JONATHAN's CAVE
The name Jonathan's Cave has its origin in the fact that a poor man Jonathan,
and his family, found shelter for years in the long,narrow,rugged aperture,at
the end of the 18th Century.
He was said to be a nail maker but hand-made nails were priced out
of the market when the Carron Iron Foundry was established in 1759.
In September 1986 vandals drove a stolen car along the then existing coastal
path from Buckhaven to Jonathan's Cave where they then set it on fire.
This resulted in the destruction of the swan drawing.The swan is part
of the family crest of the wemyss family and is said to indicate a learned
person.
The SWAN HAS BEEN LOST FOREVER.
This needless act of vandalism resulted in the formation of the "Save
the Wemyss Ancient Caves Society" on October 8th 1986.
The Society is working for the preservation of the Caves and their unique
markings.
|
GLASS CAVE
One of the caves, situated to the west of
the village of East Wemyss, was the Glass Cave. It was called this because
it housed one of the oldest glassworks in Scotland. in 1610, Sir George
Hay, Lord Clerk Register, later Lord Kinnoul, established a factory for
glass in the cave. Lord Kinnoul seems to have run the glass-works at a considerable
loss as the demand for glass was not particularly heavy, although the works
was one of the earliest of its kind in Scotland. Reporting on the trade
to James VI in 1619, the Privy Council reported that the proprietor had
discovered that the income for a year did not cover the expenses for a month.
Despite this the works were still active in 1691. In 1698, David, 3rd
Earl of Wemyss, obtained an Act of Parliament giving him and others a monopoly
for making certain kinds of glass. For a while all was well, but in 1730
the works fell into ruin and the owner became bankrupt. to this day there
is a lack of this rare 17th century glass-ware. In the late 19th
century the Michael Colliery was sunk a little to the east of the cave.
In course of time the operations affected the land surface, and the cave,
which was 200 feet long, 100 feet wide and 30 feet high, completely collapsed. |
DOO CAVE
The East and West Dovecote Caves take their
names from the fact that they were used as pigeon houses and at onr time
four of the caves were set up as pigeon houses in addition to the Doo-cot
on the beach. The caves in Wemyss were so famous that the pigeons in
them were included in the dowry of the laird's daughter. At the end of the
nineteenth century the Doo Cave was a double affair. A passage on the west
side led into the large cave which lay at the back of the existing cave
which has been smoothed off and pigeon holes have been cut into the walls. The
large cave had a goodly number of symbols in it, but unfortunately this
cave collapsed during World War I, when a gun emplacement was put on top
of it. When the gun went off the cave below fell in. Further damage was
caused by a storm in 1937 when the sea wall and path were washed away and
with them the built up entrance as well as the earth under the eastern passage.
|
COURT CAVE
Turning eastwards,
beyond the village of East Wemyss lies the Court Cave. It is thought
that it owes its name to the fact that in the Middle Ages when the lands
belonged to the Livingstones or Colvilles the baronial court was held
there, and the court was summoned by the ringing of a bell which hung
from the roof of the cave.
There is a story
that when James V stumbled into the cave when he was disguised as the
"Guidman of Ballangeich", he came upon a band of gypsies who were making
merry. Unfortunately James lavished too much attention on the chief's
favourite beauty, which so angered the old chief that in a temper he struck
the girl on the cheek. Seeking to pacify him James held out a "Golden
Jacobus", but the sight of his well filled purse, had the opposite effect.
Glances were exchanged among the gypsies and daggers drawn. The King apparently
only escaped due to the timely intervention of a stranger.
|
THE WHITE LADY OF THE COURT
CAVE
Come on in and hear the tale
Another variation of the story is that one night when the cave was occupied
by a band of gypsies, James V appeared in his favourite role as the "Guidman
of Ballangeich". At a late hour when the "flowing bowl" was being passed
around, the gypsies quarrelled amongst themselves over the death of Mary
Sibbald the daughter of a West Fife laird, who had died a year earlier
under tragic circumstances. She had deserted her home and joined the gypsies
over a romance. Convicted on a false charge by the Baron Baillie of East
Wemyss, of having stolen some fruit, she was sentenced to be whipped.
A lady of refined and gentle manners, she felt the indignity keenly and
died of a broken heart in the Well Cave.
On the occasion of the visit of the "Guidman", a quarrel arose over one
gypsy charging another with having borne false witness against the young
lady. "You were thethief" were the words which ran through the cave and
as the culprit sat, a female clad in white, suddenly appeared.The unearthly
visitor disappeared as quickly as she had entered the cave, while the
King made for the castle to inform the Baron Baillie of the story of Mary
Sibbald and the apparition of the Court Cave. When James had described
the ghost, the Baron Baillie stated that the same soft, blue eyes had
haunted him since the eventful morning of the trial in the Court Cave.
They agreed that the apparition was the ghost of Mary Sibbald. The ghost
haunted the gypsies until the real thief confessed her guilt, and even
after Jean Lindsay had been brought to book, the White Lady still made
occasional appearances in the grounds of MacDuff's castle and in the caves.
A lady resident who died in East Wemyss in 1909, at the age of 87, maintained
that she distinctly remembered having seen, whilst playing among the ruins
as a child, the spectral figure of a fully dressed woman looking out of
a window situated in the East Tower, to which there is no access. The
Court Cave has also been known as the "Barque Cave", because the fishermen
used to barque and tar their nets there. It has also been called by some
the "Piper's Cave" after a legend that once a piper went into the cave
playing his pipes and never returned from its dark and gloomy interior.
|
WELL CAVE
This is another
double cave connected by an underground passage, and received its name
because it once contained a well of clear water with supposedly great
healing powers for all manners of diseases,particularly for jaundice.
It is possible, it was there in the days of the Picts, and could have
been the reason for the "Hanset Monday" customs that were observed there
until the end of the 19th century. This custom took place on the 1st Monday
of the New Year and took the form of a torch light procession to the cave.
Everybody then gathered round the well to sing hymns and psalms. cakes
and wine were passed round and everyone had a drink from the well before
leaving.
"The well was the mother of the spring, the spring was the mother of the
river, and the river flowed down to the sea", so the well was worshipped.
The "Hanset Monday" custom may have been a continuation of the old Gaelic
New Year festival of "Samhain" when the 'fairy piper" was said to come
to the caves to summon the wicked and when Tir-nan-og wiled away the mortals
to the land of Eternal Youth.
When Christianity
came to Scotland, the custom was "Christianised" and the well named "St
Margaret's Well". The Well Cave is also known as the Castle Cave, because
it was supposed to be connected to the castle by an underground passage.
|
|
|
