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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
During the mid-nineteenth century a Congregational church was built on the east side of Bell Street. It was substantial Victorian stone 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…
In the 1930s the Christian Brethren leased a cottage on Greenside Place. This was subsequently converted into a hall for worship. The Christian…
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…
The Gospel Hall is in a former shop on the narrow section of Market Street. Christian Brethren (traditionally sometimes called Plymouth Brethren) have…
During the late Middle Ages an Observant Franciscan friary was located on a large plot of land between Market Street and North Street (where…
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)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…
The parish of Holy Trinity is first recorded in the 1140s, when Bishop Robert was reorganising religious life in St Andrews. For centuries Holy…
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…
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)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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
St_Erat_Plaque__3_.jpgThe chapel of Inverkeithing is first mentioned in the 1150s when it belonged to Abbey of Dunfermline. While it has been suggested that this chapel…
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…
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…
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 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…
St Peter’s Episcopal Church (Creative Commons) © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for permission to use this image.In 1899 the bishop of St Andrews, Dunblane and Dunkeld was successfully petitioned for the foundation of an episcopal mission church in Inverkeithing…
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.
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…
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…
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…
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.…
Church and War Memorial, North QueensferryUntil the late nineteenth century the people of North Queensferry worshipped in Inverkeithing or Dunfermline. The first parish church was built in…
Caiplie CovesThe 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…
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…
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…
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…
Anstruther Erskine United Free Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)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…
Anstruther Baptist Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)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…
Anstruther Evangelical Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)The Congregationalist Church in Anstruther was formed in around 1800, following preaching in the town by James Haldane and Joseph Rate in 1798. They…
Chalmers Memorial Church c.1890 (Source: Erskine Beveridge Collection)Following the Great Disruption in 1843, the minister of Anstruther Easter, William Ferrie, joined the Free Church, taking around 300 of his…
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…
Long- Cist Burial, Isle of May (Source: RCAHMS)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…
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…
Pre historic map key
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,…
(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.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…
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,…
United Presbyterian Church, Normand Road (Source: Stuart Mee, Dec. 2007)