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Couston Farm
Fordell Estate
Pleasants Farm
Couston Farm
Contributor – Heritage Trail Brian
Picture Credit: NLS, Aberdour Golf Club, The British Newspaper Archive and the Dalgety Heritage Trail
All of our surrounding farms have a rich history going back centuries and Couston Farm is no exception to that (Map 1). There is a reference to the lands of Colestun in 1189 where the lands were given to Roger de Freburn by Robert of London. Robert was the illegitimate son of William, King of Scots (1170- 1225) and there is a further note in the 1240 Inchcolme Charters who referenced the peat moss of Couston, see Pic1.
Map 1: Extract from O/S 25” 1892-1949 National Library of Scotland
Pic 1: Extract from the ‘Charters of the Abbey of Inchcolm
In William Mareschall’s charter of 1384 the lands of Couston, which formed part of the barony of Rosyth, and was divided into quarters. Couston has over time been known as Coliestown / Colstoun / Collestown / Colstown / Coilstoun and Cowston.
On the Blaeu Atlas of Scotland 1654, the map cartographer shows Otterston Loch as Couston Loch, see Map 2. However, this is probably an assumption due to its proximity to Couston Castle.
Little Couston and Meikle Couston are both shown separately on the Ainslie Fife map of 1775, see map 3.
Map 2: Extract from the Baeu Atlas of Scotland 1654
Map 3: Extract of the Ainslie Fife map of 1775 both from The National Library of Scotland
The lands of Couston have been divided into Meikle and Little Couston since at least the 18th century and we know the current existing buildings postdate 1829. The farm steading is shown on the Ainslie/ Fife 1775 (Map 3) immediately south of the outer castle wall whilst on ‘The Register House Plans” (RHP) it appears to be on the site of present day Cockairnie however, it is believed that the earlier farm steading was removed as it was not in keeping with the surrounds of the castle and the Couston Farmhouse on the A921was the replacement (Pic 2). The old barns, to the left of the farmhouse have a date of 1854 above the entrance, see pic 2A.
Pic 2
Pic 2A
According to RHP14337 some of the Meikle Couston field names mentioned are:
Gallow Bank
Chapel Bank
East Park
Myres
Also, the name of the low lying, boggy ground, south of the main road was Galmoss. Today we call it Moss Plantation and of course we can recognise that the name has been carried forward by the naming of the 200 yrs old Moss Cottages, see pic 3
Behind the cottages, Jonathan has pictured the remains of an old stone track that can be seen leading from Moss Plantation towards Moss Cottages (Pic 4). Was it used for coal or timber deliveries, maybe one of our readers will know?
Pic 3: Google maps Moss Cottages
Pic 4: Old stone track on Moss Plantation
Pic 5: ‘The Four Lums’ or ‘Kirkton Cottages’
Back towards Dalgety Bay, most people are aware of the white cottages just before the Eastern Access Road named locally as “The Four Lums” (Pic 5). However, they appear to have had an older name, according to the Ordnance Survey map of 1843-1882 the cottages were named as Kirkton Cottages, see map 4
On the same map we can also see a reference to a milestone marker, which stood on the S verge of what is now the A921, immediately west of the Four Lums cottages, sadly this has been removed.
