Anstruther Wester Parish Church

Anstruther Wester Parish Church

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 Nicholas, patron saint of seafarers, by the later middle ages, the church was a large and complex structure with an impressive west tower added in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The church itself survived largely intact until the 1840s and was adapted for Protestant use following the Reformation through the abandonment of the choir and, eventually the north aisle. In 1846 it was substantially remodelled, with only the tower surviving from the medieval structure. In 1961 the decision was taken to unite the parish churches of Anstruther Wester and Easter. The Wester church was deconsecrated in 1970 and converted into a Hall named after Hew Scott, a nineteenth-century minister, before changing its name again in 2014 to the Dreel Halls. In combination with the old town hall, since 2014 it has been owned and managed by Anstruther Improvements Association and serves as a community space for events, children’s groups and exhibitions.

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tt27@st-andrews.ac.uk

Site

90

15/06/2021

(1) Simon Taylor & Gilbert Markus, The Place-Names of Fife. Volume Three. St Andrews and the East Neuk (Donington, 2009), pp. 323-325 (2) Richard Fawcett, ‘Anstruther’, Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches, Accessed 14 March 2021, http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/corpusofscottishchurches/site.php?id=158382 (3) Stephanie Stevenson, Anstruther. A History (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2004, 1st Edition 1989)

cm x cm x cm

current,56.2223004847219,-2.7040600775580974;

Anstruther Wester Parish Church

TEXT

Building

186

1

Catholic,Church of Scotland