A video showing how St Andrews Cathedral may have appeared in 1318. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / Smart History)
St Andrews Cathedral was once the most important church in Scotland. It was the base for the country’s senior bishopric and housed the relics of Jesus’s disciple Andrew (the nation’s patron saint). The origins of St Andrews Cathedral stretch back into the Early Middle Ages when there was a Celtic monastery in this area. In the twelfth century religious life in St Andrews underwent major changes, and a priory of Augustinian canons took over care of the church and shrine. During the 1160s work began on a vast new Cathedral, which was eventually consecrated (in other words officially blessed and opened for worship) in 1318 in the presence of King Robert the Bruce. The completed Cathedral was the largest building constructed in Scotland before the nineteenth century. It was a centre of pilgrimage, learning, power, and law. Indeed, the church courts in St Andrews were among the busiest in the kingdom. However, in 1559 the Protestant Reformers tore apart this Catholic power base. The Cathedral was stripped of furnishings, altars and statues were smashed, and wooden images and Catholic mass-books were burnt. The vast church rapidly fell into ruin, and orchards, gardens, and houses took over much of the wider Cathedral site. Today the core of the former religious buildings are cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, whilst much of the wider site is occupied by St Leonard’s School.
Walter Bower describes life at St Andrews Cathedral Priory in the late Middle Ages. (Read by Professor Michael Brown.)
The original Baptist chapel on a mid-nineteenth-century map. (Source: 1854 Ordnance Survey Map of St Andrews. Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/view/74416778)
There has been a Baptist church on South Street since the early 1840s. When the original church opened it had seating for 250 people. The main space for worship was on the first floor and there were shops below. Around 1900 the church was remodelled by the architects Gillespie and Scott, creating the building that the Baptist congregation uses today.
St Andrews’ Dominican friary shortly after the Reformation. (Source: John Geddy, ‘S. Andrew sive Andreapolis Scotiae Universitas Metropolitana’. NLS, MS.20996. Available at: http://maps.nls.uk/towns/rec/215)
The Dominican order (or black friars) arrived in St Andrews during the fifteenth century. There are references to a Dominican place or house in St Andrews in the 1440s. This was then developed into a fully established friary at the start of the sixteenth century, occupying a prime location on South Street. To support the new foundation funds were diverted from the black friars’ sites in Cupar and St Monans – a move that was justified on the basis that St Monans was merely a poor fishing village and Cupar was increasingly impoverished, while the presence of a university in St Andrews meant it was a suitable place for educated men. The Dominicans played a significant role in St Andrews during the early sixteenth century, preaching regularly, engaging with education, and taking part in major heresy trials. In 1559 the Dominicans’ buildings were attacked by Protestant activists and the friars ‘violently expelled’. The black friars’ site was later handed over to the St Andrew burgh council with the intention that it should support education, care for the poor and sick, and fund the new Protestant ministry.
During the 1730s a section of the Church of Scotland was unhappy with how ministers were appointed and the allocation of religious wealth. They formed a break-away group known as the Secession Church. This then split again in the late 1740s, leading to the creation of the Burgher Church. In St Andrews the members of the Burgher Church met in an old barn on Imrie’s Close. This was used as a place of worship between 1749 and 1774. In the mid-twentieth century there were plans to demolish the former kirk, but the property was rescued and restored by the St Andrews Preservation Trust. It is now a small house.
Burgher Meeting House, 141 South Street, St Andrews
In 1774 the Burgher congregation in St Andrews moved to a building in a yard on the north side of South Street. This property still exists and is now faced in yellow harling. The congregation does not seem to have been particularly large. In 1793 only 91 dissenters ‘of all denominations’ were recorded in the burgh of St Andrews, with a further five dissenters in the suburb of Argyle. The congregation relocated to a house on North Street in 1826.
St Andrews Castle was once the home of the bishops of St Andrews. There seems to have been a castle on this site since at least the 1190s. We do not know exactly when the castle chapel was built, but it is likely that there was a place of worship here from an early date. By the late Middle Ages the chapel was located towards the south-eastern corner of the castle. The chapel windows appear to have had a quatrefoil design at the top, not unlike some of the windows on St Leonard’s Chapel. Records from the time of Bishop Kennedy (who died in 1465) reveal that the castle chapel was richly furnished, with hangings, embroidered cushions, and silk and velvet vestments for the priests. Meanwhile early sixteenth-century accounts contain payments for wax candles and the washing of the altar linen at the castle chapel. Following the Reformation St Andrews Castle continued to be occupied for a while, although it is possible that the chapel stopped serving a religious purpose. During the early seventeenth century the castle fell into disrepair, and in 1656 stone from the castle was removed to repair the long pier at St Andrews Harbour.
Congregational Church, Bell Street, St Andrews
During the mid-nineteenth century a Congregational church was built on the east side of Bell Street. It was substantial Victorian stone building designed by the architects Andrew Kerr and Jesse Hall. The church closed in the 1960s, and was demolished in 1983. The site is now occupied by shops.
