Bishop's Road

Start location: Bishop's Wood carpark, south of Strathkinness (NO 456 151)
End location: Magus Muir (NO 459 151)
Geographical area: Fife
Path Type: Pilgrimage Route, Medieval Road
Path distance: 0.4km
Accessibility info: Suitable for Motorised wheelchairs, Suitable for pedestrians

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Route Description

This path starts at a small car park that is just south and up the hill from Strathkinness. It has been reported to us as being very accessible and well surfaced for about half a kilometre to the west. However, the Fieldfare Trust's Phototrails website may provide more useful detail about its accessibility - updates are always welcome.

OS Landranger 59 (St Andrews, Kirkcaldy & Glenrothes)

Heritage Information

This route is known as the Bishop's Road because on 3rd May 1679 James Sharp, Archbishop of St Andrews, was being driven along it when he was murdered by a group of Covenanters. Later that same year, Magus Muir saw the execution of five Covenanters, in effect as retribution as none of them were involved in the assasination of Sharp. Both a memorial to the Archbishop and the graves of the five martyred Covenanters lie shortly to the north of the Bishop's Road. The grave of one of the party of assassins is actually located less than 1km to the south of the Bishop's Road at Claremont (NO458146).

Both Roy's 1750 Military Map and Ainslie's 1790 map show the original "Bishop's Road" in full, but by 1828 it is no longer depicted except for the site of the murder which is marked. On the 1940 Ordnance Survey map, a footpath is shown going right through to Upper Magus, clearly a remnant of the original route. At the west end of the present route, there is an old metal sign slightly off the path, showing that the promoted route may be a little different to that which is used today.

Another section of the route Archbishop Sharp took that fateful day lies further west near Ceres; it is known as the Waterless Road.

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