St Serf’s Cave, Dysart

St Serf’s Cave, Dysart

St Serf’s Cave in Dysart has been connected to that important local saint since the early middle ages. Serf had dedications across Western Fife, Kinross and Clackmannanshire, and his relics could be found in Culross. The main source of information on the saint, the Vita St Servani, was composed sometime in the thirteenth century, probably in Culross, and it includes the first documentation of th link between Dysart and St Serf. According to the Vita, the cave was regularly used by Serf as a hermitage and he performed two miracles in it. The first involved the saint transforming water into wine, while the second was theological battle of wits between Serf and the Devil. The cave contains three natural chambers, into which benches have been carved, while steps and an ashlar door and a window between two of the chambers were added at a much later date. In the later middle ages there was a chaplain attached the cave who tended to the needs of visiting pilgrims. The cave is known locally as the Rud Chapel, or Chapel of the Holy Rood, although there is no medieval evidence to support this dedication.

sacredlandscapesoffife

tt27@st-andrews.ac.uk

Site

100

18/06/2021

(1) Alan Macquarrie, ‘Vita Sancti Servani: The Life of St Serf’, Innes Review 44:2, (1993), 122-152 (2) Simon Taylor & Gilbert Markus, The Place-Names of Fife. Volume One. West Fife between Leven and Forth (Donington, 2006), pp. 468-70

cm x cm x cm

current,56.12496561227152,-3.124197721263045;

St Serf’s Cave, Dysart

TEXT

Building

207

1

Catholic