Crawford Priory Mausoleum

In death you would expect others to leave you in peace. However, that does not appear to have been the case for the forward-thinking, if slightly eccentric, 19th century creator and owner of Crawford Priory, in north-east Fife, Lady Mary Lindsay Crawford, or her ancestors.

After Lady Mary’s death on November 21, 1833, her body was interred into the family crypt, located a mile or so to the south-east of the grand Gothic pile she commissioned in the early years of the 19th century. Decades later, however, the tomb – like her home abandoned and crumbling – was forcibly entered, coffins broken open and human bones scattered across the floor in a grisly act of sacrilege and wanton vandalism. It is a sad postscript to the history of her reclusive and religious life.

The large, classical, roughly cross-plan mausoleum probably dates from the mid-18th century and may have been constructed at around the same time as Crawford Lodge, which was established by the 21st Earl of Crawford in 1758. The crypt was built on the elevated site of an Iron Age fort, on the western flank of Walton Hill.

The entrance, on the eastern side, was via a projecting pedimented porch, originally with flanking slender columns, although these were later destroyed. Beyond a cast iron gate, within the burial vault, which has an arched ceiling, there were 18 polished stone shelves for coffins. The tomb itself was surrounded by a perimeter wall of stone and the trees which grew up around it would later become known as Lady Mary’s Wood.

In its day, the tomb enjoyed an uninterrupted view across the valley to Crawford Priory (one that would later become obscured by trees), so even in death Lady Mary could watch over her stately pile.

George Lindsay-Crawford, 21st Earl of Crawford, was the first of the family to be interred into the tomb, after he died on August 11, 1781, at the age of 52. He resided at Crawford Lodge, on the family estate which bordered their other lands at Struthers. His son Major General George Lindsay-Crawford, the 22nd Earl of Crawford, inherited the estates and, when he died in 1808, his ashes were placed into the crypt.

Lady Mary was the last in the line of Crawfords and, after her funeral service held in the great hall at Crawford Priory on December 2, her coffin was placed within the tomb. The crypt was then sealed, a stone wall erected over the entrance.

Thereafter the crypt – like Crawford Priory – appears to have been largely abandoned by those who inherited it and the surrounding woodland has contributed to its slow and steady decline, trees and their roots damaging both the walls and roof. In 2018, the tomb found its way onto the Buildings at Risk Register which noted that it had been vandalised and was in a generally poor condition with walls collapsing and surrounding woodland encroaching upon the overall building.

The site has attracted both urban explorers and vandals, both finding their way into the crypt through a hole knocked out of the stonework that was built up to block the entrance. The rusting gate within broken open, vandals pulled out the two coffins within the crypt and broke them open. It is assumed that these held the bodies of George Lindsay-Crawford, 21st Earl of Crawford, and Lady Mary. Video footage shows human bones scattered across the floor of the crypt, which may belong to either.

The tomb also became a haunt for local youngsters who dared one another to spend a night within its walls, contributing to its downfall.

By 2021 iron bars had been inserted over the opening to prevent people from entering the tomb but nature continues to win its war of attrition against this category B listed building with trees now even sprouting from the roof.

Access is by a farm track from the A914, half a mile south of Clushford Toll, of by track from the minor road linking the A914 with Cults Farm. Click here for a walk incorporating both the tomb and Crawford Priory.

For more abandoned places in Fife, check out the book Abandoned Fife by James Carron, available in paperback from Amazon.

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