Seal of St Andrews Cathedral Priory showing St Rule’s Church. The now demolished nave and west frontage can be seen on the left side of the seal. (Source: University of St Andrews Library)
We do not know exactly when St Peter’s Chapel was founded. However, in 1212 there was a reference to ‘two houses by the sea beside the chapel of St Peter’ in a legal dispute between the archdeacon and cathedral of St Andrews. A later document from about 1250 mentions ‘the chapel of St Peter on the road which goes to the castle’. During the nineteenth century a large amount of stone, including some medieval pillar fragments, and several stone coffins (buried facing east) were found in a garden on the north side of North Street. These have been tentatively identified as relating to St Peter’s Chapel. We do not know the fate of St Peter’s Chapel, but it does not seem to be mentioned in sixteenth-century documents from St Andrews.
The coastline of St Andrews from the air. St Peter’s Chapel may have stood in the area a little to the right of centre of this image. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews))
The hospital of St Nicholas was founded as a refuge for lepers in the twelfth century. Because of fears of infection it stood a little to the south of the main built-up area of St Andrews, near the East Sands. As the prevalence of leprosy declined in the late Middle Ages the hospital became a more general shelter for the poor and sick. During the early sixteenth century the hospital was owned by St Andrews’ Dominican friars (who were based on South Street). Shortly after the Reformation St Nicholas Hospital (and its lands and revenues) were transferred to the St Andrews burgh council, with the intention they would continue to fund the care of the poor and sick. Poor residents of St Andrews still seem to have been living at St Nicholas in the late sixteenth century. At a subsequent (unknown) date St Nicholas stopped serving as a hospital and became an ordinary farm. The foundations of the medieval hospital were discovered by archaeologists in the late twentieth century during the building of the East Sands Leisure Centre. Excavations at this time also uncovered prehistoric human remains, the oldest of which were carbon dated to between 1530-1310 B.C., implying that there was an early cemetery in this area.
The former St Nicholas Hospital in the late seventeenth century. (Source: John Slezer, ‘The Prospect of the Town of St Andrews’, Theatrum Scotiae (1693). Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/view/91169135)
The ruins of the medieval church of St Mary’s on the Rock (also called St Mary’s Kirkhill) stand on the cliffs looking out over the North Sea. This headland has been a place of importance since prehistoric times, and several Iron Age graves have been found in the area. More than three hundred early Christian burials have also been excavated near St Mary’s – suggesting that this was one of the oldest religious sites in St Andrews. By the twelfth century there was a Culdee church here. This then became a community of priests known as the College of St Mary on the Rock. It is thought that St Mary’s may be the first collegiate church in Scotland. During the late Middle Ages St Mary’s was a royal chapel, though it perhaps lost this status near the beginning of the sixteenth century (following the creation of the Chapel Royal at Stirling). At the Reformation St Mary’s was served by a provost and twelve prebends, a number which echoes Christ and his twelve disciples. When the St Andrews’ authorities adopted Protestantism some of the priests at St Mary’s joined the Reformed Church, but others resisted religious change. The clerics who resisted had property confiscated and faced prosecution. One of the St Mary’s priests who refused to join the Protestant congregation was Thomas Methven. When summoned before the Superintendent of Fife in August 1561 Methven apparently declared that he was ‘neither a Papist nor a Calvinist... but Jesus Christ’s man’. Methven’s comment did not endear him to St Andrews’ religious leaders and he was banished from the burgh. The buildings of St Mary’s on the Rock also suffered an unfortunate fate. The church was attacked in June 1559, and in 1561the college was declared ‘a profane house’. By the late sixteenth century the church had been demolished (although some of the domestic college buildings may still have been standing). The foundations of St Mary’s on the Rock were rediscovered in the nineteenth century and are now cared for by Historic Environment Scotland.
