Browse Items (658 total)

By the late eighteenth century there was a tradition in Crail that there had once been a medieval priory by the sea, a little to the south of what is now called Prior’s Croft. In reality the name probably arises from the land being owned by the nuns…

A plot of land on the south side of the Nethergate in Crail has long been known as ‘The Nunnery’. However, written records suggest that there was at no point a convent of nuns in Crail. The name is perhaps derived from an association with the nuns at…

In 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council officially declared the Roman Catholic Church’s belief in the doctrine of purgatory. This was the idea that most people did not proceed directly to heaven when they died, but spent time in an unpleasant waiting area…

Queen Margaret (the wife of Malcolm III) seems to have been regarded as a saint by the residents of Fife soon after her death in 1093. Miracles were recorded at Margaret’s tomb in Dunfermline in the twelfth and early thirteenth century. Margaret was…

The origins of the close connection between St Andrew and the people of Scotland go back into the early Middle Ages. However, during the wars between Scotland and England in the 1290s and 1300s a particular emphasis was placed on St Andrew’s role as…

During the thirteenth century some people felt that monasteries had become too wealthy. In response new religious orders of friars were created. The friars were committed to extreme poverty and earned much of their income from begging. Unlike many…

In 1349 the Black Death (probably a severe epidemic of bubonic plague) reached Fife. Churchmen were particularly likely to catch the disease as they often tended to the sick and dying. The communal lifestyles of monasteries also proved ideal for…

In the 1360s King David II spent a large amount of money rebuilding the church at St Monans. The king did this because in 1346 he had survived being severely wounded by an arrow in the face at the Battle of Neville’s Cross (where the English defeated…

During the late Middle Ages universities increasingly took over responsiblity for higher education. In 1410 a group of churchmen established a university in St Andrews (which was already an important place of learning with many scholars attached to…

In the early 1430s a doctor named Pavel Kravar (sometimes known as Paul Craw in Scotland) was burned for heresy in the centre of St Andrews. Kravar was from Bohemia and had tried to gain support in Fife for the Hussite movement, which then had a…

Like many religious orders, the Franciscans (or grey friars) grew slightly less strict over time. This concerned some people, and led to the establishing of the Observant Franciscan movement. The Observant Franciscans had unusually strict rules on…

The bishops of St Andrews had for centuries claimed to be the most important churchmen in Scotland. In 1472 their special status was officially recognised by the pope, when the bishopric of St Andrews was raised into an archbishopric. The new…

Between the 1520s and the 1550s the Roman Catholic authorities in Fife severely punished a number of Protestant sympathisers. No less than four Protestants were burned at the stake in St Andrews. The first and most high profile of these was Patrick…

The 1540s saw fighting between Scotland and England. The conflict was partly driven by the English government’s wish to arrange a marriage between Edward VI and the young Mary Queen of Scots (which is why this period is sometimes called the Rough…

In the spring of 1546 the Roman Catholic archbishop of St Andrews, Cardinal David Beaton, was assassinated by a group of Fife lairds who opposed his religious and political policies. The murderers gained access to Beaton’s residence at St Andrews…

In the spring and summer of 1559 Protestant activists set out to ‘reform’ Roman Catholic churches. Influenced by strict Calvinist ideas on the wickedness of ‘idols’, they smashed statues, removed altars, and burned religious books. Once churches had…

For many years there were bitter debates about how the new Protestant Church of Scotland should be governed. In the 1560s each region had a superintendent who oversaw religious affairs and reported back to the General Assembly (an annual meeting of…

By the 1570s the Church of Scotland was adopting an increasingly hard line on religious festivals. In particular there was a campaign against celebrating Christmas (or Yule as it was often known in Scotland). At the beginning of 1574 the St Andrews…

The later decades of the sixteenth century saw ongoing tensions about how radical the Church of Scotland should be. Many of these arguments became focused around the question of church government. In 1592 the Scottish Parliament abolished the role of…

Reading the Bible formed a vital part of Protestant religious activity. In particular Protestants believed that people should have access to the Bible in their native language. Yet there were significant problems with many of the early translations…

As he grew older King James VI became opposed to the relatively democratic government of the Church of Scotland. He had bitter disputes with what he termed the ‘fiery ministers’ of the General Assembly. The king believed that Presbyterianism led to…

The 1630s saw growing tensions about religion in Scotland. At this time King Charles I tried to bring the Church of Scotland more in line with English practices. Charles firmly supported the role of bishops and wanted more elaborate services. In 1637…

In 1639 Scotland slipped into religious war. Supporters of the National Covenant (sometimes known as Covenanters) took up arms in defence of their beliefs. The response of Charles I to this crisis led to civil war across his three kingdoms – namely…

