value. We found a shaded lunch spot in the bottom corner, near the glasshouse and beehives. Grapes were growing against a wall. Not a common sight in Scotland.

Falkland Palace has the world's oldest royal tennis court still in play. It was built around 1540 at the behest of James V. As a young king, he was looking to establish himself as a respected European leader. James had married the King of France’s daughter and had learned to play the sport overseas. The arena was fully restored in the 1950s and the local club has around 35 members who play all year round (despite the lack of a roof!). Visiting players can compete for a £10 daily fee. The court has four high walls, which are part of the playing area, as is the roof of the viewing gallery. Elements of squash here. Extra points can be gained by hitting the ball against various structures, or through the small holes carved into one end of the enclosure. Modern lawn tennis was introduced in the 1870s and is now a wealthy global sport. The much older ancestor is played on 45 courts around the world. The palace orchard is located across the Maspie Burn from the formal garden area. The compound is bounded by willow beds and has a deliberate unkempt feel. Mown grass strips can be followed past cherry, apple and pear trees. The presence of a mixed native hedge provides a valuable resource for local wildlife, as does the wildflower meadow. East Lomond Hill looms in the background and the Willow Queen sculpture stands in a central clearing. The figure represents Mary, Queen of Scots, who enjoyed hunting with her hawk within the palace grounds. Falkland is best visited on a bright day as there is a lot to see outdoors. The village itself is a charming destination.

Culross Palace

Isn't it strange how we travel far and wide to visit famous tourist attractions, but often neglect treasures on our own doorstep? I am certainly guilty as charged. For the past 20 years, I have lived a short drive from Culross Palace without ever going inside the A-listed merchant's house in the heart of the historic royal burgh. The small coastal town has gained international recognition in recent years as a filming location for the globally successful TV series Outlander - a fantasy time-travelling drama set mainly in Scotland. Seven seasons have been produced. Culross Palace was completed in the early 17th century and is now managed by the National Trust. It was never a royal residence, but King James VI paid a visit in 1617. It was finally time for Nicole and I to explore this famous yellow-painted property.

Self-guided tours commence every half hour. Ticket holders are grouped together at the start and shown a video presentation outlining the basic history of the palace and surrounding burgh. The house was built as a dwelling for local industrial pioneer and international trader George Bruce. He developed new mining techniques and was lauded for the construction of the Culross Moat Pit - the first known example of coal extraction below the sea bed. It used an Egyptian wheel (powered by horses) to drain excess water from the shaft. A continuous chain of 36 buckets scooped the water away. Good quality coal could be loaded on to waiting boats for export, while the less premium material was suitable for fuelling salt pans - a major industry on the inner Forth Estuary. Launched around 1590, the moat pit ran successfully for over three decades until a severe storm flooded the complex in 1625, leading to its abandonment. Bruce passed away just five weeks later. We climbed the stairs to the withdrawing room, an informal lounge where guests would gather after dinner. Outlander scenes were created here. The panelled walls were added in the 18th century, while the painted ceilings are original. These colourful images must have appeared ghostly in the days of flickering firelight. The High Hall had a grand fireplace and a dry privy was situated within an alcove. The contents of chamber pots were tossed down here. Bruce's house was close to the harbour, allowing him to monitor vessels coming and going. Culross is regarded as one of Scotland's first industrial communities and Royal Burgh status was granted in 1588. This permitted international trade and the right to stage a regular schedule of markets and fairs, further cementing the prosperity. A monopoly was achieved on the manufacture of girdles - flat iron plates used for baking over an open fire. The practice ended in 1760 with the opening of the Carron Iron Foundry across the water. A less progressive aspect of the town's history is the trial and execution of around 50 women for witchcraft in the first half of the 17th century. The plague arrived in the 1640s, brought by rats aboard ships. By Victorian times, the town's fortunes had declined and Culross missed out on the railway boom. A line did belatedly appear in 1906 but it was never profitable and passenger services ceased as early as 1930. Freight lingered on and the construction of Longannet Power Station in 1962 secured a future for the single-track corridor. Coal trains rumbled by my house (in Cairneyhill) until 2008, when delivery runs were switched to the western end of the route via Alloa. Longannet closed in 2016 and the trademark towers were demolished five years later. The Culross railway remains open but is lightly used, seeing occasional steam charters and diversionary stock movements. The campaign to establish a Fife to Glasgow passenger link along the Forth has gone quiet lately. By the 1930s, Culross was a quiet backwater and had largely escaped modern redevelopment. The National Trust stepped in to preserve many of the historic properties and the medieval street plan. The project strongly featured a desire to retain "little houses" - ordinary homes that were part of the community fabric. By safeguarding the future of these buildings and releasing them for private ownership, Culross could be presented as a living museum. A major European prize for architectural heritage was awarded in 1976. A framed letter of congratulation from the late Queen Elizabeth II hangs on a wall within the palace.

