Boundary Wall at Craighall Farm, Ceres

If you look up Craighall Castle, Ceres, online, you’ll see photos of the 18th century castle which until 1957 stood near the site of our July wall rebuild. The remains of the castle were near enough our site to be a source of stone. There’s also an old limestone quarry nearby, and limekilns in a state of good repair.

We were lucky to have Robert Thomson supervising our work as he knows the local mix of limestone, sandstone and basalt well. Our wall was a real mixter-maxter of stone sizes and types and in places very little of the original remained. When we found at the base of our wall  a semi-dressed stone about a metre long by a metre wide and a third of a metre deep,  it took two large pinch bars and most of our team to  get this eventually sitting level. Clearly it had been taken from the castle to become part of the boundary between the Craighall Steading land and Craighall Den.

Many more large stones were half-buried and needed moved. There was also a fieldmouse’s nest  and the usual toad, in hollows below the founds – a good excuse for a tea-break. The wee timorous beastie and her children were unearthed, but thanks to the quick action of Robert they were rehoused in the growing wall. Kate felt they were given multi-storey flats in exchange for being rudely thrown out of their underground home. Yet another wonder of nature as we rebuild another drystane dyke. We also found a very old glass milk bottle, which now has a new use as a flower vase.

There are fine walks along the top of the den and also way down below. Many people passed us on the marked paths. The trees should be beautiful, and the views just as good, when we return there in October for members’ practice and a training course run in partnership with Fife Coast and Countryside Trust.