Continued entries/extra info

8 Parish of Pittenweem

[Quotation]
"Two miles by east St. Monan is the royal burgh of Pittenweem so named from a cave there it is well built. The upper part of the town is a fair street from west to east at the east of it is a church of this parish of a late erection. To the North of which is Mary-Chapel in the Mary-Gate that goeth to the East port and by south the church is the priorie (to which this town belonged) inclosed with a good wall it hath a good deal of building yet entire. It was a colony and dependence of the priorie of St. Andrews and possessed by regular priests of the order of St. Augustine. In the reign of King Alexander III [The Third] William bishop of St. Andrews bought the priory of May from the abbot of Reading (to which abbacy it was given by King David I [The First]) annexed it to this priory of Pittenweem. It had the churches of Rind and Anstruther Wester in which parish Pittenweem was till of late and many lands with a regality of which the lands of Anstruther are heritable baylies. The precinct of the house and fews belong to the Earl of Kellie whose eldest son is intituled Lord Pittenweem" etc.

"The noted St. Fillan whose name has been given to so many chapels fountains, etc, in Scotland and who is still held in superstitious reverence in great part of the Highlands [Was Abbot] of Pittenweem from which situation he retired and died a hermit in the wilds of Glenurchy A.D. 649. While engaged in transcribing the scriptures his left hand was observed to send forth such a splendour as to afford ligth to that with which he wrote, a miracle which saved many candles to the convent as St. Fillan used to spend whole nights in that exercise. Lesly lib. 7 [Book 7] tells us that Robert the Bruce was possessed of this miraculous and luminous arm which he inclosed in a silver shrine and had it carried at the head of his army previous to the battle of Bannockburn the Kings chaplain a man of little faith abstracted the relique and deposited it in some... [continued]