Crafts and Craftsmen
Stone Mason
The tools of a Ceres stonemason are amongst the earliest exhibits donated by a local family, and must have changed little since the days of John Howie whose stone carving, "The Provost", has become widely known as the mascot of Ceres. Said to be a caricature of the Rev. Thomas Buchanan, who was the last ecclesiastical provost to be appointed to Ceres from the Cathedral at St. Andrews in 1578, this effigy, for a time lost to the district, was restored and set up by public subscription in a central position on a gable end similar to its original one in the garden of Kirklands House. From the same mason's hand came the freestone carvings on a piper, one on the roof of Saughtree Cottage where Howie once lived, and one which is now in the Museum (69/11).
Some of the masons' tools have been found in the stone-work of buildings where they must have been embedded for a long time; a Crooky Bar (68/180) came from a railway bridge constructed in 1875; chisels in the walls of 18th century Ceres houses have the Mason's own mark upon them -- identification marks which are well illustrated in a volume in the Museum's library, Pre-reformation churchers in Fifeshire by J. Russell Walker R.I.B.A., published in 1895. Mason's tools such as calipers, mells and chisels appear on some headstones in Fife graveyards as do other trade insignia like weaver's shuttles.
In the days before the professional architect the stone-mason was an important figure in local life and could be both designer and executor of the building work, quarrier and carving artist in local stone.
The house at the end of the old Bishop's Bridge spanning the Ceres Burn is St. John's Masonic Lodge, built for the Ceres Branch (established 1765) of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Scotland. The repair and restoration of this building as a private residence was the first major project of the Central and North Fife Preservation Society in the 1960's.
Thatcher
Tiler
The Tiler required his own particular type of tool. First introduced from the low Countries as ballast in ships trading to Fife ports, pantiles became an architectural feature in many coastal and inland villages. Gradually native sources of supply arose to satisfy the demand for red clay tiles, e.g. at Dunshelt as illustrated in photograh and sample tile (76/171). This factory was previously used to produce starch for linen made from crushed potatoes.
Other relics of earlier building techniques are the Wooden Rone pipe (70/50) from Arncroach and the piece of Clay Wall probably part of an internal partition from the Lord Chancellor's House in Cupar. There are also photographs of Cruck Roof construction in Falkland.
Claypipe Maker
Three generations of Burtons made clay pipes in the Back Lebanon in Cupar for over 120 years. The last James Burton donated to the Museum a complete set of the various pipes produced in his workshop (68/54). Several more appear each Spring with the annual digging of the local gardens. The pipe with the crossed golf clubs (75/25, 75/54) and its mould (78/30) inscribed 'Prince Leopold' was designed for Prince Leopold of the Belgians when he visited Cupar and ordered a pipe while on his way to St. Andrews for a game of golf in 1878. There are other moulds, presses, trimmers and knives used in the various processes of pipe-making, and the Seggar or clay baking bowl in which the pipes were stacked for firing (75/51).
A by-product from the Factory was the block of pipe-clay used by the house-wife to clean and decorate doorsteps, windowsills and dairies. It was often the medium for free design which nowadays would be described as 'doodling.'
Read about Burton's of Cupar by clicking here.
Linen Weave
The reasons for the establishment of this trade in Fife were its suitable soil for flax-growing, availability of water for retting, room for bleaching, and convenient harbours for the import of additional supplies of flax and the export of the finished product. Water-driven mills gradually superseded the handloom, but for long the two processes were interdependable and co-exist.
The production of cheaper cotton in the 19th century casued a general decline in the linen industry, but factories continued in Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline, the latter town gaining a reputation for a luxury trade in fine damask. Coarser weaves were produced in several burghs of central Fife well into this century. Some of today's senior citizens recall starting work at the Kingskettle Factory at the age of 12, with a working day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with breaks for breakfast and dinner, all for a wage of 4/6d per week. The advance of man-made fibres in this century dealt the final death-blow to the industry.
The 18th century, however, was the heyday of the Handloom Weaver, hence the confident ring of the quaint rhyme on the Cupar Weavers' Banner dated 1727 and on display in the museum:
"the Weaver Trade it is most fine and is renowned so