The remains of St Mary’s on the Rock. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
The site of St Mary’s College on South Street has lengthy associations with religion and learning. In 1419 Robert de Montrose (one of the priests who served at St Mary’s on the Rock) donated a plot of land for ‘a College of Theologians and Artists in honour of Almighty God and especially of the Blessed John the Evangelist’. The first master of the College of St John was Laurence of Lindores – who also served as Inquisitor of Heretical Pravity for Scotland (in other words he was the chief official investigating religious dissent). From an early date St John’s College had its own chapel. Indeed the chapel may have predated the foundation of the College. By the early sixteenth century St John’s had fallen on hard times, and in the 1530s Archbishop James Beaton decided to refound it as a college dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The new St Mary’s College was intended to educate Catholic churchmen to fight heresy. During the 1540s Cardinal David Beaton invested in new buildings for St Mary’s. Masons from the royal palace at Falkland came to work on the college, and a marble altar for the chapel was imported from France. Further work was commissioned by Archbishop John Hamilton in the 1550s. There is some disagreement about whether building work on the chapel had been completed at the time of the Reformation. However, records in the university archives indicate that as early as 1546 St Mary’s College chapel was being used for official ceremonies. The Protestant policy of encouraging members of the university to worship with the residents of the town, probably brought an end to the religious function of the college chapel, and the Geddy map of about 1580 appears to show the building in ruins. Decorative fragments from the pre-Reformation chapel can be seen on the south side of Parliament Hall (which stands on the site of the former chapel). During the late sixteenth-century St Mary’s was reorganised as a Protestant college, and trained ministers for the Reformed Kirk. Today St Mary’s College is still the centre of Divinity teaching and research at the University of St Andrews.
The roofless former chapel of St Mary’s College can be seen in this detail from the Geddy Map of c. 1580. (Source: John Geddy, ‘S. Andrew sive Andreapolis Scotiae Universitas Metropolitana’. NLS, MS.20996. Available at: http://maps.nls.uk/towns/rec/215)
St Mary’s Church, St Mary’s Place
During the early nineteenth century the parish church of Holy Trinity on South Street became too small for the growing population of St Andrews. To address this problem, St Mary’s Church was built on the south side of what became known as St Mary’s Place. The church opened for Church of Scotland worship around 1840, and could seat up to 700 people. The new building was designed by the Edinburgh architect William Burn (who would go on to become a leading proponent of the Scottish baronial style). Following the extension of Holy Trinity in the early twentieth-century St Mary’s was no longer needed as a church and was converted into the Victory Memorial Hall (the name commemorates the ending of the First World War). The front of the building has seen major alterations. Much of the stone is now harled and the windows have been altered. However, the buttresses down each side of the building and the main entrance still reflect its original Victorian design.
The former St Mary’s Church building, now the Victory Memorial Hall. This image shows the hall during the Covid-19 pandemic when it was in use as testing site. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University St Andrews)
Little is known about the medieval chapel of St Mary Magdalene. Sixteenth-century property records indicate that it was located within the cathedral precinct, probably a little way to the south of what we now call St Rule’s Church (then more commonly known as the ‘old church’). According to a document from 1571 ‘the garden of the chapel of St Magdalene with the chapel itself’ stood just to the west of a house and garden held by David Peblis (a former canon at the Cathedral Priory). Both properties seem to have been bounded on the north by ‘the cemetery of the old church’. Several small buildings with gardens can be seen in this area on the late sixteenth-century Geddy Map of St Andrews. It is likely that the chapel stopped serving a religious purpose at the Reformation (so a few years before the description from 1571). The garden of St Magdalene continues to appear in property records during the 1580s. However the name seems to have disappeared by the late seventeenth century. Near the start of the twentieth century the antiquarian David Hay Fleming noted the discovery of stones from a Norman arch and part of the base of an ‘Early English clustered column’ a little south of St Rule’s which he felt ‘may be regarded as indicating the site of St Magdalene’s Chapel’. However efforts in the 1960s to find further remains in this area were not successful.
The line of smaller buildings on the lower right of this image may include the Chapel of St Mary Magdalene. Detail from the Geddy Map of c. 1580. (Source: John Geddy, ‘S. Andrew sive Andreapolis Scotiae Universitas Metropolitana’. NLS, MS.20996. Available at: http://maps.nls.uk/towns/rec/215)
The parish of St Leonard’s has its origins in the Middle Ages. However, the congregation has only worshipped in the current St Leonard’s Church on Hepburn Gardens since the early years of the twentieth century. From 1761 until 1904 the parishioners of St Leonard’s held services in St Salvator’s College Chapel. Their departure from St Salvator’s was surrounded by controversy. In 1898 the University of St Andrews declared a wish for St Salvator’s to be a university chapel and requested the congregation of St Leonard’s to move. Objecting to the change the St Leonard’s congregation took legal proceedings against the university. Eventually it was agreed that land on the outskirts of St Andrews, in what was then known as Rathelpie, should be acquired for St Leonard’s. A new church was built there according to a design by Peter Macgregor Chalmers, and using local sandstone from Nydie. The architecture of St Leonard’s was inspired by the rounded arches and solid appearance of Romanesque buildings. The church has a fine collection of stained glass, much of which was installed in the 1920s and 1930s. Shortly before the Second World War a church hall was built beside the church. Further alterations were made to the church in the 1960s and at the start of the twenty-first century. Today St Leonard’s remains home to an active Church of Scotland congregation.
