The Sea Battle of the Forth 16th October 1939 On 16th October 1939 passers-by on the Terrace in Elie were treated to what they thought was an exciting practice for the war. Margaret Gaunt (nee Moyes) recalls – “I was seven – we were in the gardens fronting Archbold House…

Golf has been played on Earlsferry Links, possibly as early as the 15th century as it was deemed necessary for an Act of Parliament to be passed in 1471 banning the game! However some 100 years later a royal charter in 1589 affirmed the “ancient servitude right of golf” for the…

ELIE SAILING CLUB – HOW IT ALL BEGAN! By Tom Maccabe Once upon a time, and 10 years before local government reorganisation, Elie had its own Town Council which controlled and ran the harbour, the pier and its facilities also the granary building. Other services in the Burgh controlled by…

By Graham Johnston In the early 1970s the order of nuns who had occupied the property as a retreat since 1954 moved out and sold the property. Some time elapsed with no refurbishment or development until 1999 or thereabouts when the first putative developers of Elie House, Alex Braidwood &…

By Graham Johnston The house was built in 1697 by Sir William Anstruther as the home for the Anstruther family. They lived there for six generations before selling the house and the estate to William Baird, an iron and steel magnate from Lanarkshire. Legend tells that a curse was put…

(I am most grateful to Sonia Manning, Craigie Glover’s great granddaughter, for this sketch apparently of a photo of the house she has hanging in her hall in the south of England!) In Part 1 of this investigation relating to the Duddingston family I opined that the investigation became more…

The Founding of the Church By 1904 pressure was building for the foundation of an episcopal church in Elie. In that year  Mr. David Marwick, a solicitor from Edinburgh and owner of the Marine Hotel in Elie,  proposed that episcopal services be held in Earlsferry Town Hall. The Rector of St John’s,…

By Graham Johnston When I first considered a series of articles on the big houses I obviously started with the granddaddy of them all – Elie House – but second on the list had to be Earlsferry House – its Royal Burgh equivalent – not the care home which assumed…