Congregational Church, 105 Market Street, St Andrews
A Congregational church was built on the north side of Market Street in 1807. The church had seating for 320 people. There were two entrances from the street and there appears to have been a gallery above the doorways. During the early nineteenth century Thomas Paton, one of St Andrews’ first Congregational ministers, established a Sunday school in the burgh. The church closed in 1854 after the congregation moved to a new building on Bell Street.
Christian Brethren Hall, Greenside Place, St Andrews
In the 1930s the Christian Brethren leased a cottage on Greenside Place. This was subsequently converted into a hall for worship. The Christian Brethren used the hall until the early twentieth century. The property was then sold, and the building once again returned to being a house.
Friends Meeting House, Howard Place, St Andrews
Since 1993 Quaker meetings have been held in a Victorian house on Howard Place. The Society of Friends occupy the lower two storeys of the house, with meetings taking place in a simply furnished room on the ground floor. There has been a group of Quakers in St Andrews since at least 1967.
The Gospel Hall is in a former shop on the narrow section of Market Street. Christian Brethren (traditionally sometimes called Plymouth Brethren) have worshipped here since at least 1914. During the early twentieth century the Plymouth Brethren had a growing presence in the Fife fishing communities, and between the wars fishermen cycled up from villages such as St Monans to worship at the Gospel Hall in St Andrews.
During the late Middle Ages an Observant Franciscan friary was located on a large plot of land between Market Street and North Street (where Greyfriars Garden now stands). The friary was founded by Bishop Kennedy in the mid-fifteenth century. The Observant Franciscans were committed to both personal and institutional poverty, and largely survived on gifts of food, money, and clothing from pious members of the public. They had a strong preaching tradition, and in the sixteenth century several friars from St Andrews resisted the spread of Protestant ideas, including helping prosecute heretics. Indeed, in 1539 Friar Simon Maltman, the warden of the St Andrews Franciscans, was sent to advise the Archbishop of Glasgow on how to conduct a heresy trial. Maltman also preached at the last major heresy trial in Scotland before the Reformation – which resulted in the execution of Walter Myln outside St Andrews Cathedral. However, the friars were fighting a rear-guard action. In May 1559, with religious rebellion sweeping Scotland, the Franciscans handed over their friary in St Andrews to the local urban authorities. Despite this, the buildings were attacked by Protestant activists a month later. Shortly afterwards the friars fled to Continental Europe. The Franciscan friary was the only one of St Andrews’ mid-sixteenth-century Catholic institutions where none of the churchmen converted to Protestantism.
The Burgher Kirk shown in 1820 on John Wood’s plan of St Andrews. (Source: National Library of Scotland, EMS. X.009. Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/view/74400057)
The Burgher Kirk shown in 1820 on John Wood’s plan of St Andrews. (Source: National Library of Scotland, EMS. X.009)
The original parish church of Holy Trinity was probably a little to the north of St Rule’s, in the area towards the centre and right side of this photograph. (Source: Bess Rhodes)
Holy Trinity Church, Cathedral Precinct, St Andrews
The parish of Holy Trinity is first recorded in the 1140s, when Bishop Robert was reorganising religious life in St Andrews. For centuries Holy Trinity was the main church for the residents of St Andrews. The church was originally located within the Cathedral precinct a little to the north of the surviving ruins of St Rule’s Church. At the start of the fifteenth century the citizens of St Andrews built a new parish church on South Street, closer to the residential and commercial area of St Andrews, and the original Holy Trinity ceased to serve as a parish church. The building was briefly used by the newly founded University of St Andrews, but seems to have been demolished at some point before the middle of the sixteenth century.
The Hallow Hill area in 1968 before large-scale housing development. The hill is bounded on the north by the Kinness Burn, to the west by the Cairnsmill Burn, and to the south by the medieval Canongate. (Source: Ordnance Survey, Sheet NO 41 NE. Available from the National Library of Scotland: https://maps.nls.uk/view/188141295)
The area now called Hallow Hill was once known as Eglesnamin. This name also has religious associations, with 'egles' appearing to be a Pictish word for a church. Hallow Hill may in fact be one of the oldest religious sites in St Andrews. There was an early medieval cemetery here, and numerous burials in stone long-cists have been excavated on the hillside. In the 1140s the lands of Eglesnamin were given to the newly founded priory of Augustinian canons at St Andrews Cathedral. In 1555 the area was described as All Hallow Hill (which means All Saints’ Hill), implying that people still felt the place had a religious significance.
