6 September 2025 (13:00 - 16:00) 7 September 2025 (14:00 - 16:00) Few people know that St Mary’s of Ladybank near Cupar in North East Fife is the last remaining ‘cottage’ Scottish Episcopal church. The land where Ladybank is situated was originally marshland and the monks of nearby Lindores Abbey were given the right in the thirteenth century to cut peat from a bog there called Monegre. Appropriately the area of the town on which St Mary’s Church is located is still to this day called Monkstown. Originally the monks called the area Lady Bog but the name seems to have changed to Ladybank. St Mary’s Church was originally the end cottage of a row of cottages built in 1810 to house the workers of a factory situated at its rear. By 1896 the cottage had come into the hands of Andrew Young of Kinloch and it was he who rented out the premises to the Vestry of the nearby Episcopal Church of St James the Great in Cupar. At the turn of the twentieth century work was started on converting the cottage at 1 Monkstown, Ladybank into a church and its inaugural service was taken by the Rev Charles Cooke on 9th December 1900. It was not given the name of St Mary’s until June 1951. The altar, Rector’s stall and pews were a gift from the Rector and Vestry of St Peter’s Church, Kirkcaldy and had come from St Columba’s Church in Linktown, Kirkcaldy which had closed in 1946. St Mary’s Church in Ladybank is still attached to its sister church of St James the Great in Cupar, Services are held on the second and fourth Sundays at 3.00pm. The Church’s private garden to the rear is also popular for parish coffee mornings and celebrations. The congregation of St Mary’s are rightly proud that their church is the only surviving Scottish Episcopal Cottage church, a truly distinctive accolade.

Address
1 Monkstown, Commercial Road, Ladybank, KY15 7JX