📌 Pathhead, Fife
★★
🛠️ Site closed for bridge repairs (checked April 2024)
In the Kirkcaldian suburb of Pathhead, Ravenscraig Castle is an unexpectedly substantial clifftop ruin, hidden by modern housing developments on the landward side but open to the elements on the seaward edge. The castle was built by James II in the 1450s for his wife, Queen Mary of Gueldres, but both died before it was completed. James III soon passed the unfinished property to the Sinclair family, with their rough Highland connections showing through in the starkly defensive walls: 3.5 metres thick in some places. It’s a shame you can’t explore any higher than ground level, but there are reasonable views of the upper parts (and of Kirkcaldy) from the cliff edge. The castle doocot is also viewable – directions below.
🌍 Location
📌 Off Dysart Road (A955), Pathhead, 1 mi northeast of Kirkcaldy town centre
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NT 291925
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.119866,-3.142374
🚌 Bus to Pathhead
🚗 Ravenscraig Park car park, 🧭 NT 293927 / 🛰️ 56.121433,-3.138529
📝 Key info
⌚ Always open
🎫 Free
💬 From the car park it’s a 5-min walk to the castle, west along the clifftop (⬤ Easy). For the doocot it’s a further 5-min walk (each way); a rough path descends to the shoreline from underneath the castle drawbridge, crossing a sandy beach before ascending steps to the doocot (⬤ Moderate). There’s also a more direct path from Ravenscraig Park.