The Congregational Church on Bell Street in 1895. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, StA-BellS-1. Available at: https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/item/bell-street-st-andrews-from-n/123317)
St Andrews Castle at the end of the seventeenth century. The windows of the castle chapel (with their quatrefoil tracery) can be seen to the right of the fore tower. (Source: John Slezer, ‘The Ruins of the Castle of St Andrews’, Theatrum Scotiae (1693). Available at: http://digital.nls.uk/slezer/engraving.cfm?sl=15)
The Congregational chapel on Market Street in the 1850s. (Source: 1854 Ordnance Survey Map of St Andrews. Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/view/74416778)
Gospel Hall, Market Street, St Andrews. (Source: Bess Rhodes)
The Franciscan friary in St Andrews shortly after the Reformation. (Source: John Geddy, ‘S. Andrew sive Andreapolis Scotiae Universitas Metropolitana’. NLS, MS.20996. Available at: http://maps.nls.uk/towns/rec/215)
Holy Trinity Church in 1767. Drawing by John Oliphant. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, OLI-16. Available at: https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/item/trinity-church-st-andrews/93065)
Holy Trinity Church, South Street, St Andrews
Since the early fifteenth century Holy Trinity Church has been located on South Street. The current site was given by Sir William Lindsay of the Byres for the citizens of St Andrews to build ‘a church in honour of the Holy Trinity with a row of pillars on each side of the nave’. During the late Middle Ages Holy Trinity was the focus for pious donations by St Andrews residents, and at the time of the Reformation it was served by about thirty priests. As the burgh church of St Andrews Holy Trinity was at the heart of the religious upheavals of the sixteenth century. During the siege of St Andrews Castle in 1546 and 1547 it was the scene of competing sermons by Catholic and Protestant preachers – including a young John Knox. In June 1559 Knox returned to Holy Trinity and delivered a fateful sermon which encouraged the St Andrews burgh council to reject Catholicism and establish a Protestant city. Holy Trinity then became a focal point for religious reform, playing a key role in the establishment of new patterns of religious administration and discipline. In the seventeenth century, when the archbishopric of St Andrews was restored, Holy Trinity became for a brief period a cathedral. The monument to Archbishop Sharp on the south side of the church forms a reminder of this period of the church’s history. Over the centuries Holy Trinity has undergone several redesigns, including at the Reformation, at the start of the nineteenth century, and at the beginning of the twentieth century. However, several elements of the medieval church still exist. The high tower and spire of Holy Trinity have changed little since the Middle Ages. Some of the original pillars requested by Sir William Lindsay also survive.
Hope Park Church in about 1860. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, ALB-49-33. Available at: https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/item/u-p-united-presbyterian-church-st-andrews/80687)
Hope Park was built in the 1860s for the United Presbyterians, who had previously been worshipping in a house on North Street. The church was designed by the architects Peddie and Kinnear. The new church was originally towards the western edge of St Andrews, as at that time the housing along Doubledykes Road and Hepburn Gardens had not yet been constructed. Like several other churches in St Andrews, Hope Park was affected by the varying realignments of Scottish Protestants during the early twentieth century. In 1900 the United Presbyterians became the United Free Church of Scotland, which in 1929 then rejoined the Church of Scotland. During the early twenty-first century the congregation of Hope Park joined with Martyrs’ Kirk (a Church of Scotland congregation which was formerly based on North Street). The church is now known as Hope Park and Martyrs.
North Street in about 1846. The bell turret of Martyrs’ Kirk can be seen on the left-hand side of the street, opposite St Salvator’s Chapel. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, EPM-JA-10. Available at: https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/item/north-street-st-andrews/100475)
The first version of Martyrs’ Church was built in the 1840s by a Free Church congregation (one of the groups that broke away from the Church of Scotland in the mid-nineteenth century). The congregation rapidly expanded, and in 1851 the building was remodelled by the architect John Milne to allow for the growing numbers attending the church. At the start of the twentieth century the Free Church became the United Free Church, which then in 1929 rejoined the Church of Scotland. Shortly before this reunion, Martyrs’ Church was again rebuilt, this time by the well-known Fife architects Gillespie and Scott. This version of the church was used as a place of worship until the early twenty-first century when the congregation joined with Hope Park Church. The formers Martyrs’ Church now serves as a research library for the University of St Andrews, and retains many of its distinctive architectural features.
The Salvation Army started a corps in St Andrews in 1893. After some difficulties in the early years, there was a continuous Salvation Army presence in St Andrews from 1934 until 2003. During the 1980s the Salvation Army acquired a former house on North Street for meetings. This property was sold in the early twenty-first century and converted into a restaurant.
St Andrew’s Chapel in about 1865. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, ALB-10-62. Available at: https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/item/st-andrews-chapel-st-andrews/43875 )
In 1690 Scotland officially became a Presbyterian country, rejecting episcopacy (or the government of the church by bishops). Some Scots did not accept the changes, forming the origins of the Scottish Episcopal Church. There have been Episcopalians in St Andrews ever since this split, but it was not until the early nineteenth century that discrimination had reduced enough for them to build an official church. In 1824 work began on an Episcopalian chapel dedicated to St Andrew and located on North Street. The original chapel was designed by John Burn, but in the 1850s the west front was remodelled by the well-known Gothic architect George Gilbert Scott. During the mid-nineteenth century St Andrew’s Chapel had seating for 200 people, but this soon became too few for the growing Episcopal community. In 1867 the Episcopalians laid the foundations of a larger church on Queen’s Terrace. A few years later St Andrew’s Chapel was dismantled and the stones were shipped to the south side of Fife to construct Buckhaven Free Church. The site of St Andrew’s Chapel is now occupied by College Gate (one of the main administrative buildings of the University of St Andrews).
