In March of 2016 I paid my first visit to Burntisland, Scotland, home of Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780-1872). This was part of my initial sabbatical, and one of my posts about that is at this link. Since that time I have read her memoirs and have found her life story compelling and relatable. The picture above is of her home, and the picture below is of her church (or "kirk") through the gate. Because the religious life of her childhood impacted her strongly and because it reminds me a bit of my own strict Calvinist upbringing, I made it a goal on this trip to get inside her childhood church: Burntisland Parish Church, which was built in 1592. It took some doing, but eventually connections were made, and a mid-week visit was possible. As it turned out I had basically three guides with me while there, so it was a VERY informative time!
Burntisland is right on the Firth of Forth, so it has always had a close relationship with sailing and shipbuilding and other seafaring ventures, hence the ship on the gates of the kirk. The kirk itself is directly north of the outer harbor.
Above the door is 1592, the date the church was built. I might not have noticed the upside-down anchor if it hadn't been pointed out to me. Hebrews 6:19 calls hope the anchor of the soul, so an anchor is a Christian symbol of hope. The fact that this anchor is upside-down represents that the place of our hope is in Heaven.
I had known from Mary's memoirs about the paintings on the panels in the church. These have recently been restored, but they remain the dates and images she would have seen in her time.
This church is one of the first built after the Scottish Reformation. It is in the shape of a square, which is unique in Scotland. In the video below this picture you'll hear the man who was telling me about the church say that there may be a few like this in France and perhaps one in the Netherlands but that it is pretty rare in general. The square shape is intended to model a family sitting around a table listening to the word of the Lord.
As stated in the video, the church originally had stools or chairs but not pews, which were added somewhat later (1606). The "box pew" in the picture below, just to the side of the magistrates pew (lined in red to the right), is the pew of the Somerville family. It is to the left as you enter through the church doors.
The magistrate's pew is pictured below in a painting that hangs in the Burgh Council Chambers. The people seen in this painting are all real individuals (later than Mary's time, or at least later than her childhood days here) and are named in the picture two below this one.
Below I'm looking from the wall of the church toward the Fairfax pew. I caught Toby and my other guide unaware, but I was taking video and pictures so quickly while trying to take in all that was said . . . we really didn't have a lot of time here, but there was much to take in! The magistrate's pew can be seen as well, lined in red and currently used as a stand for the projector for music during services, which you can see if you look closely. They've definitely become a lot more casual, and lively, I imagine, since Mary's time.
There was so much to learn about this church beyond what I was interested in relating to Mary Fairfax Somerville. One of those things is that this is where the General Assembly of Scotland met in 1601, and it is the first time that the idea of an official English translation of the Bible was presented to King James. About a decade later the result was the King James Version of the Bible!
The church is lined with plaques relaying every aspect of its history.
Another fact I learned is that the organ was donated in 1909 by Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie! (This was also after Mary's time here, of course.) He attended this church on one of his visits to Scotland, and he was so taken with it that he asked the pastor if there was anything they needed. The pastor said that an organ would be nice. A few days later, there was an organ sitting at the front door (for them to put together, as he believed in the importance of working with one's own hands).
Renovation work was done in the 1990s, which would coincide with the 400th anniversary of the church. This included painting of the ceiling, which was done by the painter Michelangelo-style -- lying on his back. When he finished, the roof ended up getting damaged somehow, and he had to start over!
Looking up, I found it hard to believe that this is a flat painting. The circles surrounding the center seem to me to pop out as spheres.
Here is the organ donated by Carnegie.
We spent time in the kirkyard as well as in the kirk itself. If I were to have looked over the kirkyard wall in the distance I would have been able to see the outer harbor and the Firth of Forth -- and Edinburgh landmarks, I imagine, such as Arthur's Seat and Castle Rock. I know I'm able to see those from the beach, so I'm sure I could have seen them from here as well.
Around on the back corner is a second entrance that is specifically for sailors. Apparently they were promised this when the church was first built, but it was put in somewhat later.
Here too there is the upside-down anchor, reminding us that our hope is in Heaven.
I keep referring to Mary as Mary Fairfax Somerville, because she was part of the Fairfax family of Burntisland. Her father, Sir William Fairfax was a vice admiral in the navy and is buried here behind the kirk, as is her mother Margaret Charters and her grandfather William Charters.
Below is the northeast corner of the kirkyard.
And then we walked back around to the front - looking funerary art and hearing stories of people buried here.
The tombstone pictured below contains a lot of iconography including a skull on the top right, scales on the left, a backwards 4 with masonic symbols on the right, and a memento mori on the bottom, along with crossbones and an hourglass (tempus fugit).
The story of George Arnot, tombstone pictured below, is quite an interesting one. (George's life was within Mary's; he was born 15 years after she was, and he died 32 years before she did, but I don't know if she would have known him, as she married and moved to London in 1804 when he was only 9 years old -- although she did return to Scotland in 1807 when her first husband died, so I really don't know. But his story is definitely worth telling whether she knew him or not.)
