Culross

The walk begins on the Firth of Forth; it was here in the 6th century that St Serf landed with a group of monks to found a religious settlement. The community's industrious Cistercian monks made a great contribution in the development of the town, for they discovered sea coal; travellers to the area recorded the wondrous black stones that burned. Smaller, less valuable coals were blazed beneath iron pans full of seawater to extract salt, a highly prized commodity as it was the only known means of preserving food.

The first building of note on the route is the Town House, built in 1626. Its imposing clock tower was added in 1783. Debtors were imprisoned on the vaulted ground floor and witches in the attic.

The walk continues on a cobbled causeway, whose raised centre was the pathway for merchants and their families; 'hewers' and miners were confined to the gutters, which in the 17th century would have been little more than running open sewers - hence the causeway's name - Stinking Wynd.

White harled houses with colourful pantiled roofs crowd the street, yet despite the enormous prosperity of the town, the architecture is relatively conservative. Walls of random rubble are embellished with turrets, corbels and tiny windows - excellent examples of Scottish defensive architecture in an area that had much to fear from English invasion. The handsome crow step gables show a Dutch influence, but were also practical, giving ready access for roof repairs.

Numerous cobbled causeways converge on the Mereat Cross. Opposite the cross is The Study, named after the small room at the top of the distinctive Outlook Tower. The House with the Evil Eyes, up the hill, was so named from the distinctive 'oeil de boeuf' windows, set high up in its gable end.

The tradesmen who lived and worked in Culross are remembered by the symbols on their tombstones in the churchyard; a pair of scissors for a tailor, a square and compass for a wright, and a cleaver and knife for a butcher.

The Abbey Church, built from the ruins of Culross Abbey, contains the tomb of the distinguished engineer, Sir George Bruce. He helped to develop Culross's collieries through the innovation of the 'Egyptian Wheel'; turned by horses. It could lift more than 30 buckets of coal at a time on a continuous chain.

Within 29 years, the miners had dug a seam one mile out to sea. From there, a ventilation shaft led upwards to the Moat. Here, coal could be loaded directly onto three masted ships, sitting low in the water with their precious cargo. King James VI visited the vaulted shaft in 1617. Emerging at the Moat to find himself completely surrounded by water, the monarch thought he had been kidnapped and bellowed "Treason!".

A diversion along the shore road leads to the crumbling remains of a chapel, built in 1503 by Robert Blackadder on the site where, according to tradition, a saint was born. In the 6th century, Princess Teneu, disgraced daughter of Loth, the King of Lothian, was cast adrift at sea and left to perish. Finally, you come to the town's most impressive building, the beautifully restored Culross Palace which was built by Sir George Bruce between 1597 and 1611. Now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, you can explore Culross Palace, with its tiny rooms, connecting passageways and painted ceilings.