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Named after Saint Andrew the Apostle, the Royal Burgh of St Andrews (Template:Lang-gd) is a town on the east coast of Fife, Scotland, and the home of golf. It has a population of about 18 000, and stands on the North Sea coast between Edinburgh and Dundee. It is home to Scotland's oldest university, the University of St Andrews.

The town has acquired the name of the "home of Golf", partly because the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, founded in 1754, exercises legislative authority over the game, and partly because of its beautiful 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 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.

History

A Pictish stronghold probably stood on the site of St Andrews, and tradition declares that Kenneth, the patron saint of Kennoway, established a Céli Dé monastery here in the 6th century. The place is not actually attested in contemporary records until 747, when the Irish annals report the death of Túathalán, abbot of "Cennrígmonaid" (Old Irish for "head of the King's monad", monad being a broad term meaning anything from "mountain" to "pastureland"). The foundations of the little church dedicated to the Virgin were discovered on the Kirkheugh in 1860. Another Céli Dé church of St Mary on the Rock is supposed to have stood on the Lady's Craig, now covered by the sea.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the settlement had the name of Kilrymont (a Normanized spelling of Cell Rígmonaid, "the church of the King's monad") or of Muckross. Another legend tells how Saint Regulus or Rule (Riagail), the bishop of Patras in Achaea, was guided hither bearing the relics of Saint Andrew. The Pictish king Óengus mac Fergusa gave him a tract of land called the "Boar's Raik", no doubt the Boarhills of the present day, and the name of the spot was changed to "St Andrews".

St Andrews is said to have become a bishopric in the 9th century, and when the Pictish and Scottish churches merged in 908, the primacy was transferred to it from Dunkeld, its bishop becoming thereafter known as "bishop" or "high bishop of Scotland" (ardepscop Alban). It became an archbishopric during the primacy of Patrick Graham (1466 - 1478). The town was created a royal burgh in 1124.

In the 16th century St Andrews functioned as one of the most important ports north of the Forth and allegedly had 14,000 inhabitants, but it fell into decay after the Civil War. Daniel Defoe says that when he saw it one-sixth of its houses were ruinous and the sea had so encroached on the harbour that it was never likely to be restored; but the slight improvement in trade and public spirit which Bishop Pococke seemed to detect in 1760 continued throughout the 19th century.

Buildings

Cathedral

The ruins of the Cathedral of St Andrew, at one time Scotland's largest building, originated in the priory of Canons Regular founded by Bishop Robert (1122 - 1159). It was not completed and consecrated until 1318 in the reign of Robert the Bruce (1306-29). The Cathedral and its associated conventual buildings were sacked and became ruinous after the Reformation in 1559. At the end of the 17th century some of the priory buildings remained entire and considerable remains of others existed, but nearly all traces have now disappeared except much of the defensive Priory wall, with its towers and gates. The 14th century main gateway into the Cathedral precinct, known as the Pends, also survives west of the Cathedral.

Apart from most of the east and west gables, the south nave wall, and parts of the south transept, the Cathedral itself has been reduced to its foundations by stone robbing. Fragments can be found built into the older buildings throughout the town. A site museum (Historic Scotland; entrance charge), contains an impressive collection of stonework from all phases of the Cathedral's history, from early medieval to 17th century. The most important single piece is the St Andrews Sarcophagus, a masterpiece of 8th century Pictish sculpture.

St Rule's Tower

St Rule's tower is located on the Cathedral grounds but predates it, probably itself having been the Cathedral up to the early 12th century. The building was retained to allow worship to continue uninterrupted during the building of its much larger successor. Originally, the tower and adjoining choir were part of a church built probably in the 11th century to hold the relics of St Andrew. The nave, with twin western turrets, and the apse of the church no longer stand. The church's original appearance is illuhi perodsfhkdsafhdsdhffhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHELP strated in stylised form on some of the early seals of the Cathedral Priory. Legend credits St Rule (also know as St Regulus) with bringing relics of St Andrew to the area from their original location at Patras in Greece. Today the tower commands an admirable view of the town, harbour, sea, and surrounding countryside. Beautifully built in grey sandstone ashlar, and immensely tall, it is a land- and sea-mark seen from many miles away, its prominence doubtless meant to guide pilgrims to the place of the Apostle's relics. In the Middle Ages a spire atop the tower made it even more prominent. The tower was originally ascended using ladders between wooden floors, but a stone spiral staircase was inserted in the 18th century (Historic Scotland; entrance charge to Tower and site museum).

Castle

The picturesque ruins of St Andrews Castle stand on a rocky promontory much worn away by the sea. Bishop Roger supposedly erected the first stone castle on the site about the beginning of the 13th century as an episcopal residence, strongly fortified. English invaders frequently captured it, and after its recapture by the Scottish regent, Andrew Murray, in 1336-37, it was destroyed lest it should fall into their hands. Towards the close of the century Bishop Trail rebuilt it in the form of a massive five-sided enclosure with a moat on the south and west sides. James I spent some of his early years within it under the care of Bishop Wardlaw, and it was the birthplace of James III in 1445. From a window in the castle Cardinal Beaton witnessed the burning of the Protestant reformer George Wishart (1546) for the crime of heresy, and in the same year a party of Reformers murdered Beaton within it. The Castle was taken from the conspirators by the French, after a year-long siege, among the prisoners captured being John Knox.