A dress worn by the character Geillis Duncan in the first series of Outlander is prominently displayed. Her costumes were deliberately designed to reflect 1960s life, creating a sense of disorientation among the audience and strongly hinting she was out of place in the 18th century, before the time hopping angle was revealed. We wandered into the apothecary and kitchen. Herbal remedies were commonly used to treat all manner of ailments back in the day. We then explored the extensive terraced and walled garden to the rear of the building. It has an impressive range of fruit, vegetables and flowers. I spotted pear trees and mulberry bushes. A small section of the period compound was roped off due to the presence of a wasp's nest. The Palace was opened to the public by the National Trust in 1994 and its future is now secure. The building is A-listed and has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Visitors flock to the old burgh all year round, fuelled in no small part by the Outlander connection. Filming in Culross stretches back to 1971, when Michael Caine starred in Kidnapped, an adaptation of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson adventure novel. More recent productions include A Dying Breed (2007) and The 39 Steps (2008). After our tour, we enjoyed a coffee outdoors at Bessie's Café, part of the Palace operation but accessible to all members of the public. I wonder why it took us so long to explore this internationally known attraction just a few miles from out home?

Smoke & Steel

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway - the world's first steam passenger line to offer regular services. Basically the starting point of the rail network we know today. A programme of events is taking place across the United Kingdom this year under the Railway 200 banner. I have already been down to Darlington to view the historic locomotive display at the Hopetown Museum. Closer to home, Stirling Castle was hosting Smoke and Steel - a photographic exhibition exploring the rise, decline and renewal of Scotland's rail network. This was right up my street and I decided to visit before the end of the five-month run.

This entailed purchasing an entrance ticket for the castle, which doesn't come cheap. I just had to take this one on the chin but I thoroughly enjoyed my tour of the old royal stronghold. There is a lot to explore within the stone walls and the views across the countryside from the hilltop position are simply breathtaking. I didn't grudge the £18 charge in any way. I shall write a separate post about my castle experience and this article will focus solely on the railway history. The material wasn't directed at the development of locomotive technology, although the workhorses of the network did of course feature. The main theme was the expansion and contraction of the Scottish rail system, and how that linked to social and industrial history. Glasgow and Edinburgh were linked by 1842 and railway construction continued apace until the end of the century, by which time a tangled web of lines spread from the Borders to Thurso on the far north coast. The country became connected to the rest of Great Britain, and further afield to the powerful Empire. Trade was changed beyond all recognition. Perishable products could easily be transported across long distances, fresh fish being a prime example. Tourism became a major industry and regular working families could travel effortlessly beyond their local parish for the first time. Victorian resorts, such as Strathpeffer, catered for affluent holidaymakers. Grand urban stations symbolised the wealth and status of the railway business. New settlements and industries grew around the rail corridors that criss-crossed the land. The exhibition featured one of the earliest known photographs of a British railway station. David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson captured images of Linlithgow in 1843. Another eye-catching scene was the wood-panelled booking hall at Edinburgh Waverley. A stunning dome flooded the space with natural light. A 1970 renovation stripped out much of the historic interior but the intricate glass roof remains. The exhibition gallery was located in a far corner of the huge castle compound and not many people wandered in as I carefully worked my way around. Kids made a beeline for the photograph of the Glenfinnan Viaduct, known globally for its regular appearances in the Harry Potter movies. A latecomer to the railway grid, the West Highland Line overcame challenging terrain and was completed in 1901. The viaduct was formed from poured concrete, rather than the customary brickwork. Aviemore lies in a more accessible part of the Highlands and has had a station since 1863. Aside from mainline departures, Aviemore also serves as the southern terminus of the Strathspey Heritage Railway, powered by steam. The pictures also reflected social aspects of rail travel and I marvelled at the Edwardian coffee lounge inside the Glasgow Central Station Hotel.

