Crail

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Crail Harbour.

Crail is a former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland and part of the East Neuk.

Built around a harbour, it has a museum and a pottery. The most notable building in the town is its twelfth-century church.

On the beach beside the harbour, there are fossilised trees, dating back to the carboniferous geological period.

The Crail Golfing Society is the seventh oldest in the world. Their oldest course, Balcomie, was formally laid out by Tom Morris Sr. in 1894 but competitions had been played there since the 1850's. It is said that Crail was the first course to use round holes - these having previously been square.

Crail Aerodrome, to the north of the town, started life as a naval air station during the First World War. In the runup to the Second World War it became HMS Jackdaw. Planes from the airbase took part in the final attack on the Tirpitz in 1944.

After the war the airbase was taken over by the Royal Navy and renamed as HMS Bruce. Between 1956 and 1958 the airfield was used by the Joint Services School for Linguists to train Russian linguists.

The site of the airfield is now home to the Crail Raceway, which hosts events every second Sunday of the month. The Raceway lets amateur drivers compete with their own adapted vehicles.