In 1660 the English invited Charles II to return as king. Shortly afterwards Charles set about overturning the religious changes of the previous decades. In 1661 the Scottish Parliament passed the Rescissory Act which got rid of all the laws passed…

Archbishop James Sharp was a divisive religious leader. Many Presbyterians felt that he had sold out the Church of Scotland by agreeing to become archbishop of St Andrews. Sharp rigorously enforced the religious changes imposed by Charles II and…

In 1689 King James VII was replaced as ruler of Scotland by his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. Soon afterwards the Scottish Parliament (which had backed William and Mary) passed an act abolishing the authority of bishops. In 1690…

Many of Fife’s Episcopal clergymen were removed from their parishes by the restoration of Presbyterianism. In 1695 the Scottish Parliament passed a law forbidding displaced Episcopal clergy from performing marriages or baptisms under pain of…

After much debate, the parliaments of Scotland and England passed legislation to create a new Kingdom of Great Britain. The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh closed. Until the twentieth century legislation on Scottish religious affairs became the…

Lobbying from Scottish aristocrats led to the passing of the Church Patronage Act. This stated that the old patrons of Scottish parishes (typically large landowners) could influence the appointment of Church of Scotland ministers. The move was deeply…

The British government was initially more tolerant of Episcopalians than the Scottish Parliament had been. In 1711 the laws against Episcopal marriages and baptisms were removed and new legislation ordered that Episcopalians were not to be disturbed…

When Presbyterianism was re-established in 1690 the Scottish Parliament also passed legislation banning Christmas. In 1712 this ban was lifted and the British Parliament legalised keeping Christmas in Scotland. However, most Presbyterians remained…

The accession of George I to the British throne was soon followed by a rebellion backing James Francis Edward Stuart’s claim to be king instead. James (also known as the Old Pretender) was a Roman Catholic, but he received support from many Scottish…

After the Jacobite rising of 1715 the British government became increasingly suspicious of Scottish Episcopalians. Ministers in the Scottish Episcopal Church were required to take an oath renouncing the Stuart claim to the throne and promising to…

During the 1720s the popular preacher John Glas (a graduate of the University of St Andrews and minister at Tealing near Dundee) put forward a series of radical ideas including condemning the idea of a national church and regarding communion as a…

Disagreements about the appointment of ministers and the role of powerful landowners as patrons led to a split in the Church of Scotland. A small group of ministers who wished for congregations to have greater control over church appointments broke…

In August 1745 Charles Edward Stuart (sometimes called the Young Pretender) landed on the West Coast of Scotland. His arrival triggered a far-reaching rebellion in support of the Stuart claim to the throne. In comparison to many other parts of…

Following the failed rebellion of 1745 and 1746 checks on Episcopalians increased. Episcopal ministers who failed to take an oath of loyalty were forbidden to lead services for more than four people. Episcopalians were also not allowed to be public…

The new Secession Church had a number of internal divisions which came to a head in the late 1740s. A particular area of disagreement concerned whether Seceders could take an oath to support the religion ‘presently professed in the country’. This…

During the 1750s and 1760s a dispute over the appointment of a new minister at Inverkeithing led to another split in the Church of Scotland. A group of ministers who objected to outside interference in parish appointments set up the new Relief…

Since the Reformation the Scottish government had banned Roman Catholic worship. In 1778 the British Parliament tried to reduce the restrictions on Roman Catholics. The proposed act caused major protests in Scotland. As a result of the popular…

Following the death of Charles Edward Stuart, the leaders of the Scottish Episcopal Church agreed to support George III. After some argument, the British Parliament removed most of the legal restrictions on Episcopalians in Scotland. Episcopal…

In the early 1790s the British Parliament decided to resolve the status of Roman Catholics in Scotland. More than a decade after the harshest restrictions had been lifted on Catholics in the rest of the United Kingdom, it was agreed that Roman…

After more than seventy years of disagreement (largely focusing on the relationship between church and state) most members of the Burgher Church resolved their differences with the Anti-Burghers. They joined together as the new United Secession…

After more than seventy years of disagreement (largely focusing on the relationship between church and state) most members of the Burgher Church resolved their differences with the Anti-Burghers. They joined together as the new United Secession…

In 1829 the British Parliament passed legislation lifting most restrictions on Roman Catholics. Among other new freedoms, Roman Catholics were now allowed to vote and become members of Parliament. Over the course of the nineteenth century the Roman…

For more than a century there had been divisions in the Church of Scotland over how appointments were made and the relationship between church and state. A series of legal cases in the 1830s worsened relations between the growing evangelical wing of…

While the Church of Scotland was splitting again, some groups of seceders were joining together. In 1847 the United Secession Church and the Relief Church combined to form the United Presbyterian Church. The United Presbyterians had considerable…

