It was Doors Open day in Kirkcaldy last week-end and at last we managed to visit the Old Kirk which is quite well known for its stained glass windows. Two of them were designed by Edward Burne-Jones, who is sometimes known as the last Pre-Raphaelite. There are some lovely images of his work here.

We were told that the conditions weren’t doing them a lot of justice. Obviously they look a lot better if it’s a very bright day outside, but they’re still not at all bad I think.

I suppose they’re a bit plain when compared with some stained glass but they are in a Scottish Presbyterian church and some of them have no stained glass at all. I suppose it was looked on as being a bit too fancy and frivolous.

We climbed up the tower which was quite a scary hike up the usual kind of stone spiral staircase with narrow steps. This photo is of the lower part of the tower.

The church is the oldest building in the town and parts of the building date back to 1244. The Church of Scotland decided that they didn’t want to continue to use it as a church and the building has been taken over by a local group who are hoping to keep it alive in some way, so that it can be an asset to the town. You can read about it here.

Internally it’s a great space and I can imagine that it could be useful for all sorts of things. It’s the sort of place which costs a lot to upkeep so I really hope that they can make a go of it.

It was worthwhile climbing up the tower as you get quite a good view of the town and the sea. We didn’t stay up there too long though as the tail end of hurricane Katia was just beginning to pay us a visit and it was quite fierce up there.

Since then it has actually got much worse and I was nearly blown off my feet twice today. It feels more like November than September. So much for that season of mists and mellow fruitfullness!