6 
On the right, after passing the railway station, a glimpse is 
had of the extensive remains of Aberdour Castle, a stronghold 
and residence of the Earls of Morton since 1351, but which was 
accidentally burned about 160 years ago, and has since lain in 
ruins. From here the line runs close to the north shore of the 
Firth of Forth, past Burntisland, Kinghorn, and Kirkealdy, 
and all the way the sea views on a fine day are very beautiful. 
The views inland are generally limited, but the low hillsides 
are noticed to be well clothed with woods. At the foot of 
a rocky height close to the left of the line about a mile beyond 
Burntisland, a monument, erected a few years ago, marks the 
spot where King Alexander III. was killed, on the 12th March 
1286, by falling over the precipice while riding to Kinghorn 
Tower in the dusk of the evening. On nearing Kirkcaldy, the 
richly-wooded policies of Raith are observed on the left, with 
the elegant mansion-house standing on a fine site peeping out 
from among the trees. Leaving the busy manufacturing town 
of Kirkcaldy, where the leading article of trade, floorcloth, 
scents the air, and passing the thriving towns of Dysart and 
Sinclairtown, we leave the main line at Thornton Junction, 
and the journey for the rest of the way to Stravithie is along 
the East of Fife Railway. About three miles from Thornton 
the famed Cameron Bridge distillery is passed, standing close 
to the line soon after it enters the pretty valley of the Leven, 
down which the route les to the town of Leven at the mouth 
of the river. Keeping the fine golfing links on the right, the 
railway sweeps north and eastwards round Largo Bay, celebrated 
in the fisherman’s song, The Boatie Rows— 
** T cuist my line in Largo Bay, 
And fishes I caught nine ; 
There’s three to boil, and three to fry, 
And three to bait the line.” 
The village of Lower Largo, lying along the shore, was the 
birthplace, in 1676, of Alexander Selkirk, the original of Defoe’s 
Robinson Crusoe; and within the grounds of Largo House, 
situated in a well-wooded park on the rising ground on the 
left, are the remains of Largo Castle, the residence in the end 
of the fifteenth century of the famed sea warrior, Sir Andrew 
Wood of Largo. Nearing Elie, a favourite water-place, lying 
close to the sea shore on the right, the policies of Elie House 
are seen alongside of the line, and the route is through a 
well-cultivated country, past the fishing village of St Monans, 
with its curious ancient church, said to have been founded 
about 1362 by David IL, and the thriving town of Anstruther, 
the native place of Tennant the poet, and the scene of his 