For some decades there had been debates about the fact that clergy ordained by Scottish Episcopal bishops could not legally be appointed to positions in the Church of England. In 1864 this ban was overturned, ending official government discrimination…

Since the early 1700s the role of lay patrons in church appointments had been a major cause of discontent in the Church of Scotland, and had triggered several splits in the church. In 1874 the British Parliament agreed that Church of Scotland…

As discrimination against Roman Catholics reduced, the Papacy decided to re-establish a traditional church hierarchy in Scotland. Six Roman Catholic dioceses were created. Except for Glasgow, all the new dioceses were subject to the Archbishop of St…

For several centuries the University of St Andrews had not celebrated Christmas. However, in 1887 the university decided to have a communal Christmas dinner at St Mary’s College. The menu included hare soup, roast beef, and plum pudding.

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had seen several groups leave the Church of Scotland. In 1900 two of the largest of these break-away denominations joined together. Following several years of negotiations, the majority of members of the Free…

Thousands of Fife residents served in the armed forces during the First World War. Many were killed. After the war communities across Fife put up memorials to the dead. These war memorials are frequently located in churches. Others are free-standing,…

After centuries of the controversy about the relationship between church and state, the British Parliament passed the Church of Scotland Act. This gave the Church of Scotland freedom to decide spiritual matters and church appointments without…

At a joint assembly in Edinburgh the United Free Church agreed to merge with the Church of Scotland. This meant that many places in Fife now had multiple Church of Scotland congregations. Some continued as independent congregations, but others…

During the Second World War the armed forces expanded and many people moved around the country. New places of worship were established in Fife for service personnel from Britain and overseas. A significant number of Polish troops were stationed in…

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Presbyterian opposition to Christmas reduced. In 1958 Christmas became a public holiday in Scotland. Increasingly Fife’s Church of Scotland congregations held special services for Christmas Day.

The Second Vatican Council (held in the Vatican in Rome) sought to modernise Roman Catholicism. It agreed major changes to Roman Catholic worship. One of the most notable alterations was ending the use of Latin for ordinary services. The interiors of…

Since the sixteenth century there had been no cardinals resident in Scotland. However, in 1969 Gordon Gray, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.

In the late 1960s the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland agreed that women could be ordained as ministers on the same terms as men. The first woman to serve as a Church of Scotland minister in Fife was Mary Morrison, who began her ministry at…

St Andrews was an important religious centre from an early date. There seems to have already been a monastery here in 747 when the death of the abbot Tuathalán was recorded. The spectacular stone monument known as the St Andrews sarcophagus probably…

By the tenth century St Andrews had become one of the most important churches in the kingdom of the Scots. In 965 the brother of the King of Tara died while on pilgrimage to St Andrews. This incident is the earliest evidence for St Andrews as a place…

The Abbey of Culross was founded in 1217 by Maol Choluim I, Earl of Fife (1204–1228), who was himself buried in the church in 1228x1229. Dedicated to St Mary and St Serf, it housed monks of the Cistercian order, a reformed order founded in the late…

Abdie and Dunbog Parish Church opened its doors in 1827. It was built to replace Abdie’s medieval parish church. The architects for the new building were James Milne and William Burn. In the 1830s the new church was described by the minister of Abdie…

There has been a parish church at Abdie since at least the 1190s. For most of the Middle Ages the rectorship of Abdie was held by Lindores Abbey. The abbey benefited from income from the parish, and in exchange appointed a vicar who was meant to take…

St Monans and Abercrombie [Abircroy] on J. Blaeu’s map of Eastern Fife, 1654. (National Library of Scotland)

The former parish church of Abercrombie is first recorded around 1160. During the Middle Ages both Dunfermline Abbey and Culross Abbey had rights regarding Abercrombie, and the parish church was at times a focus for disputes between the two…

St Monans and Abercrombie [Abircroy] on J. Blaeu’s map of Eastern Fife, 1654.

Aberdour (/ˌæbərˈdaʊər/ (About this soundlisten); Scots: Aiberdour,[2] Scottish Gaelic: Obar Dobhair) is a scenic and historic village on the south coast of Fife, Scotland. It is on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, looking south to the island…

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

The location of the church so close to their country seat at Aberdour Castle had been a point of contention for the Douglas family for some time, and in 1790 they successfully closed St Fillan’s and opened a new church in Wester Aberdour. It was…

Shortly after the Great Disruption in 1843, a Free Church congregation was founded in Aberdour. They opened a church, called St Colme’s, in 1845, close to the location of the old parish church. By 1848 it had a congregation of 318. In 1900 it became…

A walking trail to see the geology of Aberdour.

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…