St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in about 1955. Photograph by George Cowie. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, GMC-29-20-4. Available at: https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/item/st-andrews-episcopal-church-queens-terrace-st-andrews/585969)
St Andrew’s Church was built to replace a smaller Episcopal church (also dedicated to St Andrew) which once stood on North Street. The foundations for the new church were laid in 1867, and the church was consecrated (in other words officially blessed for worship) in 1877. The building was designed by Sir Robert Rowland Anderson, and originally had seating for 600 worshippers. During its early history the grand new church was often referred to as a cathedral. In the 1890s a tower was added to St Andrew’s, but it was felt to be structurally unsound and was demolished shortly before the Second World War. St Andrew’s Church remains an Episcopal place of worship to this day.
North Street around the site of St Anna’s Chapel, c. 1580. The larger building with three windows towards the centre of the image may represent the former chapel. (Source: John Geddy, ‘S. Andrew sive Andreapolis Scotiae Universitas Metropolitana’. NLS, MS.20996. Available at: http://maps.nls.uk/towns/rec/215)
During the late Middle Ages a chapel dedicated to St Anna (the grandmother of Jesus) stood on the north side of North Street. St Anna’s Chapel was probably a chantry – an institution where one or more priests regularly prayed for the souls of the dead. Chantries, or chaplainries as they were traditionally termed in Scotland, were often part of a larger church, but could be a separate building like St Anna’s. In the early sixteenth century church courts sometimes met in St Anna’s Chapel. Early property records indicate that near the chapel there was area known as ‘St Anna’s Yard’. Shortly after the Reformation the chapel and its revenues were transferred to St Andrews burgh council. By the late 1560s the site of St Anna’s was held by Robert Pont, a leading figure in the Reformed Church of Scotland. The area where the chapel once stood is now covered by the University of St Andrews’ College Gate building.
The original iron Church of St James being removed in 1909. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, GMC-F-95. Available at: https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/item/st-jamess-church-st-andrews/8269)
Following the Reformation the authorities in St Andrews (like many other Scottish towns) prosecuted Roman Catholics. This meant that for several centuries there was no official Catholic congregation in St Andrews. As religious toleration increased in the nineteenth century Catholicism returned to the area. In 1885 a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St James was founded on the Scores, looking out over the sea. The original church was made of corrugated iron and was sometimes known as the ‘Tin Tabernacle’. In 1909 the iron church was removed and replaced by a stone church designed by Reginald Fairlie, who would later become a leading Scottish architect (designing among other sites the National Library of Scotland). The interior of the church underwent some alteration in the 1970s to reflect new approaches to worship following the Second Vatican Council (which ended in 1965). Today St James’s remains a Roman Catholic church, serving the residents and students of St Andrews.
St Leonard’s Chapel after 1761. The chapel was then in ruins and being used to grow shrubs, although the (now demolished) college tower was still standing. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, OLI-15. Available at: https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/item/st-leonards-chapel/93063)
St Leonard’s Chapel has a long and varied history. The Culdees may have had a pilgrim hospital on this site in the Early Middle Ages. In the 1140s the hospital and its property were given to the newly founded St Andrews Cathedral Priory. An association with St Leonard is first recorded in the thirteenth century, when the hospital was still serving pilgrims visiting the shrine of St Andrew. At some point between 1250 and 1413 St Leonard’s came to be a parish church, but remained under the control of the Cathedral Priory. By the beginning of the sixteenth century pilgrimage to St Andrews had declined and the hospital was providing shelter to a group of elderly poor women. In 1512 the old women were removed and a new university college dedicated to St Leonard was founded on the site. Significant sections of the chapel appear to date from this time, and the arms of one of the college’s founders (Prior John Hepburn) can be seen on a buttress on the south side. In 1747 St Leonard’s College joined with St Salvator’s College to create the United College (which was based in St Salvator’s Quad on North Street). This union led to major changes. The congregation of St Leonard’s removed to St Salvator’s Chapel in 1761. The university sold the St Leonard’s buildings a little while later, but excluded the chapel from the sale. No longer used as a place of worship it was partly dismantled, and by the time Samuel Johnson visited St Andrews in 1773 the former chapel was being used as ‘a kind of green-house’. During the nineteenth century the wider St Leonard’s buildings became a school, and some conservation work was done on the chapel. In 1910 the church was re-roofed, and after the Second World War it once again became a university chapel. Services are celebrated here each week during term time.