Parish Church of the Holy Trinity

Bishop Thurgot founded the town church (officially known as the Parish Church of the Holy Trinity) in 1112. Originally standing close to the east end of the Cathedral, the parish church was moved in the 15th century to a new site on the north side of South Street. This was one of Scotland's largest parish churches, with round-pillared nave and chancel and a north-west tower crowned by a stone spire. Largely rebuilt in the 18th century the church was restored to a (more elaborately decorated) approximation of its medieval appearance, in the early 20th century. Only the tower, part of the west wall and the internal pillars, survive from the original building. In this church John Knox first preached in public (May or June) 1547, and in it, on 4 June 1559, he delivered the famous sermon from St Matthew xxi. 12, 13, which led to the stripping of the Cathedral and the destruction of the monastic buildings. Holy Trinity contains an elaborate monument in white marble to James Sharp, Archbishop of St Andrews (assassinated 1679). A rare survival from the Middle Ages are a few of the church's carved choir stalls.

Holy Trinity Parish Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The current (2006) minister is the Rev. Rory MacLeod.

The town also has other churches, including Church of Scotland congregations (St Leonards, Martyrs' and Hope Park), two Episcopal congregations, a Baptist church, a Roman Catholic church, the Salvation Army (closed c. 2003?) and some independent congregations.

Chapel of the Blackfriars

In South Street stands the elegant late medieval ruin of the north transept of the chapel of the Dominican Friary, founded by Bishop Wishart in 1274, the only part of the House of the Blackfriars to remain above ground.

All traces of the Observantine Franciscan Friary founded about 1450 by Bishop Kennedy have disappeared, except the well and a small section of boundary wall.

Andrew Melville Hall

More recently, designed in the 1960s by the renowned architect Sir James Stirling, Andrew Melville Hall is a New Brutalist building, and was one of the first buildings to be built with prefabricated concrete modules. As with many cutting-edge buildings, errors in construction meant that extensive remedial work was required, and plans for further buildings to the same design were abandoned. Investment of significant sums in the building has resolved these initial problems.

It is of a striking design, intended to resemble ships passing at sea or at dock and is situated prominently on a ridge overlooking the St Andrews Links.

Opinion on the architectural merit of the building is divided, but it has become an important architectural landmark, and is visted by architects and architecture students from around the world. It has been ranked number 12 in the top 100 scottish buildings of the last 50 years.

Scotsman Newspaper, "Blue-sky buildings": http://heritage.scotsman.com/news.cfm?id=693842005
Architectural Opinion : http://www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk/james_stirling_standrews.htm
Best 100 Modern Scottish Buildings of last 50 Years (AMH Number 12) : http://www.e-architect.co.uk/scotland/scottish_design_show.htm

Education

The University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews owed its origin to a society formed in 1410 by Lawrence of Lindores, abbot of Scone, Richard Cornwall, archdeacon of Lothian, William Stephen, afterwards archbishop of Dunblane, and a few others. Bishop Henry Wardlaw (died 1440) issued a charter in 1411 and attracted the most learned men in Scotland as professors. In 1413 Avignon Pope Benedict XIII issued six bulls confirming the charter and constituting the society a university. Lectures took place in various parts of the town until 1430, when Wardlaw allowed the lecturers the use of a building called the Paedagogium, or St Johns. Bishop Kennedy founded and richly endowed St Salvator's College in 1456; seven years later it gained the right to confer degrees in theology and philosophy, and by the end of the century was regarded as a constituent part of the university.

In 1512 Prior James Bentley and Archbishop Alexander Stewart founded St Leonard's College on the site of the buildings which at one time served as a hostel for pilgrims. In the same year Archbishop Stewart nominally changed the original Paedagogium into a college and annexed to it the parish church of St Michael of Tarvet; but its actual erection into a college did not take place until 1537, when it was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Assumption. The outline of the ancient structure has survived, but various restorations have much altered its general character. It forms two sides of a quadrangle, the library and principal's residence standing on the north and the lecture rooms and the old dining-hall to the west.

The University library, which now includes the older college libraries, was founded about the middle of the 17th century, rebuilt in 1764, and improved in 1829 and 1889 - 1890. The lower hall in the older part of the building was used at times as a provincial meeting-place for the Scottish Parliament. When the constitution of the colleges was remodelled in 1579 St Mary's was set apart for theology; and in 1747 the colleges of St Salvator and St Leonard were formed into the United College. A co-educational school now occupies the buildings of St Leonards.

