Journeys into a Literary Landscape
Loch Leven, Lochore and the Lomond Hills are associated with a rich heritage of literature penned either by local writers or those attracted to the area by the special nature of the landscape. From late medieval anonymous works such as “Christis Kirk in the Grene”, a poem descriptive of the fairs held in Leslie, to modern literary output associated with coal mining communities, their writing offers an opportunity to make a literary connection between local landscapes and today’s communities. The following are examples of just some of the writers past and present who have been inspired by the distinctive landscape and its history to write poetry and novels.
Blind Harry
Henry the Minstrel, or Blind Harry, performed at the court of King James IV. He is renowned as the author of The Wallace, a lengthy poem about the hero of the Wars of Independence, Sir William
Wallace. This epic story tells of William Wallace capturing an English garrison camped of St Serf’s
Island on Loch Leven.
James Beath
A farmer from Glenvale in the shadow of the Lomond Hills, James Beath was a ‘ploughman poet’ whose songs were sung and poetry recited at local gatherings. His poetic works, which are evocative of life and landscape in the 19 th century, were published in the 1880s by the grandnephew of Robert
Burns under the title Bishopshire Lilts.
Robbie Kennedy Bennet
The modern Staffordshire poet Robbie Kennedy Bennet was attracted to Fife where he penned poems such as “I love the Lomonds” and “The Kingdom of Fife”.
Anna Gordon Brown
This 18 th century Scotswoman, wife of the minister of Falkland Parish, was renowned among folklorists for her knowledge of Scottish and English ballads. Her research brought forward what has been considered the aesthetic core of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, a seminal collection published in the late 1800s.
Michael Bruce
Born in the Kinross-shire village of Kinnesswood a month before the battle of Culloden in 1746,
Michael Bruce was the son of a cottage weaver. He only lived to the age of 21 but in his short lifetime he penned classical poems, ballad songs, sonnets, prose cadences and religious paraphrases that were all inspired by nature and the landscape. His memory is kept alive through extracts of his poems to be found on seats and gates along the Michael Bruce Way on the eastern foothills of the
Lomond Hills. The Michael Bruce Trust looks after his birthplace in the village of Kinnesswood and organises cultural events to keep alive the memory of the ‘Gentle Poet of Lochleven’.
Thomas A Clark
Author of “In praise of walking”, Thomas Clark’s spare works appear in carefully sited places in the designed landscape and heritage buildings of Falkland where he is an informal ‘poet in residence’ for
Falkland Estate.
Donna Fletcher Crowe
Following a visit to the old Kirkgate churchyard in Kinross, the American novelist from Idaho, Donna
Fletcher Crowe, was inspired to write a story about early 19 th century resurrectionists or bodysnatchers entitled Grave Matters.

Jessie Findlay
Author of a number of novels and volumes of essays in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, including The Lost Tide and The Spindle-side of Scottish Song. Jessie Findlay captured the essence of
Portmoak Parish in the 1890s in her romantic novel Michael Lamont, Schoolmaster.
Charles Gulland
Born in 1840, G Charles Gulland is noted for his romantic poems including “The Fairie of Falkland: a
metrical romance” (1876) and “The Lomond Hills: a poem” (1877).
William Hershaw
The modern Fife poet William Hershaw has explored aspects of life and landscape in Fife and Kinross in poems such as “Glencraig” “The Faerie Walk” and “Four poems for Michael Bruce of
Kinnesswood”.
Mollie Hunter
In her Escape from Loch Leven, children’s writer Mollie Hunter captures the excitement of and atmosphere of intrigue associated with the imprisonment in Loch Leven Castle and escape of Mary
Queen of Scots.
Kathleen Jamie
A Fife author, Kathleen Jamie’s prose and poetry is vividly engaged with the natural world and landscape of Fife and beyond.
Henry Kinnaird
The 20 th century Kinross-shire farmer poet Henry Kinnaird wrote about country life and landscape in both the English and Scots language.
William McGonagall
The celebrated Dundee ‘poet’ William McGonagall (1825-1902), bard of the celebrated “Silvery Tay
and its Wonderful Bridge”, toured through Fife and Kinross in an attempt to raise income through poetry readings. He had no luck in organising an evening’s entertainment in Kinross but lingered on the shore of Loch Leven where he wrote a five stanza poem about Loch Leven, Kinross, the Lomond
Hills and Benarty simply entitled “Loch Leven”.
James Logie Robertson
Born in Milnathort in 1846, James Logie Robertson went on to teach at George Watson’s School in
Edinburgh. His love for Loch Leven, the Lomond Hills and the Ochil Hills is reflected in volumes of essays and poetry including Ochil Idylls and Horace in Homespun, originally published weekly in the
Scotsman newspaper under the pen name Hugh Haliburton.
Sir Walter Scott
The novelist Sir Walter Scott was familiar with Lochore and the lands lying around Loch Leven. He was a member of the Blairadam Antiquarian Club and his son married the daughter of the laird of
Lochore Estate. His novel The Abbot tells the story of the escape of Mary Queen of Scots from Loch
Leven Castle and his letters make frequent references to the local landscape.
Ian Nimmo White
The Leslie poet Ian Nimmo White in his poem Kirkfortha represents the area around the Lomond
Hills in a work selected to mark the Lomond Hills on the Scottish Poetry Library’s Poetry Map of
Scotland.

Sally Wright
The Ohio-based American crime writer Sally Wright used the landscape of the Lomond Hills as a backdrop in her book Pride and Predator, the first in the popular Ben Reese murder mystery series.
Andrew Wynton
The Prior of St Serf’s Priory on Loch Leven in the early 1400s was Andrew Wyntoun, author of the first history of Scotland. Sponsored by Sir John Wemyss and written in octosyllabic couplets, his
Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland tells of Macbeth and the three witches who came to him in a dream, a story later adapted by William Shakespeare in his “Scottish play”.