St Salvator’s Chapel in about 1767. Some of the original windows have been partly blocked up, others are covered with shutters. The medieval stone roof can still be seen. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, OLI-11. Available at: https://collections.st-andrews.ac.uk/item/st-salvators-college-chapel/93059)
Plaque outside the Parish Church of Inverkeithing (Source: Tom Turpie)
Local tradition records that Christianity was brought to Inverkeithing in around 500AD by a holy man called St Erat. An ancient well known as Heriot’s or Erat’s, after which nearby Heriot Street is also named, can be found close to the site of the later medieval parish church. The well is first recorded in a charter of 1219, but the earliest firm reference to it as Eriot’s well can only be dated to 1588. A tradition seems to have developed in the late nineteenth century which suggested that Erat was a follower of St Ninian (one of the most popular medieval Scottish saints, whose shrine was at Whithorn in Galloway), and that he arrived in Inverkeithing sometime in the fifth century AD. The well, and a chapel at nearby Fordell, are the only recorded dedications to a saint named Erat or Theriot in Scotland and there are no contemporary documents nor archaeological evidence that confirm the local tradition.
The chapel of Inverkeithing is first mentioned in the 1150s when it belonged to Abbey of Dunfermline. While it has been suggested that this chapel later became the parish church, the source notes that it was located outside of the burgh, so it is likely to have been a different building, possibly related to a hospital that was found close to the west port of the burgh. It was last mentioned in the 1220s and seems to have disappeared sometime thereafter. Inverkeithing was a key station on the pilgrim road to St Andrews and Dunfermline, and the chapel, and hospital, both located close to the west port of the burgh, were probably intended to serve the needs of pilgrims.
Parish Church of St Peter, West Tower (Source: Tom Turpie)
The parish church of St Peter is first documented in the twelfth century and by the later middle ages it was a large and impressive building containing eight separate altars dedicated to different saints. An elaborately carved baptismal font dating from c.1400 can still be found in the church. It was hidden at the Reformation and only rediscovered during renovation work in 1806. The west tower was added in the latter part of the fourteenth century, and by the fifteenth century the church had a large nave flanked by aisles on either side. In 1825 a fire swept the building, and the following year the old medieval nave was entirely rebuilt to the designs of James Gillespie Graham. The only part of the medieval church to survive the reconstruction of the 1820s was the tower. Aside from a brief period during the repairs in the early 1800s and in 2006-2007, St Peter’s has remained an active parish church for more than 800 years.
Sketch of ‘Annabella Drummond’s House’, 1894 (Source: John Geddie, The Fringes of Fife (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 41)
A Franciscan Friary was founded in Inverkeithing in the fourteenth century. The Greyfriars, as they were known from the colour of their cowls, were a significant presence in the burgh, with their buildings and gardens stretching from Queen Street south, down to the harbour. Shortly before the Reformation the buildings and lands of the friars were sold to John Swinton of Luscar in 1559, and the friary itself was in ruins as early as August 1560. The only section of the friary to survive aboveground is the hospitium, the guest accommodation that formed the west wing of the friary. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was known as the Rot(h)mell Inn or the Inns, and a tradition had developed associating it with Anabella Drummond, queen consort of Robert III 1390-1406), who regularly resided in Inverkeithing in the 1390s. In the 1930s the Hospitium was subject to an antiquarian reconstruction by J Wilson Paterson (1932-35) and since then it has important community resource, used first as a community centre and library (1930s-1950s) and then from 1974, the upper storey became a town museum until it closed in 2006.
The Church of St John (Source: Amanda Gow, 2007) © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for permission to use this image.
St John’s, Church Street, Inverkeithing
St John’s was founded in 1752 following a split within the congregation of St Peter’s parish church over the choice of a minister by right of patronage. 127 parishioners left the Church of Scotland, acquired a yard with houses on the north side of the burgh and in 1753 built St John’s Church. The building was heightened and widened in 1798-99 to accommodate what, by the 1830s, was a congregation comprising roughly half the burgh’s population. Initially a member of the Burgher Church, they joined the Associate Congregation in 1786, and the United Associate (Secession) Congregation in 1820. From 1780 to 1835 the minister was Reverend Ebenezer Brown, a gifted preacher with a nationwide reputation. In 1847 they became part of the United Presbyterian Church and following the union of the Free Church of Scotland and the United Presbyterian Church in 1900, the church was known as Inverkeithing United Free Church. In 1929 the congregation re-joined the Church of Scotland, and the charge was renamed Inverkeithing St John's Church of Scotland. In 2006 it united with St Peter’s, and is no longer in use for worship.
St Peter’s Episcopal Church (Creative Commons) © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for permission to use this image.
St Peter’s Episcopal Church, Hope Street, Inverkeithing
In 1899 the bishop of St Andrews, Dunblane and Dunkeld was successfully petitioned for the foundation of an episcopal mission church in Inverkeithing to cater to the community in nearby Jamestown. In 1902 a site in Witch Knowe Park was purchased from the Town Council and in 1903 St Peter’s Episcopal Church was constructed on a site in Hope Street, built to a design by Henry F. Kerr. The chancel was completed in 1910. By 1980 the congregation had declined in numbers, and the church building was split in two with nave converted into an all-purpose hall. The church is now used as a community hall, with services carried out at Inverkeithing High School.
View of site from north east. (Source: Amanda Gow (August 2007), © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for permission to use this image.
