To get you in the mood for some food and drink, why not spend some time seeing some of the historical parts of the village, not the least being The Tavern itself!.

Up until the middle of the 1940's there were at least two pubs in Strathkinness. Today, there is only one - at the top of the Main St where two turnpike roads met and where there was a toll bar from about 1811 to 1865. Part of the old weighbridge for weighing coal and stones from the quarries can still be seen in the wall of "The Tavern" on the Main Street side and on the High Street side there is a large iron ring where horses were tethered at one time.

The Tavern

Just to the south of the village, across the Low Road towards Drumcarrow Hill, lies Magus Muir over which the old Bishops Road ran and here, on 3 May 1679, nine Presbyterian fanatics hacked to death James Sharp, Archbishop of St Andrews and Primate of All Scotland. Sharp had thrown his lot in with the Episcopalians, an act that the Covenanters considered was the act of a Judas. Today, as part of a gentle woodland walk with its own car park, a cairn marks the spot where the archbishop was murdered and nearby are the graves of one of the assasins and the Covenanters that were captured at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679 and executed in revenge for the murder and for rebellion.

Archbishop Sharps Monument in Magus Muir

The historical data found on this page has been reproduced from "Strathkinness - A Glimpse of a Scottish Village" by Nelda Seed. An on-line version, as well as lots more information about the local area can be found at www.strathkinness.org.