The newly built St Leonard’s Church in about 1904. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, JV44554.)
St Andrew’s Chapel in about 1865. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, ALB-10-62.)
The former Salvation Army Hall on North Street, now a restaurant known as ‘The Rav’. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
The Meeting House for the Society of Friends on Howard Place. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
St John's, Inverkeithing (Source: Bess Rhodes)
Inverkeithing Episcopal Church (Source: Bess Rhodes)
Inverkeithing Baptist Church (Source: Bess Rhodes)
St. Serf's Roman Catholic Church, Culross
St Serf’s Roman Catholic Church was built in 1922 after the opening of new pits at Valleyfield and Blairhall in the early twentieth century saw a large increase in the population of Culross and the surrounding villages. It was located in High Valleyfield and built Reginald Fairlie. It is a simple rectangular building with transepts and a small bellcote which was added at a later date. By 2017 the church had fallen out of use and the parish is no longer included within the list of churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.
St Serf’s Roman Catholic Church (Source: Amanda Gow, 2007)
The Free Church in Culross was formed in 1846, and in the following year, with the support Mr Cunninghame of Balgownie, a church was built on the Low Causeway in the west of the town. A renewal of mining operations in the area around Culross in the later nineteenth-century saw the congregation grow, and a manse (1873) and church hall (1883) were built in the town. In 1900 it had a congregation of 113, and, following the union between the Free and United Presbyterian Church in 1901 it became known as Culross United Free Church. In 1929 the congregation re-joined the Church of Scotland and changed its name to St Kentigern’s Church. The congregation united with that Culross Abbey Parish Church in 1943 and the former church in the Low Causeway fell out of use. In 1996 it was converted into private flats and is now known as Cunninghame House.
Culross Free Church (Source: Amanda Gow, 2007).
Shortly after the Reformation, the presbytery, transepts choir and tower of the Abbey were converted into the parish church of Culross. This situation was formerly recognised by an Act of Parliament in 1633. In 1642 the church received a significant addition when a funerary monument was constructed for George Bruce of Culross and Carnock (died 1625) in the former North Chapel. The church received repairs in the 1820s and 1860s, and a significant restoration by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson in 1903-1906 which included the rebuilding of the south transept and presbytery. In 1943 the congregations of Culross Abbey Parish Church and of St Kentigern’s united and chose to use the Abbey church. More recently, the congregation has united with Torryburn and High Valleyfield to form a single parish, with services alternating between the different sites.
Bruce of Culross and Carnock Monument (Source: Bess Rhodes)
The chapel of St Kentigern in Culross was founded in 1503 by Robert Blacadder, Archbishop of Glasgow (1484-1508). Kentigern, or Mungo as he is commonly known, was believed to have been born in Culross. According to the Vita St Kentigerni (composed in the twelfth century), the saint’s pregnant mother (Tenew) was cast adrift in a coracle from Aberlady Bay, eventually washing up on the shore near Culross where she gave birth to Kentigern. He was raised under the mentorship of St Serf, before undertaking a mission in the west where he converted the kingdom of Strathclyde. The chapel was located to the south-east of the abbey, close to the shore. Excavations were carried out there in the 1860s, revealingfour skeletons, and a further dig was carried out again in the 1920s by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. It is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.
St Mungo’s Chapel (Source: Ewan Malecki (October 2007).
The old parish church of Culross lies around 800 metres to the north west of the burgh. It was first recorded in 1217 when it was gifted to the monks at the newly founded abbey in Culross. Most of the structure was built in the twelfth or thirteenth century, with some additions in the later middle ages, including an aisle projecting from mid-point of the south wall. The parishioners of Culross relocated to eastern parts of the former Abbey shortly after the Reformation, although when exactly they ceased to use the West Kirk is unclear. In 1633, when this arrangement was formalised, it was noted that the church had not been used in living memory. It remained in use as a graveyard until the nineteenth century.