In the early 1900s a revival moment swept through Fife and led to the formation Inverkeithing’s Baptist Church. A mission was first planted in the town in 1903, and following its success, particularly among quarry workers, a Church was founded in 1905. They met initially in the Music Hall, finally building their own church in 1917. A new building was constructed on the same site in 1980 and is still active with a congregation of 35-40.
St Peter-in-Chains, Hope Street, Inverkeithing (Source: Creative Commons)
In 1913, nearly four centuries after the Protestant Reformation, a Roman Catholic congregation returned to Inverkeithing area with the foundation of the Church of St Peter-in-Chains in Jamestown. The development of the Royal Naval Dockyard at Rosyth after World War II led to the expansion of the congregation and eventually they moved to their current site in Hope Street in 1976-77. From 2010, a single priest served both Inverkeithing and Rosyth and in 2018 the parish was amalgamated with Rosyth and Dunfermline to form a South West Fife Parish, with services shared between the three locations.
View of the West Gable of the Chapel of St James (Source: Farrell, Stuart, 1998)
The chapel of St James first enters the documentary record in the early fourteenth century, but it was likely to have been founded sometime in the late twelfth or thirteenth centuries. It was a key station on probably the most important and well used of routes by which pilgrims approached St Andrews and Dunfermline. Most pilgrims from the south would have taken the ferry across the Forth and then stopped to give thanks for safe passage at the chapel. By the later middle ages, it was served by two chaplains who tended to the needs of pilgrims. Following the Reformation, the chapel fell out of use, before sometime in the early eighteenth century the interior of the chapel began to be used as a cemetery by mariners from the North Queensferry Sailors' Society.
In 1855 Robert Robertson, a local linen merchant, purchased a former inn and converted it into a Meeting House for the villagers of North Queensferry. The name evolved from Meeting House, to Preaching Station and eventually the Mission Hall. It described itself as un-denominational and was served by a series of preachers, paid for by Mr Robertson, including Mr Hughson of the Scottish Coastal Mission
Church and War Memorial, North Queensferry
Until the late nineteenth century the people of North Queensferry worshipped in Inverkeithing or Dunfermline. The first parish church was built in the village in 1878, belonging to the Free Church. The congregation joined the United Free Church in 1900, and the Church of Scotland in 1929, but by 1962 the church was believed to be beyond repair and was demolished. By 1963 a new church was open and in use. By that time the charge was already shared with St John’s in Inverkeithing (1958), and now, since the union of St John’s and St Peter’s in 2006, with what is known as Inverkeithing Parish Church.
The Caves of Caiplie, or the Coves as they are known locally, are found about 3 miles to the east of Anstruther. They are natural caves carved in the rock face by sea action, which in places have been artificially enlarged. They have been long associated with two saints, Ethernan and his later medieval incarnation, Adrian. The largest cave, known as the ‘Chapel Cave’, contains a number of incised and pecked crosses, many of which have been identified as dating from the early middle ages. A further cave, known as the ‘Mortuary Cave’ is 6 metres to the north. In 1841 a long cist cemetery was found in front of this cave and it contains a Pictish arch symbol cut into the wall. The exact way in which these caves were used in the early middle ages is unclear, but it is likely that they were occupied by hermits. Other crosses date from the High and Later Middle Ages, indicating that the caves continued to have a sacred purpose, perhaps as a stopping place on the pilgrim routes to the Isle of May, Crail and St Andrews.
Anstruther Church, exterior, from south east (Source: R. Fawcett)
Anstruther St Nicholas, 1844, Taylor (Source: R. Fawcett)
The parish church of Anstruther Wester is first documented in 1225 when it was under the patronage of the monks of Isle of May. Dedicated to St Nicholas, patron saint of seafarers, by the later middle ages, the church was a large and complex structure with an impressive west tower added in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The church itself survived largely intact until the 1840s and was adapted for Protestant use following the Reformation through the abandonment of the choir and, eventually the north aisle. In 1846 it was substantially remodelled, with only the tower surviving from the medieval structure. In 1961 the decision was taken to unite the parish churches of Anstruther Wester and Easter. The Wester church was deconsecrated in 1970 and converted into a Hall named after Hew Scott, a nineteenth-century minister, before changing its name again in 2014 to the Dreel Halls. In combination with the old town hall, since 2014 it has been owned and managed by Anstruther Improvements Association and serves as a community space for events, children’s groups and exhibitions.
Former site of Chapel of St Ayle in Anstruther Easter (Source: Creative Commons)
Anstruther Easter was part of the parish of Kilrenny until 1634, but by the later middle ages it was home to a growing fishing community. At some time in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth centuries, a chapel-at-ease was constructed to serve them. It was built on land belonging to the Abbey of Balmerino (where the Scottish Fisheries Museum now stands) and administered by the monks. In 1435 an indenture between Balmerino and the bishop of St Andrews, gave the monks the right to use the chapel to administer the sacraments to the local people. This meant that they would no longer have to travel to Kilrenny to baptise their children or get married, and the chaplain would have been able to administer the last rites. The chapel may have fallen out of use before the Reformation and after 1560 houses were built on the site. Some traces of the chapel could still be seen in the 1880s, and they were acquired and converted into the Scottish Fisheries Museum in the 1960s.
