Browse Items (658 total)

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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)

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

All Saints’ Church originally served the St Andrews fishing community (which was traditionally focused around the east end of town). In 1903 a small iron mission church was established, and in 1907 a stone chancel was added. Following the First World…

Arthropleura tracks near St Andrews, a cast of them can be seen in MUSA, the Scores, St Andrews

Channel cut into Carboniferous sandstones at Roome Bay, Crail

The Tolbooth built in 1598 and tower, rebuilt in 1776 contain well cut blocks of both local sandstone (buff-coloured) and material from Locharbriggs Quarry, Dumfries (dark red sandstone)

Tollbooth Tower, Crail

The Memorial Fountain was built in 1897 and is dedicated to Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. It is built of both grey and red granite.

The Tolbooth built in 1598 and tower, rebuilt in 1776 contain well cut blocks of both local sandstone (buff-coloured) and material from Locharbriggs Quarry, Dumfries (dark red sandstone)

Raised beach platforms at Kingcraig, nr. Elie, Fife

This bay doesn’t actually have rubies, it’s named after the tiny red garnets in the sand which look a bit like rubies to the untrained eye. You might find some if you get down on your hands and knees sift through the sand.

This area between Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy has some pillow basalts as well as fossilised corals and crinoids.

A walking trail to see the Geology between Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy.

St Monans has a number of fossils including corals and also a coal seam. The rocks here have been folded and tilted since they were deposited.

A walking trail to see the Geology of St Monans.

At Wormit there is a wide variety of geology including lava flows, river conglomerates, intrusive rhyolite and glacial erratics.

A walking trail to see the geology of Wormit.

Overview of Kinkell Ness with Rock and Spindle

Deformation structure within the Carboniferous sandstones at Cellardyke, Fife

Deformation feature in Carboniferous sandstones near Cellardyke, Fife

Bed of fossil tree (Lepidodendron) stumps in Carboniferous sequence near Cellardyke, Fife

Carboniferous volcanic vent, Kinkell Ness has at its centre the Rock and Spindle

Holy Trinity Church features many interesting types of stone, including a beautiful alabaster and marble pulpit.

A guide to the different types of stone used to build Holy Trinity Church.

At Aberdour the country rock (carboniferous sandstone) has been intruded by younger magma. There are also good examples of faulting and cross bedding.

A walking trail to see the geology of Aberdour.

The rock at Crail is largely Carboniferous Sandstone and Shale, but a variety of types of rock have been used to build the village.

A walking guide to the stones that St Andrews is built with.

A guide to the stones used to build St Andrews.

Geological field guide to St Andrews.

The Rock and Spindle is an ancient volcanic vent, and it has an excellent example of radial columnar jointing (it looks like spokes of a wheel) due to the way the magma cooled. The rock just to the north of the Rock and Spindle is believed to be a…

Kingsbarns has a variety of different fossils including 330 million year old millipede tracks. There are also fossilised shells and the imprints of ancient roots of trees called Lepidodendron which grew in Fife during the Carboniferous era.

Geological field guide to Kingsbarns Beach.

Kincaple East raised beaches