About Blebo Craigs
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Vast deposits of sandstone
are to be found in Kemback Hill. Because of its silicon content
it was easy to hew and dress and had the added quality of taking
a fine polish. Consequently it was in great demand by builders
and a thriving industry developed with Blebo Craigs as its centre.
A 100 acres of the lands of Blebo were feued in lots of 2 - 15
acres and nearly all reclaimed from unproductive heath. The cottages
built thereon - 20 initially - housed quarrymen and tradesmen.
The land was cropped, mostly to feed horses which were used in
considerable numbers to convey stone downhill to St. Andrews and
throughout the countryside.
Cows were kept for milk and every cottager throughout the parish
kept a pig for his own use. There was a cartwright and a blacksmith.
A tailor, whose descendants are still with us, had a wide clientele
and travelled the district by pony and trap. Market gardens were
later cultivated as it virtually became a self-contained community.
One has only to follow the tracks through Kemback Wood to see
the extent of workings and to obtain some idea of the great quantity
of stone which has been removed - and the toil of both man and
beast which it must have occasioned.
The quarries are of two types - one where everything in front,
above and to the sides was removed as quarrying progressed - and
the other where tunnels were driven deep into the hillside with
columns of stone left to support the roof. You would find these
most impressive, but be warned - these old workings, long since
abandoned, are dangerous.
Blebo belonged to the
Earl of Douglas in the time of David II's minority. The Trail
family settled here in the 14th. century. One of its most distinguished
members, Doctor of Civil and Canon Law, Walter Trail, was Bishop
of St. Andrews from 1380-1401. He was appointed by Pope Clement
VII whose throne was at Avignon and who is quoted as saying that
'Walter was an honour to the place and not the place to him'.
Numerous branches have come from the family - such as Dr. Thomas
Trail, Professor of Medical Jurisprudence at Edinburgh, editor
of one of the editions of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica and Robert
Trail, minister of Greyfriars, Edinburgh. Three generations of
his descendants were ministers of Panbride in Angus, to which
charge a minister of Kemback was translated in 1979.
In 1649 Blebo was purchased by Andrew Bethune, one of the Bethunes
of Balfour. Two sons of the house of Balfour had been Archbishops
of St. Andrews - James and his nephew David, the notorious persecutor
of WIshart and who was himself murdered in 1546. General Alexander
Bethune, an illustrious soldier member of the family, is buried
at Kemback.
The present mansion was built by the Bethunes - pronounced Beaton
- in the 18th. century to replace the original house at Blebo
Hole. The estate remained with the family until 1900 when the
Bethunes moved to Mountquhanie and it was bought by the late William
Low, founder of the grocery chain, who extended the house and
completely renovated the interior. In 1951 the late Miss Janet
Low sold the estate and moved to 46 South Street, St. Andrews,
the residence at one time of Cardinal Beaton, the murdered Archbishop.
In 1958 the house and policies were bought by the Orr family since
when it has passed to the Myers.
While still on Blebo, in 1722 on the lands of Myreton, now Blebo
Mains, owned by the Bethunes, a quantity of lead ore was found
on the surface. Mining began and although a vein was discovered,
the hardness of the rock and the expense of blasting caused the
enterprise to be abandoned. Some time later, more lead ore was
discovered, quite by accident, about half a mile to the west.
A vein of pure metal and, it is said, some silver was also discovered.
Much annoyance was occasioned by water and this project too was
abandoned.