Anstruther Easter, St Adrian’s (Source: © Copyright Richard Sutcliffe and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)
In 1641 Anstruther Easter was separated from Kilrenny and became the smallest parish by area in Scotland at the time. Construction of a church begun in 1634, and it was ready for use by 1641, with a steeple and bell added in 1644. In a tribute to the town’s fishing heritage, a salmon shaped weather cock was located at the top of the church spire. Renovations were carried out in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with notable features including an east window including stained glass depictions of St. Peter and St. Philip (1905), The Miraculous Catch, Christ Stilling the Storm, St. John and St. Andrew (1907). In 1961 the decision was taken to unite the parish churches of Anstruther Wester and Easter, and the more modern church at Easter was chosen for the new congregation which took the name Anstruther (St Adrian's) Parish Church. In 2016 a further union took places between the Parish Churches of Anstruther and Cellardyke, with the congregation choosing to call the new entity, St Ayle Parish Church.
Anstruther Erskine United Free Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)
Erskine United Free Church, Back Dykes, Anstruther Easter
In 1818 applied to join the In 1820 the Burgher Presbytery of Perth granted a group called the Managers of the Associate Society of Anstruther £20 to construct a church in the Backdykes area of Anstruther Easter. They had between 40 and 50 members when the new church was opened in 1821. In 1847 they became part of the United Presbyterian Church, and in 1852 built and new, and considerably larger church on the same site, with room for 400 people. This was known as the Anstruther Erskine United Free Church, and had, by 1898, a congregation of around 100. In 1904, following the union with the Free Church (1900), the two congregations in the town were combined and moved to the Chalmers Memorial Church. This meant that the 1852 church building was surplus to requirements and it was sold. Since 1900 the building has been used as a Labour Exchange (1938) and Shirt Factory (1978). It is now part of the East Neuk Community Centre, known as the Erskine Hall (since 1994).
Anstruther Baptist Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)
Baptist Chapel, East Green, Anstruther Easter
The church was formed following a visit to the town by James Haldane in 1812, and meetings were held thereafter in the building known as the Tabernacle. In 1839 the congregation split into two sects (Baptists and Paedo-Baptists), who shared the building until 1860 when the Baptists they moved into a new chapel on the East Green. It had seating for 220 people, and was enlarged with a further 120 seats in 1882. In 2003 a union between the Baptist congregations at Pittenweem and Anstruther formed what is now known as the Coastline Community Church. They moved in new premises in Pittenweem, and the chapel in Anstruther is no longer in use.
Anstruther Evangelical Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)
Evangelical Church, Crail Road, Anstruther Easter
The Congregationalist Church in Anstruther was formed in around 1800, following preaching in the town by James Haldane and Joseph Rate in 1798. They met initially at 28 East Green, a weaver's shop owned by a Mr Thaw, known locally as the Tabernacle meeting house. A number of the group left to form the Baptist Church in 1812, with those remaining moving into a chapel on the Crail Road in 1833, built at a cost of £400. In 1844 there was a split within the congregation, with a large proportion embracing the Evangelical form of worship. The Congregationalists thereafter held meetings in the Town House in Shore Street, and their chapel became the Evangelical church. They joined the Evangelical Union in 1861, and worshipped on the site until 1916 or 1919. At this point the church seems to have disbanded, and the building was secularised. Today is used as a warehouse by Grey & Pringle.
Chalmers Memorial Church c.1890 (Source: Erskine Beveridge Collection)
Chalmer’s Memorial Free Church, Backdykes, Anstruther Easter
Following the Great Disruption in 1843, the minister of Anstruther Easter, William Ferrie, joined the Free Church, taking around 300 of his congregation with him. They built a small church in 1844 on a site in Hadfoot Wynd. In 1858 a larger, Gothic-style building was constructed on the same site, designed by the architect John Milne of St Andrews. In 1889 they moved again, this time to the Chalmers Memorial Church. Named after Thomas Chalmers, a key figure in the formation of the Free Church who was born in Anstruther, the new church was designed by the architect David Henry. The Free Church congregation joined with the United Presbyterians in Anstruther in 1900 and subsequently formed the Anstruther Chalmers Memorial United Free Church. After re-joining the Church of Scotland in 1929, it was known as Anstruther Chalmers Memorial, until a link was established with St Adrian’s Parish Church in 1973. Ten years later the church fell out of use, and into a derelict state. It was completely destroyed in a fire in 1991. There is no visible trace of the building, and houses have been built on the site.
