St Bridgets Kirk

St Bridget`s Kirk, Dalgety Bay, Fife.
18th September 2009
Personal feedback by Mary Cunningham SP Co-founder/Investigator.

Scottish Paranormal team in attendance:
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Mark Smallman

The extensive remains of St Bridget’s Church stand just above the shoreline at the head of Dalgety Bay, an inlet in the north shore of the Firth of Forth. They also stand at the very eastern edge of the settlement of Dalgety Bay.
The origins of St Bridget’s Church date back the better part of 850 years. “The Church at Dalgetty with its appurtenances” was first mentioned in a Papal document dated 11 March 1178. The church (possibly a rebuild of the church mentioned in 1178) was consecrated in 1244 by David de Bernham, the Bishop of St. Andrews and dedicated to St Bridget. This was presumably the Saint Brigit or Brigid of Kildare in Ireland, who lived from 451 to 525.

When originally built, St Bridget’s would have been at the heart of the small community of Dalgety. The church continued in use through the Reformation, and there are signs of the galleries that would once have helped the church accommodate the local population during the typically Presbyterian services of the day.
By 1830 the village of Dalgety had disappeared and the main coast road had moved inland to the line of today’s A921. By this time St Bridget’s was structurally unsound, and no longer in the right place to serve the needs of a population pulled north by the coal mining industry. The church was therefore unroofed, and a replacement built half a mile north. St Bridget’s was simply allowed to become overgrown and ruinous, until eventually passing into the care of Historic Scotland, who have restored it to the fascinating building you can see today.

Scottish Paranormal arrived around 4pm give or take a few minutes and had to park the car way back up the road because of no parking facilities near St Bridgets, we took a leisurely long walk along the country lane that led us to the Kirk itself. Although it wasn`t a warm sunny day it was still a refreshing walk and I enjoyed it greatly but, I`m so glad we didn`t have to carry heavy equipment with us. Sony camcorders and digital cameras were all we needed for this one really, trying for any evp was too difficult as the location was contaminated with natural sounds of animals and birds etc etc…We did however find a little enclosed area right inside the ruined Kirk itself that we could use but, after only 15 minutes recording time we were disturbed by a young couple out for a stroll and a bit of a chitchat. I abandoned my attempt at any EVP as it was useless and just not the right conditions to work in regarding any audio work. As soon as I retrieved my digital recorder and turned it off the couple left…typical ha! ha!… I didn’t bother to reset it again.

Myself, Jim and Mark continued to explore the ruins and grounds of St Bridget`s Church and soaked up the atmosphere a little, standing right on the edge of the cemetery grounds we could look across the River Forth and brace ourselves against the strong breeze blowing against us, a bit chilly but I didn`t really care much as I have been at a lot colder places in the past. We all went ahead and gathered as much photos and film footage as we could before we finished this daytime recce. I found this place to be very interesting and a great location to visit if only for the history of it, a truly beautiful tranquil place. I would expect it to take on a very different atmosphere if it were visited late at night though. Imagination and the movies are to blame for that and I think therefore we become apprehensive and nervous even before we set foot in the place.