When Archibald Hogg of Bandrum House built this tower as an observatory and summerhouse in the 1840s, Saline had the ‘well-merited reputation of being the Paradise of Fife’. The village, built along the valley of the Saline Burn, is surrounded by hills and from the eminence called Bandrum this tower enjoyed a prospect of the undulating landscape to the Firth of Forth and beyond.
The story told locally is that the tower, known as the Temple, replaced a wooden structure, which had been erected by the previous owner in around 1805. Construction of the stone tower began in 1845 under the supervision of Lewis Mercer who worked alongside his brothers. Stone stairs lead up to an upper floor, now collapsed, with a fireplace and windows giving an amazing view to Bandrum House and the surrounding countryside.
Lewis Mercer (c.1809-1867) was an architect and mason who lived in Saline and designed and built a number of buildings there. A simple stone marks his burial place in the village churchyard, but the most curious monument to him is his head, carved in stone, which sits outside a house on Main Street in the village.
A poem, published in a local paper in 1888, tells that the from the tower there was a view to Stirling and across the Forth to Edinburgh. The Pentland and Ochil hills, could be seen, as well as the mountains of Ben Ledi and Ben Lomond. The writer recalled his childhood visits to the tower:
‘Twas here I used to sit and gaze upon
The glimmering landscape, as the setting sun
Went down behind Ben Lomond’s lofty peak,
And tinged the hilltops with a golden streak.
The tower (listed as Category C) is now a roofless shell but remains a popular landmark, and rewards the hike up from the edge of the village.
Follow the footpath opposite the entrance to Midfield Terrace in Saline (the path is overgrown and is best left until winter when the nettles and thistles are less ferocious – the Flâneuse speaks from recent experience). Or you could take a leisurely drive into Saline on the B913 and admire the distant tower on its hillside as you approach the hamlet of Cowstrandburn. From this road you will also be able to appreciate the tower’s relationship to Hogg’s seat at Bandrum House, now a nursing home.
Saline was once home to another curiosity – a group of stone figures carved in the 1820s by sculptor George Forrest. Depicted are Tam o’ Shanter and Souter Johnny, characters created by Robbie Burns, and Symon and Bauldy from the poem The Gentle Shepherd by Allan Ramsay. From 1832 Forrest exhibited his sculptures on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, where they were described as ‘one of the most popular and attractive exhibitions in the Scottish metropolis’. The collection was gradually dispersed after his death in 1852, and these four figures found a home in the grounds of Kirklands House in Saline. They were sold to Fife Museums Service in 2010. Whilst Symon and Bauldy await conservation, the restored statues of Tam and Johnny can now be seen outside Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries.
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