Saint Andrews (Kingdom of Fife)

Gateway to the ancient burgh of Saint Andrews

     The religious connections with Saint Andrew begin around the 7th century.  A monk was carrying a relic of St Andrews aboard a ship when a violent storm blew up.  It was said an angel appeared & said she would save the monk but only if he built a shrine to St Andrews were he landed ashore.  That place was called Kilrimont at the time & was an important Pictish settlement.  The ruins of the Abbey, which was the biggest in Scotland at the time, date from the 12th century, but it took so long to build that it was not finally consecrated until the 14th.  Scotland's oldest University is in St Andrews & dates from 1411 when it was established on the orders of Pope Gregory, today Prince William studies there.  Over the years the cathedral was battered not only by storms but by fire finally being sacked by a Protestant mob loyal to the teachings of John Knox in 1559.

The Ruins of St Andrews Cathedral

     The Castle at St Andrews was built in 1200 & was intended to be a home as well as a fortress for the bishops of St Andrews.  It has had a long & chequered history.  The wicked Cardinal Beaton was murdered here when the Castle belonged to him in the 16th century.  To enter the castle the mob who murdered him breached its defences by building tunnels beneath the ground.  You can still go down inside these tunnels today.  It will give you an idea of how claustrophobic things were for the people trying to assault the castle.

Ruins of St Andrews Castle

Tunnel beneath St Andrews Castle

     St Andrews is famous for being the home of the sport of golf.  Although nobody is quite sure when it began we do know that it must have been before 1457 as a Royal order was made by King James II banning the playing of the game of "Gowf".  The Old Course at St Andrews is world renowned therefore as being the home of golf.