‘The Nunnery’ / Chapel Site on Nethergate

‘The Nunnery’ / Chapel Site on Nethergate

A plot of land on the south side of the Nethergate in Crail has long been known as ‘The Nunnery’. However, written records suggest that there was at no point a convent of nuns in Crail. The name is perhaps derived from an association with the nuns at Haddington Priory (who owned property in Crail and had for many years the patronage of the parish church). It is possible that there was in the Middle Ages a small chapel on this site. In the nineteenth century human remains were discovered in this area during work to level the road surface. Along the boundary of the property there is an old wall which has been tentatively dated to the sixteenth century. A stone with what appears to be a medieval consecration cross could be seen in this wall in the late twentieth century.

sacredlandscapesoffife

Bess Rhodes

Site

211

06/10/2021

09/26/2023 02:56:00 pm

(1) William Merson, ‘Parish of Crail’ in the New Statistical Account (1845), vol. 9, p. 955. (2) Anne Turner Simpson and Sylvia Stevenson, Historic Crail: The Archaeological Implications of Development (1981), pp. 20-21. (3) Historic Environment Scotland, Canmore entry for ‘Crail, Nethergate, Doocot Park, Garage and Garden Wall’: https://canmore.org.uk/site/70950/crail-nethergate-doocot-park-garage-and-garden-wall [Accessed 23 September 2021].

cm x cm x cm

current,56.261310327139284,-2.622477855498802;

‘The Nunnery’ / Chapel Site on Nethergate

TEXT

Building

Catholic

Crail