Aberdour

Aberdour, a village in Fife, Scotland, lies on the shore of the Firth of Forth, 17.5 miles north-west of Edinburgh by the railway and 7 miles north-west of Leith by boat. It features excellent sea-bathing.

Aberdour has ruins of a castle and an old decayed church, which contains some fine Norman work. About 3 miles south-west of Aberdour stands Donibristle House , the seat of the Earl of Moray, and the scene of the murder (7 February 1592) of one earl, remembered in the ballad The Bonny Earl of Murray.

Inchcolm

The island of Inchcolm, or Island of Columba, a quarter of a mile from the shore, forms part of the parish of Aberdour. As its name implies, its associations date back to the time of Columba. The primitive stone-roofed oratory presumably served as a hermit's cell.

King Alexander I founded the Augustinian monastery in 1123. It has well-preserved buildings, consisting of a low square tower, church, cloisters, refectory and small chapter-house.

English and other rovers occasionally plundered the island of Columba, but in the 16th century it became the property of Sir James Stewart, whose grandson became third Earl of Moray by virtue of his marriage to the elder daughter of the first earl. From it comes the earl's title of Lord St Colme (1611).