An English Language Class Trip to Culross – Bring your Camera!
When you visit and wander along charming, peaceful streets, try to imagine them as they were once were; full of the hustle and bustle of a thriving 16th-century port on the River Forth.
Admire the white-harled houses with red-tiled roofs that line the steep cobbled streets, which run from the market cross to the hilltop abbey.
It’s undeniably pretty, but they represent a traditional Scottish harbour-side way of life that is all but dying (second homes, declining fish stocks…)
Look across the water and the view is different again… as you will discover in this blog.
There’s More to Visiting Scotland than Petty Places
Culross is an amazing town for a photography trip. It’s scenic, but scratch the surface and find the local culture, stories and history.
Oh, and there’s some pretty interesting contrasts to capture with a camera.
In this blog I’ll guide you around some of the sights of Culross. Whenever we visit anywhere with our imemrsion English holidays, we take you behind-the-scenes to share items not on a traditional touristic itnery.
We feel it makes for a most interesting holiday – and English challenge!
“Wandering around this charming town is about as close to stepping back in time to the 16th century as possible. The whitewashed, red-tiled buildings are well preserved, such as the Town House, where witches were tried and held while awaiting execution.“
Visit Scotland Website
Community Action and Activism
Don’t miss visiting Culross Jetty!
In a wonderful local initiative which is being rebuilt stone by stone. All who walk on it to drop a single stone when they visit.
Indeed, over over the few years that we’ve been visiting Culross, the jetty has emerged out of the sea once more.
It’s a powerful metaphor and example of what a community united can achieve. (Something we love sharing on our immersion holidays).
Traditionally Scenic?
Culross is a spectacular place to view a sunset.
Look down the River Forth and you find a contrasting industrial scene.
The (disused) Longannet Power Station was the last coal-fired power station in Scotland. In its heyday, it was the largest coal-fired station in Europe.
Longannet Power Station was also one of the most polluting in the UK, with tonnes of ash produced daily.
What didn’t hit the atmosphere was scraped up and piled on a local island, changing the landscape (and ecosystem) there completely.
Other Culross Highlights
Uneasy Bedfellows
The picturesque town also looks across the water at Grangemouth’s huge Petroineos Oil Refinery, which is one of the UK’s largest manufacturing sites.
In contrast to the little fishing town of Culross, Ineos has an annual turnover of £46 billion and is chaired by Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Other Things to Capture on Film
16th century Culross is unusually preserved and has old-world charm in spades.
Within its streets you may forget that the recent story of the River Forth is an industrial one: the Forth Rail Bridge spans the river mouth at Edinburgh in glorious testament to the ingenuity of engineering and industrial ironwork.
A quarter of the population of Scotland lives by the shores of the Forth.
Levels of some harmful chemicals are high and, due to the plastic industry around the Forth, the ecosystem is menaced by millions of tiny plastic beads (cutely named ‘nurdles’) spilling into waterways and spreading across the beaches and mudflats to be ingested by molluscs, sea birds and estuary wildlife.
“Last April a young humped backed whale was spotted in the Forth Estuary. Unknown to all who joyously glimpsed it, it had already been entangled in fishing ropes for some weeks, which ultimately caused it infection and death.”
Ruth, 2020
“This is a Strange Kind of Tourism!”
Exactly, we’re an alternative English language school.
Join us on an English language class trip and we’ll try to show you the real places.
Our clients are often artists and designers who want to learn about the culture of contemporary Scotland. Not the silly postcard version trotted out for tourists unwilling to see deeper than the surface.
But that does not mean we do so without critique.
Time for Change
This means increased industry inspections (with serious financial penalties for breaches of health and safety, security and environmental standards).
It also will require a nationwide reduction of single-use plastic. (On the coast, domestic rubbish easily blows into waterways – even after it has been placed in the right recycling bin).
Immersion English Language Class
Thank you for reading about our English language class trip to Culross.
I hope we have pointed out a few things of cultural interest in Culross – some things that might make you want to pick up a camera – and use it as a tool for making art in some way.
What do you think? If you were on one of our English language school photography trips – which subject you like to work with?
Let us know in the comments!
Want to read more about Culross? We recommend the Visit Scotland website here.
Find the Red Lion Pub here.
And the Culross Pottery & Gallery here.
Want to know more about photography opportunities on our English language class trips? Try this blog:
Have a Thrilling Photography Experience on Your Next English Language Holiday