"Crail, Fife"
by dwg
Crail is a small town situated at the east tip of the Kingdom of Fife, just a few miles from St Andrews
and its golf courses. To the east of the town is Fife Ness, the site of Crail Aerodrome, which was a
naval air station during the two World Wars. Planes from the airbase took part in the final attack on
the Tirpitz in 1944. In the 1950s, the Joint Services School for Linguists was moved there from
Bodmin in Cornwall.
I spent the very windy autumn and winter of 1956/57 there as the guest of the Royal Navy. We
travelled to JSSL from Portsmouth by train - that was a long night ! We changed trains in Edinburgh in
the early morning, and had to march along Princes Street from Waverley to Princes Street station for
the local train across the Forth Bridge and along the Fife coast to Crail. We had little idea of where we
were going and were quite surprised to arrive in what seemed to us the middle of nowhere ! However,
we soon settled in and spent nearly 8 months there studying the Russian language - Russian with a
strong military emphasis, so that for example we all knew the Russian for aircraft carrier but lacked a
more domestic vocabulary. We used to go to St Andrews on Saturday nights, to the pictures and to
have fish and chips - the fish was the best ever, so fresh ! We also spent far too much time in a
coffee bar in Crail, and in the "Golf" Hotel bar.
The Isle of May is a small island in the Firth of Forth easily visible from along the Fife coast. It has - or
had - a lighthouse which we could see from JSSL. One of our number who was a keen ornithologist
took a trip to the island which, although small, has an interesting history which you might like to follow
up by using the search box below.
by dwg
Crail is a small town situated at the east tip of the Kingdom of Fife, just a few miles from St Andrews
and its golf courses. To the east of the town is Fife Ness, the site of Crail Aerodrome, which was a
naval air station during the two World Wars. Planes from the airbase took part in the final attack on
the Tirpitz in 1944. In the 1950s, the Joint Services School for Linguists was moved there from
Bodmin in Cornwall.
I spent the very windy autumn and winter of 1956/57 there as the guest of the Royal Navy. We
travelled to JSSL from Portsmouth by train - that was a long night ! We changed trains in Edinburgh in
the early morning, and had to march along Princes Street from Waverley to Princes Street station for
the local train across the Forth Bridge and along the Fife coast to Crail. We had little idea of where we
were going and were quite surprised to arrive in what seemed to us the middle of nowhere ! However,
we soon settled in and spent nearly 8 months there studying the Russian language - Russian with a
strong military emphasis, so that for example we all knew the Russian for aircraft carrier but lacked a
more domestic vocabulary. We used to go to St Andrews on Saturday nights, to the pictures and to
have fish and chips - the fish was the best ever, so fresh ! We also spent far too much time in a
coffee bar in Crail, and in the "Golf" Hotel bar.
The Isle of May is a small island in the Firth of Forth easily visible from along the Fife coast. It has - or
had - a lighthouse which we could see from JSSL. One of our number who was a keen ornithologist
took a trip to the island which, although small, has an interesting history which you might like to follow
up by using the search box below.
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| Some Articles about Crail, the Firth of Forth and the Forth Bridge |
If you have any postcards, memories etc of the Forth Bridge, Crail and/or JSSL, please
get in touch. We will be happy to publish your story here.
get in touch. We will be happy to publish your story here.
| DID YOU KNOW that JSSL has some famous former students, including Eddie George (former Governor of the Bank of England), Michael Frayn (playwright and novelist), Alan Bennett, Dennis Potter, Sir Peter Hall and, strangely, the Soviet spy Geoffrey Prime - how do the security people explain that one ?? |
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| About the Forth Bridge The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, to the east of the Forth Road Bridge, and 9 miles west of central Edinburgh. It is often called the Forth Rail Bridge to distinguish it from the Forth Road Bridge, but should correctly be referred to as the Forth Bridge. It connects Edinburgh with Fife, and acts as a major artery connecting the north-east and south-east of the country. Construction began in 1883 and formally completed on 4 March 1890 when HRH Edward Prince of Wales tapped into place a ‘golden’ rivet. You may find the following links interesting: The Forth Rail Bridge A website run by the Forth Bridges Visitor Centre Trust, with lots of information, statistics etc and a history of the bridge and its construction, plus some pictures. Forth Estuary Transport Authority This site concerns the Forth Road Bridge with up to date information, a short history and the usual facts and figures. Forth Railway Bridge Memorial A website set up to commemorate the approx 60 men who were killed during the construction of the bridge. Some history and statistics included. |
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| The Isle of May is located in the Firth of Forth about 5 miles from the Fife mainland. There is an interesting website about the island - follow this link to see it. |
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