Culross Church Exterior (Source Fawcett, 2011)
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 twelfth century at the Burgundian Abbey of Citeaux, from which they take their name. It also housed the relics of St Serf which were visited by pilgrims, including James IV in the early sixteenth century. Most of the current building dates from the 1200s, apart from the large central tower, constructed in the fifteenth century. Shortly after the Reformation, the presbytery, transepts choir and tower of the Abbey were converted into the parish church of Culross, and are still in use today a Culross Abbey Parish Church.
Culross Abbey Tower (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
Although Culross only enters the written record in the 1200s, it is clear from archaeological evidence that a community had existed there long before that date. The burgh’s early religious history is associated with St Serf, an important local saint with dedications across Western Fife, Kinross and Clackmannanshire. Culross was the centre of his cult, with relics of the saint housed at the Cistercian Abbey (1217), and presumably the religious building that preceded the abbey. There are a number of conflicting legends surrounding the date of Serf’s life, ranging from the fifth to the eight centuries. Regardless of the accuracy of these various accounts, it is clear that a religious community of some form was located at Culross from at least the eighth century.
Anstruther Wester (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
Anstruther Easter Parish Church (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
St Fillan's Church, Aberdour (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
Hope Street and Howard Place in St Andrews near to the Friends Meeting House. (Source: Jim Bain / Wikimedia)
The former Christian Brethren Hall on Greenside Place. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
The former burgher kirk on Imrie’s Close. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
St John's Church in Inverkeithing has its origins in an eighteenth-century burgher congregation. In 1847 the congregation of St John's joined the United Presbyterians. The congregation later became Church of Scotland. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
1719 Limits on Size of Episcopal Congregations
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 pray for George I. Most Episcopal ministers refused to do this. Episcopalians who did not accept George I were known as ‘non-jurors’ and were banned from conducting services with more than nine attendees. There were several ‘non-juring’ ministers and congregations in Fife. Because of the restrictions non-jurors often worshipped in private houses. In Pittenweem the non-juring Episcopalians met for a time in a barn on the site of the medieval Pittenweem Priory.
Photograph of Pittenweem Priory in the 1940s. One of the priory outbuildings was home to an eighteenth-century Episcopal congregation. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
1715 – 1716 Jacobite Rising (The Fifteen)
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 Episcopalians who were unhappy about the restoration of Presbyterianism. During the autumn of 1715 Jacobite rebels occupied Dundee and were active in Fife. However, their success was short-lived. In December 1715 government soldiers entered Dunfermline and Burntisland, paving the way to regaining control over the rest of Fife.
An engraving of James Francis Edward Stuart (also known as the Old Pretender). In normal circumstances James would have been king of Scotland and England but legislation was passed banning Roman Catholics from the throne. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
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 opposed to any festivities or special services on 25 December.
An English cartoon by William Heath making fun of Christmas festivities in the countryside in about 1800. (Credit: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London)
1711 The Scottish Episcopalians Act is Passed
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 ‘in the exercise of their religious worship’.
The Victorian artist John Philip imagines an eighteenth-century Scottish baptism in a private house. (Credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery)
1711 Changes to Appointments in the Church of Scotland
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 unpopular with many Presbyterians, and there was significant opposition to the changes in Fife.
Kingsbarns Parish Church in the early twentieth century. During the 1730s Kingsbarns became the scene of a dispute between the congregation and the patron of the parish over the appointment of a new minister. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
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 responsibility of the British Parliament at Westminster.
Engraving of Queen Anne by J.C. Marchand. Anne was the first ruler of the newly created United Kingdom. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
1695 Episcopal Clergy Banned from Performing Marriages or Baptisms
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 ‘perpetual imprisonment or banishment’.
A late seventeenth-century French engraving of the Scottish Parliament. The different estates which made up the parliament are shown in procession at the bottom of the page and sitting at the top. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
1689 – 1690 Presbyterianism is Restored
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 Scotland officially became a Presbyterian state. The members of the Church of Scotland who refused to accept these changes formed the beginnings of the Scottish Episcopal Church. There were committed Presbyterians and Episcopalians in Fife, creating long-term religious divisions.