The University retains ownership of the tiny St Leonards college chapel, and candle-lit services take place weekly during term-time. The United College occupies the site of St Salvator's College, but the old buildings have been removed, with the exception of the college chapel, now used as the university chapel, a fine Gothic structure, containing an elaborate tomb of Bishop Kennedy and Knox's pulpit; the entrance gateway, with a square clock tower (152 feet high); and the janitor's house with some classrooms above.

The modern building, in the Jacobean style, was erected between 1827 and 1847. University College, Dundee, became in 1890 affiliated to the University of St Andrews. The House of Lords set aside this arrangement in 1895, but a re-affiliation took place in 1897. In 1887 - 1888 a common dining-hall for the students was established; in 1892 provision was made within the university for the instruction of women; and for the board and residence of women students a permanent building was opened in 1896. To the south of the library medical buildings, erected by the munificence of the 3rd Marquess of Bute, were opened in 1899. It was during the principalship of Dr James Donaldson, who succeeded John Tulloch (1823 - 1886), that most of the modern improvements were introduced.

Madras College

Madras College, founded and endowed by Dr Andrew Bell (1755-1832), a native of the city, is a famous high school.

St Leonards

St Leonards[1], founded in 1877 as originally an all-girls school. It is now a first class co-education school, for 3-18 year olds.

Representation

Prior to 1975 the town was governed by a council, provost and bailies. In 1975, St Andrews came under Fife Regional Council and North East Fife District Council, since merged to create a single-tier Fife Council. St Andrews retains its own Community Council.

According to the 1911 records, the town gave its name to the district group of burghs for returning one member to parliament, the other constituents being the two Anstruthers, Crail, Cupar, Kilrenny and Pittenweem. Currently (2006), St Andrews is part of the North East Fife Parliamentary Constituency, which is represented in the UK Parliament by Sir Menzies Campbell CBE QC MP and in the Scottish Parliament by Iain Smith MSP.

Trivia

According to a plaque in St Andrews, the first dollar symbol was cast in a type-foundry in Philadelphia in 1797 that belonged to a Scots emigrant John Baine. John Baine and Alexander Wilson, the father of Scottish type-founding, had been supported by Bailie Bell of St Andrews. Bailie Bell was the father of the educationalist Andrew Bell who established Madras College.

External links

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 [[Image:St_Rules_Tower.jpg|200px|right|thumb|St Rule's tower]]
-St Rule's tower is located on the Cathedral grounds but predates it, probably itself having been the Cathedral up to the early 12th century.  The building was retained to allow worship to continue uninterrupted during the building of its much larger successor.  Originally, the tower and adjoining [[choir]] were part of a church built probably in the [[11th century]] to hold the relics of St Andrew.  The [[nave]], with twin western turrets, and the [[apse]] of the church no longer stand.  The church's original appearance is illustrated in stylised form on some of the early seals of the Cathedral Priory.  Legend credits [[Saint Regulus|St Rule]] (also know as [[Saint Regulus|St Regulus]]) with bringing relics of [[St Andrew]] to the area from their original location at [[Patras]] in [[Greece]].  Today the tower commands an admirable view of the town, harbour, sea, and surrounding countryside.  Beautifully built in grey [[sandstone]] [[ashlar]], and immensely tall, it is a land- and sea-mark seen from many miles away, its prominence doubtless meant to guide pilgrims to the place of the [[Apostle]]'s relics.  In the [[Middle Ages]] a spire atop the tower made it even more prominent.  The tower was originally ascended using ladders between wooden floors, but a stone spiral staircase was inserted in the [[18th century]] ([[Historic Scotland]]; entrance charge to Tower and site museum).
+St Rule's tower is located on the Cathedral grounds but predates it, probably itself having been the Cathedral up to the early 12th century.  The building was retained to allow worship to continue uninterrupted during the building of its much larger successor.  Originally, the tower and adjoining [[choir]] were part of a church built probably in the [[11th century]] to hold the relics of St Andrew.  The [[nave]], with twin western turrets, and the [[apse]] of the church no longer stand.  The church's original appearance is illuhi perodsfhkdsafhdsdhffhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHELP                                         strated in stylised form on some of the early seals of the Cathedral Priory.  Legend credits [[Saint Regulus|St Rule]] (also know as [[Saint Regulus|St Regulus]]) with bringing relics of [[St Andrew]] to the area from their original location at [[Patras]] in [[Greece]].  Today the tower commands an admirable view of the town, harbour, sea, and surrounding countryside.  Beautifully built in grey [[sandstone]] [[ashlar]], and immensely tall, it is a land- and sea-mark seen from many miles away, its prominence doubtless meant to guide pilgrims to the place of the [[Apostle]]'s relics.  In the [[Middle Ages]] a spire atop the tower made it even more prominent.  The tower was originally ascended using ladders between wooden floors, but a stone spiral staircase was inserted in the [[18th century]] ([[Historic Scotland]]; entrance charge to Tower and site museum).
 === Castle ===