(The stone is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map Fife and Kinross 1856, sheet 40 and indicated the distances of 4¾ miles to Burntisland and 2½ miles to Inverkeithing), see map 4
Going back in time again to the Roy’s military map there is a small red dot that indicates a building or dwelling, roughly where the Four Lums are today. So, there was a dwelling there before the Four Lums or Kirkton cottages, see map 5
Map 4: OS 6 inch map of Fife and Kinross 1856
Map 5: Roy’s military Survey of Scotland 1747-1755 credit National Library of Scotland maps
Some owners or tenant farmers
Mr William Syme was the tenant farmer in the 1843, and I would presume the Syme family had a long association with the farm possibly up to 1872. Alexander Syme was mentioned in the Fife Herald in 1847 in an article from the Crossgates Ploughing Society. On the same notice is a mention of James Orr, a ‘Farm Servant’ of Mr Syme, see pic 6 and 7
Pic 6: Fife Herald artice from the British Newspaper Archives 21st January 1847
Pic 7: Dunfermline Saturday press article from the BNA 14th January 1860
Robert Jenkins was in charge of Little Couston in 1888 and at the helm of Meikle Couston was a Mr Waddell. They both appear to have had a joint venture in providing accommodation wooden huts for up to 200 navvies who were working on the Inverkeithing to Burntisland railway line construction, the workers each paid 4d a night for what can only be described as extremely basic accommodation.
The huts were mainly sited on Little Couston but tragedy struck at around 3am on Monday the 8th of October 1888 when a fire, which started in a kitchen area, devastated the camp.
Three Irishmen lost their lives that night, John Mclaughlin, John Ward and Terence Martin. Many were seriously injured and all the workers belongings were lost. The newspaper article said that locals rallied round to gather clothes and a collection too. A trip was made the next day to Edinburgh to buy clothes for the survivors, see pic 8
An article appeared in the Fifeshire Advertiser on the 16th of November stating that Mr Waddell bult additional accommodation units on Meikle Couston ‘of a better kind’ where at present there is comfortable lodging for 80 men in two separate huts. There was no empathy in this update, only 40 days after the tragedy, as it went on to say that their 4d per day was taken from their wages to stop the likelihood of some of the men spending all of their money on beer and then begging for a bed ticket, see pic 9
Pic 8: Fifeshire Advertiser 12th October 1888 from the British Newspaper Archives
Pic 9: Fifeshire Advertiser 16th November 1888 from the British Newspaper Archives
Jumping into the 1900’s, it is reported in the Fife Free Press and Kirkcaldy Guardian on the 2/12/1933 that Mr William Craig of Couston Farm takes over his new farm of Torbain, Kirkcaldy this week. Mr Craig had occupied Couston Farm for 30 years and is well known as a horse breeder.
Mr J Milne, dairyman, has taken a lease of Couston Farm which is the property of Mr W. Craig, now of Torbain Farm in the same newspaper on the 4/8/1934
PARTY VENUE
Couston Farm had a large barn, we can see the remaining footprint which was used regularly for community event in Pic 10:
Pic 10: Couston Farm barns facing the A921.
All these quotations, below, are from articles that appeared in the Fife Free Press & Kirkcaldy Guardian
23/12/1939 – ‘In aid of funds for comfort for members of the RAF a dance was held in the barn of Couston Farm. There was a large company present and music was provided by piano accordions and pipers”
19/5/1945 – “Welcome Home Fund – A barn dance in aid of the Hillend Welcome Home Fund took place at Couston Farm last week. There was a very large attendance. Bert Smith’s orchestra supplied the music”
13/1/1945 – Barn Dance – A barn dance took place at Couston Farm last Friday evening in aid of ‘Dunfermline Fund for Wounded Soldiers’. About 80 guests were present, and by general desire, most of the dances were old-timers, which were danced with zest and much enjoyment
Couston Farm, the parish premier sporting arena
To round up this timeline, potted history of the farm we must also talk about its sporting heritage.
This was the original home of the ‘Aberdour Golf Club’ which opened in 1896. The course designer was Willie Park form Musselburgh and the course covered between 40-50 Acres. The club paid an annual rent of £50, which in todays money is the equivalent of £6,800. However, the farmer retained the right to graze his sheep there, so maybe it wasn’t just the coastal view that enticed them away when the Earl of Moray offered them the land for their current home for the club. (See pics 11 and 12)
As well as golf it was reported by the Fife Free Press and Kirkcaldy Guardian on the 1/6/1929:
“Motor Club- Burntisland & District Motor Club are holding a grass track racing event at Couston Farm on the 8/6/29. This event is open and Mr John McMillan, Christie’s Buildings, Kirkton, will be pleased to receive entries. The field selected is well suited for the event and with free admission for spectators, a successful and interesting afternoon is expected”
This was followed up in September by another event by the same motor club Aberdour United football club also played at Couston for a while, so it is fair to say that Couston farm has had a wide and varied heritage.
