I have previously posted pictures of Kirkcaldy War Memorial here.

There is a recent addition of a plaque commemorating the dead of post-World War conflicts. One name each appears from Palestine, Malaya, N. Ireland and Afghanistan.

Also in Kirkcaldy War Memorial Gardens is a stone commemorating the veterans of the D-Day Campaign in Normandy.

When I first moved to Fife there was a Thirties building in Kirkcaldy on the corner of Abbotshall Road and Wemyssfield.

You had a great view of it as you came out of the library or museum, on the other side of the road at the bottom of the War Memorial Gardens. A perfect example of Art Deco garage construction, complete with white rendered concrete, curved walls, glass bricks, the lot, this was the Fidelity Garage, run by Norman Rollo as I recall. It was lovely, if in need of some attention.

A few years after I took up residence here this distinctive building was (shamefully, to my mind) demolished.

This is what it was replaced with.

A bog standard, rectangular-canopied petrol station of little or no architectural merit.

The Fidelity is given a mention on the Scottish Architects website.
I have tried to find pictures of the Fidelity on the internet, with no success. What a pity.

A few months ago on an open day we visited the Old Kirk, Kirkcaldy, the old parish church of the town, whose tower can be seen here from Kirk Wynd.

We knew before we went that there was some stained glass by the pre-Raphaelite (in its later phase) Edward Burne Jones.

The church is no longer in use as a place of worship having been closed as such by the Church of Scotland in November 2010. The congregation merged with that of St Brycedale Church – no more than 50 yards away! – to become known as St Bryce Kirk. St Bryce is the patron saint of Kirkcaldy. (See here.) These two Burne Jones windows are towards the back of the building if you were entering from Kirk Wynd and are only two of many stained glass windows whose splendour cannot be fully experienced from the outside.

The above much more recent stained glass windows represent the flames of the fire which damaged the interior a good few years ago. These flank the main entrance from Kirk Wynd.

One slightly older window by Crear McCartney is on the immediate left wall (see left.)

None of the pews remain as the space inside has been cleared for community use.

It is possible to climb the tower. Don’t do it on a windy day (of which there are a quite a few in Kirkcaldy) as you are fairly exposed on the tower parapet.

Before the stairs/ladders which allow the climb we passed the impressive memorial – see below – to the members of the congregation who died in the World Wars. (The 1939-45 addition blends in well.)

I had to stitch three pictures to get the full panorama of the memorial as the space to step back was limited. The passageway to the stairs is on the left of this.

This is the seventh time I have used this post title.

The question mark above appears because about two weeks ago – mid-January – we noticed a cherry tree flowering – a sign of the mild winter we’ve been having.

That Sunday, the 15^th, I photographed it.

The same day the park’s pond was partly frozen over.

Further round the park was evidence of the wild storms we endured recently.

Some conifers had fallen in the area around the fountain – a fountain whose winter spectacle I featured in this post two years ago.

See picture on the Scottish Cinemas website.

This building’s main claim to fame is that the Beatles once played there. I think it was when they were just on the cusp of fame. I wasn’t around at the time. (Not in Fife anyway.)

Like many cinemas it failed to survive the changing times and is now demolished.

Shame it’s gone, though.

I’m running out of Art Deco buildings in Kirkcaldy to feature. This one is minor deco at best.

The building is not in the main part of the High Street but in its continuation towards Sailor’s Walk and the harbour.

I can’t remember what it used to be (a baker’s perhaps?) but it’s a baby provisions shop now.

Detail of the doorway is on my flickr.

Minor Deco again.

This is in Links Street, Kirkcaldy, just beyond the traffic lights at the southern end of the High Street’s junction with Nicol Street.

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The wall beside it has two Deco pillars. The Deco styling continues along the wall’s top. (See my flickr.)

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It’s a while since I’ve posted any photos of Kirkcaldy and its environs.

Just up the coast and originally a separate village but now swallowed up by greater Kirkcaldy is Dysart.

It has a nice wee harbour which the picture below does not show completely. The former Harbour Master’s House on the quayside is now a bistro.

Dysart’s main industry used to be mining. This is the winding gear of the Barony* Coal Mine as was.

There are some striking pan-tiled roof houses in Dysart. This part of the village is known as Pan Ha’.

The tower in the background is called St Serf’s Tower.

A couple more pictures of Dysart are on my flickr.

*Edited to add. This may actually have been the Frances Colliery. I was confusing it with something else called the Barony.

The day after Braintree we took in the nearby village of Silver End. This was the first time we’d been there as for all the years we lived in Essex we didn’t have a car.

We were looking for the housing estate designed by the architect Thomas S Tait who I see from the link submitted an unsuccessful plan for Kirkcaldy Town Hall. Among other accomplishments he was the architect of St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh which I have featured here and here.

We knew we were on the right track when we came upon this in Boar’s Tye Road:-

It’s needing a bit of TLC I would say.

The next junction takes you into Silver Street. Every building is one of Tait’s.

This was taken from the other end of the street after we had parked.

This is the junction of Silver Street and Broadway which also contains many Tait houses.

There must have been around two hundred flat roofed houses in the deco style over the two streets.

A few had some extra deco flourishes like the triangular columns with windows in this photo where you can also see the connecting walls between them which house the gates to the rear gardens.

Aberdour is a village few miles along the coast from Kirkcaldy going towards the Forth Bridges.

You can do a nice little walk from the Railway Station on the main road down to the harbour and along left and round by the Primary School back to the Railway Station.

Further along the main road stands the kirk which like in South Queensferry has the War Memorial incorporated into a wall.