Apparently George was a bit odd in a way that 19th century townsfolk wouldn't have had a name for. He was like the Forrest Gump of his day. Notice that on his stone he is pictured barefooted; that is because he went barefoot year-round, no matter the weather. He was in some ways cognitively slow, and yet he had a prodigious memory. For example, if someone was housebound and had to miss church, he would go to their house and share the sermon with them word-for-word and also the hymns! Just by hearing the sermon he immediately had it memorized. He worked as some sort of a laborer, and was well-loved but probably a bit ostracized as well. As a joke, someone put snuff in his beer one night, and it killed him. The townspeople felt terrible and all chipped in for the tombstone for him, at the bottom of which are the lines:
His Mind was weak his Body strong
His Answer ready with his Song
A Mem'ry like him few could boast
But Suddenly his life he lost
After finishing our brief but full time at the kirk and kirkyard, we headed back to the Burgh Cambers where the Heritage Trust Museum is. We were treated to a PowerPoint presentation on the life of Mary Somerville by Ian and then given a tour of the Burgh Chambers. Downstairs is a wonderful museum with quite a variety of displays. One thing that interested me most were the panels discussing the history of crossing the firth. Mary's family had to board a ferry in order to cross from Burntisland to Edinburgh, which is something that Mary's mother was very fearful of but which they had to do.
That evening, when I was back in Stockbridge, I walked to Edinburgh to look for the Fairfax family home there, which I did find. Ian's PowerPoint included the address, but Toby had made the comment that the street may have been renumbered since then. I knew there was supposed to be a plaque next to the door, and when I went to the address I'd been given I didn't see the plaque, so I walked the length of the whole street and finally found it -- one of many mathematical treasure hunts I've been on in my travels!
She lived at what is now 53 Northumberland Street in Edinburgh's New Town.
There was a beautiful sky that night. I wish I hadn't waited so long to take pictures of it, but I was too focused on finding and photographing Mary's house to catch this before it lost some of its glory -- still pretty, though!
I continue immersing myself in the life of mathematician John Napier. In relation to this, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Fast Castle by land last summer, and, as of this spring (May 22) I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Fast Castle by sea. I spent a month in the UK as I continue to try to piece together what was missed in 2020 when the pandemic brought my second sabbatical to an early end. During this trip I stayed in Eyemouth specifically to be able to get a boat out to Fast Castle. The little "castle" (tower) you see on the hill in the picture above is the airbnb where I stayed. The day after I arrived, I took a RIB tour out of Eyemouth with Skipper Tim.
Heading out of the harbor - the initial pulling away (above) and picking up speed as we pass the Eyemouth headland on our way to Fast Castle.
As shared in multiple previous posts, I'm interested in this area because it was here that John Napier was contracted with Robert Logan to search for treasure at Fast Castle using his so-called sorcerous powers, technically his "craft and engine." (The wording according to the contract is that "The said Jhone sall do his utter and exact diligens to serche and sik out, and by all craft and ingyne . . .") There have been many legends of treasure at Fast Castle that have existed for many centuries, right up to the present day. This area was full of smuggling activity at one time. The name Fast Castle is a corruption of Faux Castle, meaning False Castle, so called because "wrecking" by the hanging of false lights to lure ships onto the rocks was known to have taken place. The Templar Knights may have hid treasure here. There may be Spanish treasure relating to the "Affair of the Spanish Blanks" and a possible second Spanish Armada. The treasure may relate to one of those things, something else entirely, or nothing at all! According to the contract, which was written up in 1594, there are diverse old reports and appearances that there should be within Robert's dwelling of Fast Castle a sum of money and treasure hidden, which is as yet unfound by any man (". . . ther is dywerss ald reportis motiffis and appirancis, that thair suld be within the said Robertis dwellinge place of Fascastell a soum of monie and Poiss [treasure], heid and hurdit up secritlie, quilk [which] as yit is un fund by ony man.") Other posts in this blog in which this is written of at greater length are at this link and at this link. This is a place I had tried to get to for years. It is quite remote, but, as mentioned above, last year I was finally able to get there by land, and this year I finally was able to get there by sea. I've really wanted to get the fullest sense possible of this place. Beyond this point, this post will be mostly pictures and videos with very few words. I'm using the images for reference for talks I'll give and writing that I'll do. (The videos contained here are very short - all but one are approximately half a minute each.)
Passing St. Abb's Head on the way to Fast Castle
The abundance of caves along the shoreline is part of what made this a haven for smugglers. The two large caves to the right of the picture below are directly beneath the ruins of Fast Castle, one wall of which can still be seen standing and is near the far right of this picture.
Coming at Fast Castle from the south
It is thought that one of the caves at the base of the cliff connected to the castle. If that's the case it likely would have been the large cave to the left in the pictures above and below.
Here is the same cave from above - photo taken on my previous trip to this location -
Going around the peninsula to look from the north -
And coming back around to the south (1:16)
Because of my interest in this place, I could have stayed for hours, but, eventually, it was time to head back in. We did see some interesting sights on the way back as well, and all of it provides good background for my studies.
We took our time at Fast Castle, but heading back we zipped right along!
But we would slow down to check out some things like other caves and crags along the coastline -
- and like dolphins swimming along with us!
Then zipping back toward Eyemouth -
And returning home after one of the grandest adventures of these travels!
