St Andrews (Scottish Gaelic: Cill Rìmhinn) is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town, which until the later middle ages was known as Cell Rígmonaid or Kilrymont, is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.
St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife.
There has been an important church in St Andrews since at least the 8th century, and a bishopric since at least the 11th century. The settlement grew to the west of St Andrews cathedral with the southern side of the Scores to the north and the Kinness burn to the south. The burgh soon became the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, a position which was held until the Scottish Reformation. The famous cathedral, the largest in Scotland, now lies in ruins.
Today, St Andrews is known worldwide as the “home of golf”. This is in part because the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, founded in 1754, exercises legislative authority over the game worldwide (except in the United States and Mexico), and also because the famous links (acquired by the town in 1894) is the most frequent venue for The Open Championship, the oldest of golf’s four major championships. Visitors travel to St Andrews in great numbers for several courses ranked amongst the finest in the world, as well as for the sandy beaches.
The town is also home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of the UK’s most prestigious. The University is an integral part of the burgh, and during term time students make up approximately one third of the town’s population.
The Martyrs Memorial, erected to the honour of Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, and other martyrs of the Reformation epoch, stands at the west end of the Scores on a cliff overlooking the sea.
St Andrews was once bounded by several “ports” (the Lowland Scots word for a town gate). Two are still extanct: So’gait port (South Street, now called West Port) and the Sea Yett (as The Pends terminates to the harbour). The West Port is one of few surviving town ‘Ports’ in Scotland.[31] The towers were influenced by those seen at the base of the Netherbow Port in Edinburgh.[32] The central archway which displays semi-octagonal ‘rownds’ and ‘battling’ is supported by corbelling and neatly moulded passageways. Side arches and relief panels were added to the port, during the reconstruction between 1843 and 1845.[32]
Demolished ports of the town were Swallowgait port (near Castle), No’rgait port (North Street near where NPH Cinema now is), Mercatgait Port (near Greyfriars Gardens and Market Street),the Thiends (Mill) Port (Abbey Walk) and a port at Kirkheugh.[32]
The three principal streets of the old town are North, Market and South Streets. Formerly these were known as gaits, meaning way/path. As part of nineteenth century ‘improvements’, many of the old Scots names of the town were changed into English, so Mercatgait became Market Street and No’rgait became North Street. Off the principal streets run wynds or lanes such as Baxters Wynd and Loggies Wynd.
The tower of Holy Trinity
Holy Trinity (also known as the Holy Trinity Parish Church or “town kirk”) is the most historic church in St Andrews. The church was initially built on land, close to the south-east gable of the Cathedral, around 1144 by bishop Robert Kennedy. The church was dedicated in 1234 by Bishop David de Bernham and then moved to a new site on the north side of South Street between 1410 and 1412 by bishop Warlock. Towards the end of June 1547, the church was location where John Knox first preached in public. John Knox returned to give an inflammatory sermon on 4 June 1559 which led to the stripping of both the cathedral and ecclesiastical status. Much of the architecture feature of the church was lost in the re-building by Robert Balfour between 1798 and 1800. Later, the church was restored to a (more elaborately decorated) approximation of its medieval appearance between 1907-1909 by MacGregor Chambers. Only the north-western tower and spire with parts of the arcade arches were retained.
To the east of the town centre, lie the ruins of the Cathedral of St Andrew. This was at one time Scotland’s largest building, originated in the priory of Canons Regular founded by Bishop Robert Kennedy. St Rule’s Church, located to the south-east of the medieval cathedral is said to date from around 1120 and 1150, being the predecessor of the cathedral.The tall square tower, part of the church, was built to hold the relics of St Andrew and became known as the first cathedral in the town. After the death of Bishop Robert Kennedy, a new cathedral began in 1160 by Bishop Arnold (his successor) on a site adjacent to St Rule’s Church. Work on the cathedral was finally completed and consecrated in 1318 by Bishop William de Lamberton with Robert the Bruce (1306–29) present at the ceremony.
Following the savage attack of the cathedral by the Reformation in 1559, the cathedral was allowed to decay. In 1826, the ownership of the ruins of the cathedral were acquired by the barons of the Exchequer.
The picturesque ruins of St Andrews Castle are situated on a cliff-top, maintained by a man-made ditch (similar to Ravenscraig Castle in Kirkcaldy) to the north of the town.The castle was first erected around 1200 as the home of the bishops and later archbishops for use as a palace, prison and fortress, bearing the ecclesiastic ties with the town. Since several demolitions and re-built have taken shape, the majority of the castle only now dates back to between 1549 and 1571. The work was done by Archbishop John Hamilton in a renaissance style retaining the use of a palace rather than a fortress.
The apse of the Dominican friary, Blackfriars, can still be seen on South Street (between Madras College and Bell Street).Other defunct religious houses that existed in the medieval town, though less visible, have left traces, as for instance the leper hospital at St Nicholas farmhouse (The Steading) between Albany Park and the East Sands leisure centre.
St Andrews is known widely as the “home of golf”.According to the earliest surviving document from 1552, the “playing at golf” on the links adjacent to the “water of eden” was granted permission by Archbishop Hamilton. The most famous golf course in the town is the Old Course, purchased by the town council in 1894.The course which dates back to medieval times, is an Open Championship course – which was first staged in 1873.Famous winners at St Andrews have included: Old Tom Morris (1861, 1862, 1867 and 1874); Jack Nicklaus (1970 and 1978) and Tiger Woods (2000 and 2005).According to Jack Nicklaus, “if a golfer is going to be remembered, he must win at St Andrews”.There are seven golf courses in total – Old, New, Jubilee, Eden, Strathtyrum, Balgove and the Castle – surrounding the western approaches of the town. The seventh golf course (the Castle) was added in 2007 at Kinkell Braes, designed by David McLay Kidd.
Other leisure facilities in the town include a canoe club; junior football team; rugby club (known as Madras Rugby Club); tennis club; university sports centre and a links golf driving range. The East Sands Leisure Centre, which opened in 1988, sits on the outskirts of the town as the town’s swimming pool with gym facilities. The University of St Andrews have expressed plans to provide a new multi-million pound leisure centre to replace East Sands.