SE Fife Coastal Path Castles: Macduff's Traditional Cache
allieballie: Archiving this series as and when issues arise with them - seems like it's this ones turn now.
SE Fife Coastal Path Castles: Macduff's
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache series will take you to five “castles” found along the Fife Coastal Path in the eastern half of the Kingdom. I say “castles” because one is not a castle at all and one is not there any more!
Park at N56 09.613 W003 03.613. Have a look for the white doves around the dovecote in the garden of the house named after it - the last one in the row.
You will pass some of the famous Weymss caves on the way to this cache. I am not going to say anything about them in this description - you never know, a cache based on them may be placed here one day! In the meantime if you are interested, there is a notice board in the car park which gives information about them.
The ruins of Macduff’s castle sit on the cliff-top above the Wemyss caves. This tower is the only remaining part of a large building which was first built in the 13/14th centuries and which was added to or demolished as the owners or attackers saw fit.
The castle was built on the site of an earlier, 11th century, wooden one that belonged to Macduff, Thane of Fife and slayer of the Macbeth. Tradition says that he escaped down a passage to a cave below , headed east and crossed to North Berwick from Earlsferrry, eventually taking refuge in England, and defeating Macbeth in Dunsinane.
The building that remains today is dated after that time. The first stone castle was probably built in the early 13th century by an ancestor of the Wemyss family. The Castle was visited in 1304 by King Edward I of England, the 'Hammer of the Scots', who stayed here as a guest of Sir Michael Wemyss. Langshanks is reported to have been totally unimpressed by the Castle. In 1306, discovering that Wemyss was supporting Robert the Bruce, Edward I ordered the castle to be burnt. However, it would appear not to have been completely destroyed and sometime after Bannockburn the remains of the gatehouse was rebuilt into a single tower. After Sir Michael's death, his estates were divided between his three daughters as he had no male heir. His second daughter married William Livingstone of Drumry and they stayed at Macduff Castle. The Livingstones continued to live at Macduff for 100 years, the line finishing with a daughter who married Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, the architect of Falkland Palace. In 1530 the Hamiltons exchanged estates with the Colvilles of Ayrshire who lived in Macduff Castle for about 100 years. The Colvilles extended the Castle, building a second tower and adding a hall between the two towers, with outbuildings and an outer wall. It is this second tower which still survives today. When Lord Colville died around 1630, the Earl of Wemyss bought back the estate and made Macduff Castle his chief residence. However, his son preferred Wemyss Castle and this castle was abandoned by the mid 17th century and allowed to fall into decay.
In 1926 some remedial work was done by the Wemyss family and the Castle was used as a store. By 1967 one of the two towers was in a dangerous state and Fife Council called in the Army to demolish the East Tower “for safety“. The remaining tower has a spiral staircase but entrance to it has been blocked off. Its present state is not just due to the fact that it has been unoccupied for several hundred years though - the sandstone used in its construction has weathered very badly and resulted in pitted exterior stonework.
For a flat cache and dash with uneven terrain just at the end - ignore the coastal path sign at the bottom of the hill and make your way along the shore. This route will avoid the castle but you can see it from the hiding place. To have a close look at the castle - follow the coastal path signs up to it, then head down the path signposted to the caves to find the cache afterwards. Whichever route you choose, the last section will involve a bit of scrambling over large rocks and concrete blocks.
Cache contents at time of placing:
3D Dinosaur book
Ladies passport Holder
Oil pourers
Sheep ornament
Bird Trinket Box
Frog castanets
Orange Hair creme
Toy spider
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx sbe gur xabooyl ebpxf fgvpxvat bhg bs gur jnyy. Fgnaq ba gur syng pbapergr oybpx whfg va sebag bs gurz. Pnpur vf haqre lbhe srrg - gurer vf n ubyr ng gur abegurea raq bs gur oybpx.
Treasures
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