Cellardyke Parish Church (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)
The parish church of Cellardyke was constructed in 1882. Two years earlier the arrival of a new minister at the parish church of Kilrenny led to a split in the congregation, with the fisherfolk of Cellardyke joining the Free Church and forming their own parish. In 1929 they rejoined the Church of Scotland. In 2016 a union took place between the Parish Churches of Anstruther and Cellardyke, with the congregation choosing to call the new entity, St Ayle Parish Church. This name was chosen as a tribute to the earliest recorded church in the Anstruther Easter, the fifteenth-century chapel of St Ayle. Since 2019 the congregation has been linked to Crail, sharing facilities and a minister.
Long- Cist Burial, Isle of May (Source: RCAHMS)
St Ethernan/Adrian’s Chapel, Isle of May
The Isle of May was an important early Christian site which included a chapel and shrine from at least the ninth century, and probably earlier. The chapel, as well as a monastic site at Kilrenny and the Caiplie Caves are connected to two saints, Ethernan and Adrian. The name Adrian is a Latinised version of the Gaelic name Ethernan and veneration of Adrian was recorded in the same locations as Ethernan. Adrian is therefore almost certainly an offshoot or adaptation of the cult of St Ethernan. The island was home to a priory of Cluniac/Benedictine Monks from c.1140 to c.1318. After the monks relocated to Pittenweem, the relics on the island continued to attract pilgrims, including a number of Scottish kings and queens, until the Reformation brought the practice to an end.
Sketch of the Ruins of the May chapel, 1869 (Source: Mathew Conolly, Fifiana: or Memorials of the East of Fife (Glasgow, 1869), p. 204)
The priory of May was founded by David I, sometime around the year 1140. It was dedicated to St Ethernan, and was affiliated to a mother house located at Reading in Berkshire. The monks were initially Cluniacs, followers of a reformed and stricter version of the Benedictine rule, before following the lead of their mother house and reverting back to the general Benedictine rule sometime after 1207. It is likely that the monks were attracted to the site on the Isle of May because it had an existing church and a connection to an important local saint. The excavation of the site in the 1990s found that there was already quite a substantial building on the site when monks arrived in the twelfth century, and that it was not until c.1250 that they constructed their own larger church. Of this church, the main survival today is the west wing, which was converted to secular use in the sixteenth-century. One other important discovery during the excavation was the grave of a young man dating from the early fourteenth century, which included a scallop shell placed in his mouth. This was a clear indication that the man, who had been buried in a prestigious location close to the high altar, had travelled to Santiago de Compostela on pilgrimage.
Dysart, St Serf's Cave (Source: R. Fawcett)
St Serf’s Cave in Dysart has been connected to that important local saint since the early middle ages. Serf had dedications across Western Fife, Kinross and Clackmannanshire, and his relics could be found in Culross. The main source of information on the saint, the Vita St Servani, was composed sometime in the thirteenth century, probably in Culross, and it includes the first documentation of th link between Dysart and St Serf. According to the Vita, the cave was regularly used by Serf as a hermitage and he performed two miracles in it. The first involved the saint transforming water into wine, while the second was theological battle of wits between Serf and the Devil. The cave contains three natural chambers, into which benches have been carved, while steps and an ashlar door and a window between two of the chambers were added at a much later date. In the later middle ages there was a chaplain attached the cave who tended to the needs of visiting pilgrims. The cave is known locally as the Rud Chapel, or Chapel of the Holy Rood, although there is no medieval evidence to support this dedication.
(1) Engraving of the Old Church of St Serf’s, 1853 (Source: William Muir, ed, Notices of the Local Records of Dysart (Glasgow: Maitland Club 1853), p. 22.
St Serf’s Old Parish Church, Shore Road, Dysart
The church of St Serf in Dysart first appears in the documentary record in the 1220s, although it is clear that it had existed long before then. In the fifteenth century, it was expanded into a large and impressive structure, including the eight-storey high tower. The striking tower has an unusual martial appearance, with shot holes in the two lowest storeys of the south side, and may well have been part of the coastal defences along northern shore of the Forth. The church and its high altar were dedicated to St Serf, and there were several further altars in the church dedicated to St James, Anne, Mary and Magnus. After the Reformation the congregation used only part of the nave of the medieval church, abandoning the aisles and the chancel. The south chancel aisle was separated from the rest of the church and became (or more likely continued as) the burial place of the Sinclair family. In 1802-03 the congregation moved to the newly built Barony Church, and St Serf’s was abandoned.
St Serf’s Tower and the Pan Ha (Source: Creative Commons)
1780 drawing of the chapel. (Source: Anne Watters, Kirkcaldy's Churches: Brief Histories)
A chapel dedicated to St Denis/Denys, one of the patron saints of France, is thought to have been located at Pan Ha' in Dysart. Writing in 1794, George Muirhead noted the local tradition that the chapel had been part of a Dominican Friary. Cowan and Easson concluded that there is no reliable evidence there was ever a Dominican house in Dysart, although it has been speculated that they owned property in the town. The ruins of the building were converted into a forge shortly before 1794, and an Ordnance Survey of 1954 found some old walls, but no remains of a chapel. There is no firm evidence for the chapel’s existence, with the earliest references dating to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
United Presbyterian Church, Normand Road (Source: Stuart Mee, Dec. 2007)