Scotland was also a centre of locomotive building and the Queens Park Works in Glasgow belonged to the North British Company, who shipped hardware across the globe. On a more local level, no Scottish island ever received a main rail link as the costs and logistical issues were too vast to overcome. On the mainland, rough landscapes and fierce opposition from wealthy landowners stalled many schemes, often forcing a major diversion from the original plans. Great feats of engineering were achieved, none more iconic than the completion of the Forth Bridge, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. An unusual perspective of the structure was shown; looking straight down at the tracks from the highest point, as a train crossed. There was also an image of two workers walking on the high beams with no safety equipment whatsoever. Nerves of steel, but no real say in the matter either. Dozens of men had been killed during the bridge's construction. Modern painting techniques mean the bridge only needs a new coat every couple of decades these days. Contrary to popular belief, the job was never carried out on an end-to-end basis (and immediately restarted). Laying the rail network required armies of men, known as navvies. They followed an itinerant lifestyle, often working in dangerous conditions and lodging in unsanitary temporary accommodation. The pay was good, but some of it might be in tokens that could only be redeemed in the company canteen, where the quality of the food and drink was not always premium. They certainly played hard, gaining a reputation for boozing and brawling. Women were largely excluded from the railway job market until labour shortages during the two world wars created openings. The first female train driver in Britain was Glasgow-born Karen Harrison, who qualified in 1979. There was a scene of a snowbound train on Dava Moor during the big freeze of 1963, when the extreme weather lasted three months and temperatures fell below minus 20 Celsius. I also liked the photo of the unusual stacked bridge arrangement at Calvine, Perthshire, where road and railway cross the River Garry at exactly the same point - a stipulation of the Duke of Atholl. The postal service no longer moves mail by train but this was the main method of distributing letters and packages over long distances in the past. Lineside contraptions allowed mailbags to be dropped off or taken aboard without the service actually stopping.

A haunting portrait of the fallen Tay Bridge underlined the precarious relationship with safety in Victorian times. The original structure stood for just over a year before collapsing during a storm at the tail end of 1879. A train plunged into the icy waters, killing all 75 passengers and crew. The far more substantial replacement was completed in 1887. The foundations of the old bridge can still be seen at low tide. I solved a little railway riddle that had intrigued me for years. The road sign pointing Stromeferry Station in the West Highlands has the words "no ferry" appended in brackets. I just assumed it meant that no sailings departed from here, despite the name of the village. Which it basically does, but the bit I didn't know was that Stromeferry previously served as the departure point for boats to the Isle of Skye before the line was extended out to Kyle of Lochalsh, a much more convenient crossing point. This connection was superseded by the Skye Bridge in 1995. The network also contained examples of light railways, which were relatively cheap to build but subject to speed restrictions. They tended to operate in more remote areas, where the costs of installing a full-scale system would be impossible to claw back. Rail passenger numbers began to falter after WW2 as car ownership increased rapidly. Buses had already grabbed a large share of local public transport journeys by providing cheaper and more frequent services than a train timetable ever could. They also ran right into town centres and stopped in suburbs and outlying villages, not always the case with rail. As the UK road network was improved, lorries shifted a higher percentage of the nation's freight burden. Something had to give. Enter Richard Beeching, hired by the government as a hatchet man responsible for "reshaping" rail coverage across the land. Scotland lost 650 miles of track and dozens of routes were scrapped. Some had already been switched to freight-only corridors but Beeching's arrival was a hammer blow to the industry. The provision of stations was rationalised and giant architectural gems were lost in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. Railway land was sold off and repurposed, making the prospect of future reopening very challenging.

Nevertheless, there have been successful reintroductions of services in various parts of the country. Recent projects include the Borders Railway and the Levenmouth link. An sound economic argument must be made for each proposed scheme and jumping through the political hoops can take many years, with absolutely no guarantee of a favourable outcome. We have turned a corner in the sense that no government in recent times has been actively hostile towards railways. Closing a route nowadays is virtually unthinkable. Decaying parts of the network have been given facelifts, such as the A-listed Wemyss Bay terminus - an interchange for the ferry to Bute. The curving glass and steel canopy has been restored to its former glory. In summary, the railway rot has been stopped, improvements to existing infrastructure are ongoing, but bringing a route back from the dead, or forging ahead with a new one, remains a tough assignment.