An anonymous engraving of Queen Mary II. With her husband William of Orange, Mary authorised the restoration of Presbyterianism in Scotland. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
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 removed a number of his opponents from their posts in the Church. In 1679 Archbishop Sharp was murdered by a group of radical Presbyterians. He was set upon while travelling across Magus Muir in Fife. Sharp’s assassins dragged him from his carriage and killed him in front of his daughter.
An eighteenth-century drawing of the monument to Archbishop Sharp in Holy Trinity Church, St Andrews. A relief near the base of the monument shows the archbishop's murder. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
1661 Charles II Overturns Religious Changes
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 since 1633. This paved the way for Charles II to reintroduce bishops and support more elaborate forms of worship. The minister of Crail, James Sharp, was made archbishop of St Andrews. Meanwhile religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter, and St Andrew’s Day were once again celebrated. These changes were welcomed in some quarters but were opposed by many Fife residents.
An engraving of King Charles II by William Fairthorne. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
1639 – 1660 Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Cromwell’s Occupation of Scotland
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 England, Ireland, and Scotland. For most of the 1640s the Scottish Parliament opposed the king. However, following Charles I’s execution in 1649, the Scottish government gave support to the Royalist side and backed the crowning of Charles II at Scone. This prompted the English Parliament and the military dictator Oliver Cromwell to invade Scotland. During the 1650s Fife was occupied by English forces. The invaders were resented and there were complaints that English soldiers did not behave properly in Fife churches. Despite these issues Presbyterian preaching and services continued in most places.
An early seventeenth-century house in Inverkeithing. In July 1651 there was a battle fought just to the south of Inverkeithing between English Parliamentarians and Scottish supporters of Charles II. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
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 a new prayer book was published for Scotland, partly based on the English Book of Common Prayer. This move was deeply disliked by many Scots. When Archbishop John Spottiswoode of St Andrews tried to impose the new prayer book it triggered riots. One of the key opponents of the changes in worship was Alexander Henderson (who came from Fife and had previously served as minister at Leuchars). Henderson helped draw up the National Covenant – a document in which Scots expressed their opposition to alterations to the Church of Scotland.
A woodcut showing protestors objecting to Archbishop Spottiswoode's efforts to introduce the Scottish Prayer Book. (Credit: Wikimedia)
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 disorder and the undermining of royal authority. As a result he campaigned for the reintroduction of bishops to Scotland – a policy which was backed by the Scottish Parliament in July 1606. James VI’s religious policies were resisted by some residents of Fife. In the autumn of 1606 the St Andrews academic Andrew Melville was sent to the Tower of London for criticising James VI’s changes to the Church.
An anonymous engraving of King James VI and I. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
1601 General Assembly at Burntisland Proposes a New Translation of the Bible
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 of the Bible into English. In 1601 a meeting of the General Assembly at the Fife parish of Burntisland suggested the commissioning of an improved translation of the Scriptures. This proposal received the backing of the Scottish King James VI who implemented the scheme after he became ruler of England in 1603. The resulting translation is often called the King James Bible, and was for many centuries the main version of the Scriptures used in English-speaking countries.
Burntisland Parish Church was one of the first churches built in Fife after the Reformation. It was designed for listeners to be able to focus on the preaching and formed a major departure from the traditional layout of churches. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
1592 Presbyterian Church Government Established
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 bishops – a brief victory for those Scots who wanted a more strictly Reformed version of Christianity. Instead the Scottish Church would adopt a more democratic form of church government with regional presbyteries reporting back to the General Assembly. Churches which adopt this type of administrative structure are often known as Presbyterian.
During the 1590s the Scottish Parliament usually met in St Giles' Kirk in Edinburgh. This photograph shows St Giles' in the 1870s. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
1574 Punishments Imposed for Celebrating Christmas
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 Kirk Session punished a number of people that ‘observed superstitiously the said Yule day’. The kirk session ordered that anyone who ‘abstained from work’ at Christmas or any other holy day ‘except Sunday’ should be prosecuted.
The family of a wine-merchant in Antwerp enjoy a celebratory meal in the 1560s. In Scotland feasting and taking time off from work at Christmas came to be a punishable offence in the years after the Reformation. (Credit: Rijksmuseum / Wikimedia)
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 ministers serving in the Church of Scotland). The first superintendent of Fife was John Winram – who had previously been involved in Archbishop Hamilton’s plans for Roman Catholic reform. In the early 1570s pressure from central government led to the reintroduction of bishops to the Church of Scotland. John Douglas, an academic from St Mary’s College, was chosen as the first Protestant archbishop of St Andrews.
