Pleach

By Pleach

On the Fife Coastal Path between Anstruther and Crail there are some strange shaped sandstone rocks and caves which have been eroded mainly by wave action and wind in the past.  The large main cave has several incised crosses which are believed to have been carved by pilgrims on their way to St Andrews.  Medieval chronicles associate it with St. Adrian (or St. Ethernan) who was killed on the Isle of May in 875 by Viking raiders and so it became a shrine. It has also been used by the local farmer to house his cows.  Beside it is a smaller cave where the Covie Man, Jimmie Gilligan, lived for a time before the war and it is possible to see the fixing posts for a door and window but it must have been very cold and damp. He left in 1939 and died in a hostel in Edinburgh a year later.

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