Pics 11 and 12: Reproduced with the permission of the Aberdour Golf Club
Fordell Estate, Vantage Farm (2)
Contributor: Heritage Trail Brian and Joel Martin
Plan Credit: National Records of Scotland
Picture Credits: Brian Johnston
Vantage Farm Circa 1980’s
A big thank you to Joel and his Vantage Farm Steading neighbours for welcoming the Dalgety Heritage Trail to visit their hamlet. The weather gave us some restrictions, but Joel gave a fantastic, guided tour around the complex, Fordell Railway remains and the boundaries of Fordell Castle (future articles).
In 1953 the 2,000-acre Fordell Estate, which included Fordell Castle and Fordell House, was put up for sale. It was initially broken down into 44 lots and was expected to sell for a minimum of £100,000 (equivalent to £2.8 million in today’s money). The parts not sold were put up for auction on the 15th of July at the Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh (see sale notice from ‘The Courier and Advertiser, July 10th, 1953)
The sawmill was bought by A+R Brownlies who regularly advertised job vacancies well into the late 50’s with the benefit of accommodation. Employees were put up around the mill and at Fordell House.
Today we are concentrating on Vantage Farm and sawmill which was converted into a mixture of cottages and residential dwellings from the late twentieth century through to 2017/18.
Vantage Farm was part of the Mercer-Henderson estate business, and we have scans of the Mercer-Henderson remodelling plans below.
A
We are going to take you on a pictorial tour around the L-shaped building You can still clearly see that the drive is still insitu and the 2 fields on the left-hand side remain clear. The top field was the sawmill’s log stacking area. The modern extension at the top of the drive is connected to the original wrights’ cottage.
B
On the plan (A) to the right of the drive, you can see Vantage Cottage which used to be the Dairy. On the picture (B) you can see the building has 2 levels. The bottom row was the cattle shed and dairy and across the top was the admin block for the farm. The dairy was built in 1862 and the pump was recently renovated by the residents.
C
D
E
Plan C depicts the sawmill and boiler house which ran at the back of the L-shaped building and remarkably, the outline of the building can still be seen today. In pictures D & E you can clearly make out the exterior layout of the sawmill with its corner pillars intact and the supporting steel for its pitched roof.
F
G
In picture F is the back wall of the sawmill. You can see that the access to the sawmill has been bricked in and its believed that the flag stones was where the steam engine stood which drove the mechanism for the belt driven saw in the saw mill.
The 3 openings in picture G can be seen on the plans and housed the boiler and steam room that powered the mills machinery, what an amazing atmospheric courtyard (Heritage Trail jealousy).
H
I
J
K
We are now facing the front of the building, as shown in plan H and known as the ‘Coachhouse’ (Pic J). The clock is sadly not in working order and just above the clock the Mercer-Henderson armorial can be clearly seen and until recently there used to be an ornamental stone ‘Pineapple’ however although it fell a few years ago it has survived, and it has been sited on a wall (see pic I) for safe keeping for a future re-installation.
To the right of the coachhouse is the Granary (Pic K) which extends to the back and has been split into 2 homes. The top is Nethermill and the bottom has the prestigious title of ‘Fordell House’.
The Granary has had a varied life as part of the farm, a chicken house and before the current development as a car maintenance business BUT it also can claim to be an 1866 ‘Party House’, see Pic L from the ‘Fifeshire Journal’ dated Thursday August 30th, 1866. Vantage Farm had many newspaper articles in the late 1800’s across varied topics but it also hosted, for many years, the ‘Dunfermline – Crossgates Annual Ploughing Competition.