An eighteenth-century painting of St Mary's College in the University of St Andrews. John Douglas was for many years a member of St Mary's. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
c.1560 – 1570 Establishing a Reformed Church
The Reformation Parliament of 1560 saw Scotland officially declared a Protestant country. However, it took time to establish the structures of a Reformed Church across the nation. Fife was at the forefront of this movement. Local church courts, known as kirk sessions, were key to imposing religious change on the wider population. The kirk sessions ensured that people attended church on Sundays, prosecuted moral lapses (such as drunkenness, adultery, and slander), and took action against religious dissenters. Holy Trinity Church in St Andrews has the earliest kirk session records in Scotland – beginning in the late summer of 1559.
Holy Trinity Church in St Andrews. This image shows the church in the eighteenth century. The medieval stained glass has been removed and several windows partly blocked up to fit with Reformed ideas on church design. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
The Collegiate Church at Crail was reformed in June 1559, shortly before the Protestants descended on the religious capital of St Andrews. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of 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 been ‘purged’ in this fashion the Protestants established new forms of services and church government. Cupar was one of the first places in Fife to be reformed, and Crail followed soon after. The Protestants (who called themselves ‘the Congregation’) then turned their attention to St Andrews – Scotland’s historic religious capital. In June 1559 the Protestant preacher John Knox delivered a sermon in St Andrews encouraging his listeners to ‘remove the monuments of idolatry’. Knox and his supporters proceeded to sack St Andrews Cathedral and other religious sites in the burgh. From this point onwards St Andrews was controlled by Protestants, and became a key Reformist stronghold. By the summer of 1560 Protestant forces had occupied Edinburgh and the Scottish Parliament officially rejected Roman Catholicism.
John Knox - one of best known Protestant preachers in Reformation Scotland. (Credit: Wikimedia)
c. 1550 – 1559 Archbishop Hamilton Supports Roman Catholic Reform
During the 1550s a number of Roman Catholics worked to bring improvements to the Church in Scotland. Fife was at the heart of this movement, which was backed by John Hamilton, the new archbishop of St Andrews. This period saw efforts to improve the education of churchmen and to encourage better communication with lay men and women. Regular preaching was encouraged. Hamilton also supported the printing of a short summary of core Roman Catholic beliefs. This summary (or catechism) was in Scots and was meant to be read aloud in church on Sundays and holy days.
The title page of Archbishop Hamilton's 'Catechism'. This was the first book ever printed in Fife. (Credit: Internet Archive)
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 Castle because the gates were open for building work. The lairds killed Beaton, strung his body from the walls, then proceeded to occupy the castle for over a year. They were eventually removed by a fleet sent from France which bombarded the castle into submission.
St Andrews Castle seen from the air. Before the Reformation the castle was the residence of the Archbishops of St Andrews. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
c. 1525 – 1530 Lutheran Ideas Begin to Spread in Fife
In 1517 the German academic Martin Luther published a series of criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church. Luther’s protest rapidly developed into an international religious crisis, which would ultimately lead to the creation of the movement we now term ‘Protestantism’. By the middle of the 1520s the writings of Luther and his supporters were being smuggled into Fife. Contemporary spies record that St Andrews was one of the main ports where this ‘heretical’ literature was brought into Scotland.
The old piers at St Andrews Harbour. In the 1520s this harbour was the focus for smuggling illicit religious publications into Scotland. (Credit: Bess Rhodes)
St. Teresa's Roman Catholic Church, Aberdour
In 1845 Hugh Ralph noted that one family in the parish belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, but it was not until 1971 that a RC congregation returned to Aberdour. The church was built in the Hillside area of Aberdour, close to the local school. It is no longer in active use, although when the congregation left is unclear.
St. Columba's Episcopal Church, Aberdour
There is some debate as to when the Episcopal Church congregation was founded in Aberdour. In 1845 Hugh Ralph noted that there was one Episcopal family in the parish, but did not mention a church. It was certainly there by 1854 when it appears on an Ordnance Survey Map, and Barbieri made a note of it in 1857. It was founded by the Moray family for their estate workers, and the congregation seems to have been boosted in the twentieth century by service families who were stationed in western Fife during, and between, the two world wars. It is currently part of the All-Soul’s group, which is a union of the congregations of churches in Inverkeithing, Burntisland and Aberdour, totalling some 150 in all.
