Browse Items (515 total)
Since the sixteenth century there had been no cardinals resident in Scotland. However, in 1969 Gordon Gray, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St…
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…
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…
The seventh and eighth centuries saw increasing conversion of the Picts (who then inhabited Fife and much of Scotland north of the Forth).…
Two spoons with Christian symbols from a hoard found at Traprain Law, probably dating from about 410 AD. (Credit: Tyssil / Wikimedia)Silver from the Traprain Law Treasure, East Lothian, Scotland. Bowls of river spoons.
The earliest evidence for Christianity in Fife comes from Christian symbols on carved stones and in caves. Early examples include the carvings on the…
c.300 – 400 Arrival of Christianity in ScotlandChristianity was introduced to Southern Scotland during the Roman occupation of Britain. It is possible that some Christian communities survived the…
In May 1930 Dysart House, first built in 1756, was sold to Mrs Elsa af Wetterstedt Mitchell, and a month later she gifted it to the trustees for the…
Following the Great Disruption in 1843, the minister of Dysart, John Thomson, and a large part of the congregation joined the Free Church. Their first…
Dysart St Clair Parish Church (Source: Richard Fawcett, 2012)In 1802-03 a new parish church was constructed in Dysart and the congregation moved from St Serf’s in an event known locally as the year of the big…
Dysart Barony Church (Source: Richard Fawcett, 2012)The Anti-Burgher Congregation in Dysart was formed in 1747. In the early years they met in an old barn before constructing their own church in 1763 at…
A congregation belonging to the Relief Church was founded in Dysart sometime in the 1760s. In 1772 they opened their own church, which later became…
United Presbyterian Church, Normand Road (Source: Stuart Mee, Dec. 2007)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,…
1780 drawing of the chapel. (Source: Anne Watters, Kirkcaldy's Churches: Brief Histories)
St Serf’s Tower and the Pan Ha (Source: Creative Commons)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…
(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.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,…
Dysart, St Serf's Cave (Source: R. Fawcett)
Pre historic map keyThe 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…
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 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…
Long- Cist Burial, Isle of May (Source: RCAHMS)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…
Cellardyke Parish Church (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)Following the Great Disruption in 1843, the minister of Anstruther Easter, William Ferrie, joined the Free Church, taking around 300 of his…
Chalmers Memorial Church c.1890 (Source: Erskine Beveridge Collection)The Congregationalist Church in Anstruther was formed in around 1800, following preaching in the town by James Haldane and Joseph Rate in 1798. They…
Anstruther Evangelical 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 Baptist 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 Erskine United Free Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)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 Easter, St Adrian’s (Source: © Copyright Richard Sutcliffe and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)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…
Former site of Chapel of St Ayle in Anstruther Easter (Source: Creative Commons)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…
Anstruther St Nicholas, 1844, Taylor (Source: R. Fawcett)
Anstruther Church, exterior, from south east (Source: R. Fawcett)The 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…
Caiplie CovesUntil the late nineteenth century the people of North Queensferry worshipped in Inverkeithing or Dunfermline. The first parish church was built in…
Church and War Memorial, North QueensferryIn 1855 Robert Robertson, a local linen merchant, purchased a former inn and converted it into a Meeting House for the villagers of North Queensferry.…
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…
View of the West Gable of the Chapel of St James (Source: Farrell, Stuart, 1998)In 1913, nearly four centuries after the Protestant Reformation, a Roman Catholic congregation returned to Inverkeithing area with the foundation of…
St Peter-in-Chains, Hope Street, Inverkeithing (Source: Creative Commons)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…
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.
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.In 1899 the bishop of St Andrews, Dunblane and Dunkeld was successfully petitioned for the foundation of an episcopal mission church in Inverkeithing…
St Peter’s Episcopal Church (Creative Commons) © 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…
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.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…
Sketch of ‘Annabella Drummond’s House’, 1894 (Source: John Geddie, The Fringes of Fife (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 41)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…
Parish Church of St Peter, West Tower (Source: Tom Turpie)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…
St_Erat_Plaque__3_.jpgLocal 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…
Plaque outside the Parish Church of Inverkeithing (Source: Tom Turpie)
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)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 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)Following the Reformation the authorities in St Andrews (like many other Scottish towns) prosecuted Roman Catholics. This meant that for several…
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)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…
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)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…
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)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 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 )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…
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…
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)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…
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)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…
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)
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)
Gospel Hall, Market Street, St Andrews. (Source: Bess Rhodes)
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)
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 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)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 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 parish of Holy Trinity is first recorded in the 1140s, when Bishop Robert was reorganising religious life in St Andrews. For centuries Holy…
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 Burgher Kirk shown in 1820 on John Wood’s plan of St Andrews. (Source: National Library of Scotland, EMS. X.009)
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)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 Gospel Hall is in a former shop on the narrow section of Market Street. Christian Brethren (traditionally sometimes called Plymouth Brethren) have…