L
There are other converted cottages around the steading which I haven’t covered today, all of which you would be proud to call your home. It’s a great conversion surrounded by a lot of Dalgety Parish heritage …. Just make sure you bring your wellies! (please respect that the Steading is private property and don’t park your car there)
To finish off 2 more photos:
M
A 17th century dovecote is in relatively good condition (Pic M) BUT also another Dalgety Heritage Trail envy …. A FORDELL BRICK driveway. They all have the double ‘L’ spelling so if you have been following the posts you will know that they are post 1853.
Pleasants Farm
Contributors : Heritage Trail (Brian, Jonathan, Jamie)
Picture Credits: Brian and Jamie, poem from the Scotsman via BNA
The Heritage team spent an afternoon in June looking around the farm which has been around for hundreds of years. Pleasants is still an active farm and livery and can be approached from the B9157.
Pic 1: Entrance to Pleasants Farm
The entrance to the farm (Pic 1) is well established and meanders up the slope and then drifts to the left. When you look out from the front of the buildings and look around the vista you can see why it was known as the ‘Pleasance Land’. It sits on the rolling countryside, nicely positioned, to see the coast and yet, with the tree line, in full leaf, you can’t see Dalgety Bay so in many ways you could be seeing the same view as the owners and farmers going back in time.
It was known as ‘Pleasance’ but was anglified to ‘Pleasants’ at a time unknown and on Roy’s Highlands Map 1747-52 the area was referenced as ‘Pleasants’. The French naming shouldn’t be a surprise as close by we have Bouprie Farm and Banks Farm which, was previously named Bouprie Banks. Bouprie is derived from French ‘beauprae’ or ‘belle prairie’ meaning a beautiful meadow.
In regard to a French influence, Aberdour Castle is not far away and was built in a Norman style and predating that we have one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in St Fillan’s Church built in 1123 and today the bell from St Bridget’s Kirk is housed in its bell tower.
Back in 1885 there was a lecture by the Rev. William Ross LL. D about a settlement that took place in the church of Dalgety in 1349:
“Regarding the Crossaikers, of which I have formerly spoken, William de Lamberton who seems to have been at that time the proprietor of the lands of Otterston; and the Abbot and Canons of Inchcolm charged him -before Duncan, the Bishop of Dunkeld – with having appropriated to his own use the ‘Cross-aikers’ belonging to then’. These lands seem to have got their name from crosses erected on them in memory of incidents now entirely forgotten. On good evidence, which I do not stay to describe particularly, I believe one of these acres is near Parkend, and the other in the farm of Pleasance (Aberdour and Inchcolm)”
However, in the Charters of the Abbey in Inchcolm, reiterated that William de Lamberton admitted at Dalgety Church to the Bishop that he had appropriated, unjustly, “le corsakir in terran de Oterston” however there is doubt of exact positioning.
Crossaiker, in those days was the erecting of a ‘Cross’. There were many reasons to place a cross sometimes a boundary marker, a landmark but also to mark where an incident took place, in this case it was in memory of an incident but we can’t find what it referred to.
Couston, Otterston, Cockairnie and Pleasants all have their own interesting history of ownership which we will cover in future posts but the Moubray family owned most of the land in the 1800’s.
In the heart of Pleasants Farm’s buildings sits an intriguing large covered barn which its core goes back centuries. (Pic 2a and 2b)
Pic 2a
Pic 2b
As you walk round the perimeter of the building (Pics 3,4,5,6) you can make out its transformation over time with the re-use of stone and rubble from different times and source, some look like stone from the castle, to make the changes and repairs from small bothy’s and ‘but n bens’ with an open courtyard to a roofed barn.
