Cults is a small parish and hamlet close to the centre of the Kingdom of

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland. It lies mainly in the Howe of Fife, and about south-west of the nearest town -

Cupar Cupar ( ; ) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fife, and the ...

. The parish is about long and wide. The parish contains various villages, farms and hamlets including Cults, Pitlessie, Crossgates and Walton. The only archaeological site of any importance seems to be a fort on the western slope of Walton Hill. Its name is derived from the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

''cùilt'' meaning a corner or recess.

Notable residents

Cults' most well-known resident was Sir David Wilkie (1785–1841) born in Cults Church manse. His father was parish minister and while Wilkie lived in Cults, characters in the parish served as models for his paintings '' Pitlessie Fair'' (1804) and the ''Village Politicians'' (1806). Cults Kirk contains a handsome monument in marble, by Chantrey, erected by Wilkie in memory of his parents and another to his memory, erected by his sister in 1844.

Notable landmarks

Houses

The parish contains the shell and estate of

Crawford Priory Crawford Priory is a ruined Estate houses in Scotland, estate house in Fife, Scotland, and former family seat. It lies on the eponymous Crawford Priory Estate between the villages of Pitlessie and Springfield, Fife, Springfield, and about south ...

, originally the seat of the Earl of Glasgow, and latterly Lord Cochrane of Cults. The now-demolished Priestfield House, once the seat of the Martin Smith family, was nearby at Pitlessie.

Cults Kirk

Cults

Kirk Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning 'church'. The term ''the Kirk'' is often used informally to refer specifically to the Church of Scotland, the Scottish national church that developed from the 16th-century Reformation ...

has lain in the centre of the parish at the Kirkton of Cults for at least 800 years and may predate

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. The current building was constructed in 1793 under the oversight of Sir David Wilkie's father, Rev. David Wilkie, and then extended in 1835. It consists of a rectangular

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

structure with a narrow

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

to the western side surrounded by a

graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

predating the church building. The session house lies directly to the west of the kirk and predates the current building. The

manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...

, to the southwest, is now a private residence. The kirk became part of a congregation along with

Kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a device specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle''. There are two main types: the ''stovetop kettle'', which uses heat from a cooktop, hob, and the ...

church in 1963, before this combined with the churches of

Ladybank Ladybank () is a village and former burgh of Fife, Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh, southwest of Cupar, close to the River Eden, Fife, River Eden. Its 2006 population was estimated at 1,582. History Before the 18th century, this area ...

and Collessie to form the Howe of Fife Parish Church congregation in 1983. The Church of Scotland sold Cults Kirk to a private buyer in 2021.

Gallery

File:Pitlessie, Cults Panorama.jpg, alt=Pitlessie, as seen from Cults Hill., Pitlessie, the largest settlement in Cults, as seen from Cults Hill File:Cults Kirk, Kirkton of Cults, Fife.JPG, alt=Cults Kirk, in the Kirkton of Cults from within the graveyard., Cults Kirk, in the Kirkton of Cults File:David Wilkie - The Manse, Cults, Fife, The Artist's Old Home - B1975.4.1790 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg, David Wilkie's interpretation of the Kirkton of Cults File:Rev. David Wilkie Memorial, Cults Kirk.JPG, Memorial to the Rev. David Wilkie and his spouse Isabel Lister

References

External links

'Vision of Britain' website
for a map of the Cults area. Retrieved 2012-02-27. {{authority control Parishes in Fife Villages in Fife