St Columba’s Episcopal Church, Aberdour
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 United Free Church, by which point the congregation had fallen to 117, and in 1929 it re-joined the church of Scotland. In 1940 the church the congregation joined St Fillan’s and the parish church of Dalgety in a triple union, and in the 1950s the church was demolished.
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 located close to the main road, but was considered by some observers to be too distant from some of the northern parts of the parish. The church received few additions in the relatively short time that it was in use, aside from a striking war memorial built in 1919. Following the restoration of St Fillan’s in 1926, it was converted into a church hall and continues to be well used by community groups and as a venue for local events and activities.
Aberdour Former Parish Church Interior (before 1926).
James Douglas, earl of Morton (d.1493) founded St Martha’s hospital in Aberdour in 1474. However, by 1486 this project had not been realised, and the earl granted the lands and building to four Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis, Isobel and Jean Wright, Frances Henryson, and Jean Drossewith. The nuns of this order were generally associated with hospitals, and the convent at Aberdour was one of only two such communities in Scotland. The dedicatee, St Martha of Bethany was a biblical figure included in the gospels of Luke and John. She was the sister of Lazarus and witnessed his resurrection. In 1560 the house was disbanded, when the four remaining sisters Agnes Wrycht, Elizabeth Trumball, Margaret Crummy, and Cristina Cornawell leased their lands and buildings to James Douglas, 4th earl of Morton (d.1581).
St Martha’s Hospital and St Fillan’s Well, Aberdour
James Douglas, 1st earl of Morton (d.1493) founded St Martha’s hospital in Aberdour in 1474. It was located close to a holy well dedicated to St Fillan whose water was believed to cure nervous ailments, blindness, and deafness. The location of the well is recorded in the name of an eighteenth-century house ‘Wellside’, located at 45-47 Main Street, Aberdour. The tradition of those with eye problems visiting the well and using its water, seems to have survived well into the modern era. Writing in the 1850s, William Ross stated that this was a practice that was within living memory. The proximity of the site to Inchcolm means that it is possible that the hospital could also have been intended to serve any pilgrims heading to that island, where an image of St Columba was the subject of miracle stories. By 1486, frustrated that the project had not been realised despite a number of endowments of lands, the earl of Morton granted the lands and building to four sisters of the Order of St Francis, and a bull of 1487 extinguished the name and rights of the hospital.
The parish church of Aberdour first appears in the records in the twelfth century when it was the subject of a dispute between a local lord, William de Mortimer, and the Augustinian canons of Inchcolm. Substantial sections of the current building almost certainly date from the that period, and it was further expanded in the fifteenth century. After the Protestant Reformation, several sections of the church were converted into burial aisles for local noble families. 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. Soon after its closure, the roof was removed, and it came close to being completely demolished. Fortunately, shortly after World War I the minister, Robert Johnsone, concocted the bold plan of restoring the church. The restoration was carried out by the architect William Williamson of Kirkcaldy in time for a grand reopening on 7 July 1926. In 1940, the congregation joined the former Free Church of St Colme’s and the parish church of Dalgety in a triple union. It remains an active place of worship.
St Fillan's Church, Aberdour (Source: Richard Fawcett, 2012)
The placename Eglismartin (the ‘Church of (St) Martin’) in Easter Aberdour was first recorded in the fourteenth century. Names with the Eglis or Eccles element, short for Latin Ecclesiastes or Ecclesia (church), tend to indicate religious foundations dating back to the Pictish era (pre-900AD). By the later middle ages, when the place-name was recorded, there was no church on the site, and no other contemporary records survive to confirm its existence. However, tentative evidence that this had been the site of a church can be found in the Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1853-1855. In that survey, Mr Barr, the factor for the Inch Marton plantation, noted that a stone coffin and human bones had been found at the site some years previously.
1730 The Glasite Church (or Kail Kirk) is Founded
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 ‘love feast’. He was removed as minister of Tealing in 1730 and left the Church of Scotland to found his own sect. The first Glasite church was in Dundee, but a congregation was soon set up in Kirkcaldy. Because the Glasites celebrated communion as a meal with vegetable broth they became known as the ‘Kail Kirk’ (reflecting the traditional Scots term for kale or cabbage soup).
Portrait of John Glas, the founder of the Glasites. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)