Both the village and Parish of Ceres possess interesting remains of past history. Among them are the ruins of its Castles - Craighall, Struthers and Scotstarvit. The first of these was well situated on the North side of a lovely Den which was, at one time, planted with a variety of trees and was about 1 mile from Ceres village.

Some writers suggest that the Syras family lived nearer Ceres than Craighall. Foundation for this suggestion exists in the fact that a part of Ceres is called "the castle". No ruins in or near this area have been traced and it would seem that the Scotts of Balwearie into which family Margaret de Syras, the heiress of the Syras (Ceres) lands married, and whose family succeeded to her estate, resided in the original Craighall Castle.

It is highly probable that in the Scotts' time, this Castle was the residence of the Baron Baillie, or head of the village. From the South-east corner of the High Street with its Baron's Courthouse, a direct road called "the Gollop" led up to the Castle. From this road, the Tower House, called "Chemises" was reached and further up the hill is the croft called "Dove's Loan", where the pigeon or "doo-cots" existed. From these facts, it would appear-"the gollop", then up the steep ascent by Dykeneuk was the main, as well as the nearest road to the Castle in early days. It was from a subsidiary road, leading to Teasses Corn Mill, that Sir Thomas Hope made a delightful avenue up through the Den when he bought Craighall. Most of the Den and the site of Craighall Castle was gifted to Cupar District Council some years ago by Colonel Hope of Luffness, a descendant of Sir Thomas, and it has been made into an interesting Nature Trail. Sir Thomas also made a service or "kitchen" road to the Castle in order to avoid the steep incline of the old Dyke-neuk road and this was known as the "High Road" and is the present road up to Craighall Farm.

Sir Thomas Hope was a well-known and important figure of his day. He was made King's Advocate in 1617 and appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly in 1644. About 1637, he built himself a castle at Craighall on the site of an earlier one and in 1697, the great colonnaded front was added, the architect being the well-known Sir William Bruce. By 1793 this great house was in ruins and what remained had to be totally demolished in 1957 as it had become unsafe. All that now remains near the site is the Limekiln built in 1814 with stones from the nearby ruined castle, but this business venture was only to last about 20 years.

Situated 2 miles South--west of Ceres on the Craigrothie - Kennoway road and near the former main road from Edinburgh/St. Andrews was Struthers Castle. The portion of this road from nearby Struthers Castle to Ceres was known as the "waterless way" but is now known as the Denhead and Woodburne Road.

Struthers Castle is probably the oldest historical building outside Ceres village. Part of the existing ruin has been assigned to the end of the 14th century and there are traces of alterations made to the building during the 17th century. The castle was abandoned by its owners at the beginning of the last century. Neglect and lack of repairs, aided by the weather, soon reduced the building to a ruinous condition and today, some parts of the walls are all that remain.

In 1124, during the reign of David I, Struthers is said to have belonged to Radolphus de Ochter--Struther. It later became the property of the Keiths, Grand Marischals of Scotland, and before the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 Sir William Keith is reputed to have instructed the men of the district in the use of the Bow on the "Bow Butts" at Ceres.

In 1382, Sir William Lindsay of the Byres, son--in--law of Sir William Keith, became the proprietor of Struthers and this ownership was retained by the Lindsay and Crawford family until fairly recently.

In the 15th century, Struthers and other lands were united into the barony with the astounding title of "OUTHIROTHISTRODYR", which one historian says gave the title of Lord Struthers to the first Earl of Lindsay in 1633.

Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, the celebrated poet and author of "The Three Estates", was a distant relative of Lindsay of the Byres and spent much time at Struthers, round about 1550 and wrote some of his poems whilst there. Charles I was entertained at Struthers by Lord Lindsay in February 1651 following on his Coronation at Scone. Lord Lindsay, who held the office of Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, suffered for his hospitality and in 1653 guests of an unwelcome nature arrived. A detachment of horse and foot soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's army occupied the castle for 3 months.

This landmark is situated almost half a mile North--west of Chance Inn village and although it was at one time associated with Struthers it is quite different in appearance. A typical Tower House, it has been well and carefully repaired. The building is L-shaped and rises to a considerable height with only a few small windows let into the walls. There is an uncovered rampart around the top of the tower at one corner. On a clear day it is well worth climbing to the top of the tower as there is a magnificent view to be had of the surrounding countryside. A steep stone stairway connects 4 rooms, one on each floor with vaulted roofs. A fine stone fire--place in one tower-room bore the date 1627 and the initials J.S. and A.D. but this was removed from the tower In 1906 and incorporated in the rebuilding of the nearby house " Hill of Tarvit, " which was formerly known as " Wemysshall". These initials are also found above the door leading on to the parapet, therefore, the tower was probably rebuilt or added to in that year. there having been a building on this site from the 14th century.

In 1627 Sir John Scott bought the Scotstarvit Estate. He was born in 1585 and had a distinguished career in both the literary and political field. lie married 3 times and had 19 children. He was chiefly responsible for getting Timothy Pont's Maps of Scotland published by "Blaeu" in 1654. These Maps formed the fifth volume of Blaeu's Great Atlas of Europe and was the first Atlas of Scotland. Sir John also founded a Chair of Humanity at St. Andrews University. One Lady Scott was a sister of the poet -William Drummond of Hawthornden, who frequently stayed at Scotstarvit. A direct descendant of Sir John Scott, the Duchess of Portland, sold the estate to Oliver Gourlay of Craigrothie about the end of the 18th century and he in turn sold it shortly afterwards to Colonel Wemyss of Wemysshall.

After many years of ownership, the Wemyss family sold Wemysshall and also Scotstarvit to Mr. F.B. Sharp of Dundee in 1903 but retained the family burial ground near the old Doocot. Mr. Sharp called in the very well-known architect Sir Robert Lorimer to alter and enlarge the old house and lay out the surrounding gardens. The result was to make it a most beautiful country house set in equally beautiful gardens. On the death of Miss Sharp, the estate, which had been re-named Hill of Tarvit, was left to the National Trust for Scotland. The house is now open to the public at stated times and the gardens can be visited at any time. A walk leads up to the monument on top of the hill behind the house which commemorates a convivial evening spent by Colonel Wemyss and the Provost of Cupar.

The estate of Teasses lies within a few miles of Craighall and was at one time connected with the barony. A charter of 1510 describes the lands as "Hall or Hill Tacis". In 1542, the owner was the Master of Rothes, but because of his part in the assassination of Cardinal Beaton in St. Andrews Castle, the property was forfeited to the Crown. In the 17th century, Teasses was part of the Craighall estate but early in the 18th century it was sold as a separate property. The present mansion house was build in 1879.