Pic 3: Pleasance Farm from the left
Pic 4: Main barn from the right
Pic 5: External view of the rear
Pic 6: Internal view of the now roofed courtyard
You can see in the inside the outline of the old settlements where we counted up to 13 visible bricked in hearths (Pic 7) and both inside and externally many bricked up doors and windows (Pics 5,8)
Pic 7: Bricked in hearth
Pic 8: Bricked up doors and windows
Nowadays there is a small network of custom-built bothies which are more and more used as overnight stays or refuge for walkers throughout Scotland. The original use of a bothy was for farm workers, quite often for single men and sometimes in clusters with family ‘but and bens’ to create Fermtouns or Cottartouns, we believe this was the case here, certainly in the 18th century but this has been farmed land for many centuries, as far back as the 12th.
We have found a registered death recorded at Pleasants as early as 1732 with others in the mid 1830’s but there would have been many more who would have been registered as ‘Dalgety’.
The cottartoun way of life was still in existence in 1863 as the Dunfermline Saturday press reported ‘on the 19/12/1863: At the sheriff court on Tuesday, before Sheriff Wm Whyte, a farm servant, Pleasance near Aberdour was accused of theft of £8 in bank notes, from the chest of a fellow servant lodging with him in a bothy at Pleasance. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days imprisonment’.
The Moubrays still show as active owners of the farm well into the 1950’s who, in the early days would have employed a ‘Farm Manager’ and they would live in the main farmhouse, but they had certainly moved to a model of leasing the farm to a ‘Tenant farmer’ from at least the mid 1840’s, possibly earlier and well into the 1950’s.
We have found adverts by the ‘Tenant farmers’ that supports our view that these were a group of individual houses. In 1890, in the Dundee Courier ran an advert for:
‘Women workers wanted. Constant employment, Free house, coals driven’.
In 1895 another advert looking for an ‘Unmarried ploughman wanted’. These adverts were placed by the tenant farmer Robert Mitchell.
The local press throughout the 1800’s ran adverts and announcements for the farm with predominately two-family names being the tenant farmers a Gavin (died 1854) and Robert Mitchell and William Coventry.
The farm was mixed crop and livestock with evidence of a granary contained in one of the out houses but was also a piggery and had oxen on the farm as well.
In 1895 they showed and came ‘First’ for a pair of one year old oxen, they won ‘Best Filly’ at the West Fife Agricultural Show in 1896. The Oxen went on to win the show for ‘Two-year olds’ in 1897 but they won many ‘firsts’ for showing their pigs / hogs during the late 1890’s.
Reported in the Fife Free Press and Kirkcaldy Guardian on the 31/1/25 – Farm workers Dance – All the workers at the Cockairnie and Otterston estates and their friends were entertained to a dinner dance by Major E. Moubray at the Pleasance Farm on Friday evening of the 23rd. The company, which was a large one, spent a very jolly time, everything being done to secure their enjoyment.
In the 1900’s the Farm / house occupiers were Hugh Braes, Bernard Alexander, Mrs Alice Cameron, Margaret Elliot but tradition carried on and Ralph Brown won many prizes for showing pigs between 1953 to 1956.
The funniest story reported in the local press in connection with the farm was back in 1955, this was the report in the Fife Free press & Kirkcaldy Guardian:
“Tractor William Murdoch abode at Pleasants Farm Cottages a fine of £1 or 7 days for driving on Dysart Road on a motorcycle without an …. (Wait for it) … efficient horn and while the hand brake was not maintained in efficient working order”.
Pic 9: Looking out over the dried-out pool
Pic 10: Poem appearing in the Scotsman 1856
Our last pictures show a dried out stretch on the field (Pic 9) which pools in the wet weather and was probably the subject of the poem published in the ‘Scotsman’ on 28/2/1856 called ‘The Pleasance Aberdour’ by R.W’.
The first verse (Pic 10):
The Pleasance ! sure a sweeter name,
Or meeter, words did ne’er proclaim,
For though transmitted vale and hill,
Though gone the lake where wild deer drank,
With meadow flowers and osiers dank,
Nor blooms the furze on Beauprae bank,
The spot is lovely still