Anstruther /ˈænstrəðər/ (Locally Ainster /ˈɛnstər/ Scottish Gaelic: Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth[7] and 9 mi (14 km) south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester,[7] which are divided by a stream, the Dreel Burn. With a population of 3,500, it is the largest community on the Firth of Forth's north-shore coastline known as the East Neuk. To the east, it merges with the village of Cellardyke.
Anstruther Baptist Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)
Anstruther Church, exterior, from south east (Source: R. Fawcett)
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 in 1634, and it was ready for use by 1641, with a steeple and bell added in 1644. In a tribute to the town’s fishing heritage, a salmon shaped weather cock was located at the top of the church spire. Renovations were carried out in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with notable features including an east window including stained glass depictions of St. Peter and St. Philip (1905), The Miraculous Catch, Christ Stilling the Storm, St. John and St. Andrew (1907). In 1961 the decision was taken to unite the parish churches of Anstruther Wester and Easter, and the more modern church at Easter was chosen for the new congregation which took the name Anstruther (St Adrian's) Parish Church. In 2016 a further union took places between the Parish Churches of Anstruther and Cellardyke, with the congregation choosing to call the new entity, St Ayle Parish Church.
Anstruther Easter Parish Church (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
Anstruther Easter, St Adrian’s (Source: © Copyright Richard Sutcliffe and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)
Anstruther Erskine United Free Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)
Anstruther Evangelical Church (2007) (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)
Anstruther St Nicholas, 1844, Taylor (Source: R. Fawcett)
Anstruther Wester (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
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.
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 cost of £100. It was capable of sitting 795. It was located in Pathhead, which, although now in Kirkcaldy, was in the parish of Dysart at the time. In 1820 the minister of the Anti-Burgher Church, Thomas Gray, opposed the union with the Burgher’s, losing around 2/5 of his congregation in the process to the new Union Church in Kirkcaldy. In 1845 his church was one of the two dissenting chapels in the parish noted by David Murray, the minister of the new Barony Church. He estimated they had a combined congregation of 800-900. In 1852 the congregation voted by a majority of 40 to 6 to merge with the Free Church, after which they became known as Dunnikier Free Church. In 1901 the church was sold and the congregation moved to a new building on Dunnikier Road. The church was demolished in 1967.
Arthropleura tracks near St Andrews, a cast of them can be seen in MUSA, the Scores, St Andrews
Bankhead Brae in Crail. An Episcopal chapel was located in this area during the early eighteenth century. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews.)
Baptist Chapel, East Green, Anstruther Easter
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 Tabernacle. In 1839 the congregation split into two sects (Baptists and Paedo-Baptists), who shared the building until 1860 when the Baptists they moved into a new chapel on the East Green. It had seating for 220 people, and was enlarged with a further 120 seats in 1882. In 2003 a union between the Baptist congregations at Pittenweem and Anstruther formed what is now known as the Coastline Community Church. They moved in new premises in Pittenweem, and the chapel in Anstruther is no longer in use.
Baptist Chapel, South Side of High Street
In 1808 a Baptist chapel was founded in Newburgh. The congregation was established by Archibald McLean, who was leading figure in the Scotch Baptists (a group which developed in Edinburgh in the eighteenth-century and was rather more hardline than the English Baptist tradition). The congregation initially worshipped in a chapel on the south side of the High Street in a wynd known as Mr Ramsay’s Close. The first pastor of the congregation was a linen manufacturer called James Wilkie. He was succeeded in around 1840 by Alexander Craighead – who also served as school-master and post-master of Newburgh. Craighead was a skilled Hebrew scholar and apparently ‘revelled in the Book of God in the original language’. One of the last pastors of what became known as the ‘Old Chapel’ was James Wood, who was converted to Baptist beliefs by his wife Christian Wilkie. Wood was baptised in the River Tay and, together with his spouse, helped expand the Baptist congregation in Newburgh. In the 1880s the Baptists moved to a larger church on the north side of the High Street. The fate of the original chapel on Ramsay’s Close is uncertain.
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 town in 1903, and following its success, particularly among quarry workers, a Church was founded in 1905. They met initially in the Music Hall, finally building their own church in 1917. A new building was constructed on the same site in 1980 and is still active with a congregation of 35-40.
There has been a Baptist church on South Street since the early 1840s. When the original church opened it had seating for 250 people. The main space for worship was on the first floor and there were shops below. Around 1900 the church was remodelled by the architects Gillespie and Scott, creating the building that the Baptist congregation uses today.
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 flittin. Known as the Barony Church and capable of sitting 1600 people, it was located to the north of the old parish church at the top of the town. Designed by Alexander Laing, David Murray described it as a neat plain building in 1845, by which point the congregation was around 1200. A hall was added to the building in 1932. In 1972 the congregation merged with St. Serf's United Free Church to become Dysart Parish Church and moved to the latter’s building in the West Port. Until 1997 it was used by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), and recently it has been converted into affordable housing as part of Fife Historic Buildings Trust project (2008-2014).
Bishop George Hay was the Roman Catholic leader responsible for Lowland Scotland in the late eighteenth century. In 1779 Hay's house in Edinburgh was burned during anti-Catholic protests. (Credit: G.A. Periam / Wikimedia)
Bishop John Strain - the first Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh after the Roman Catholic hierarchy was reintroduced to Scotland. (Credit: Wikimedia)
The Dominican order (or black friars) arrived in St Andrews during the fifteenth century. There are references to a Dominican place or house in St Andrews in the 1440s. This was then developed into a fully established friary at the start of the sixteenth century, occupying a prime location on South Street. To support the new foundation funds were diverted from the black friars’ sites in Cupar and St Monans – a move that was justified on the basis that St Monans was merely a poor fishing village and Cupar was increasingly impoverished, while the presence of a university in St Andrews meant it was a suitable place for educated men. The Dominicans played a significant role in St Andrews during the early sixteenth century, preaching regularly, engaging with education, and taking part in major heresy trials. In 1559 the Dominicans’ buildings were attacked by Protestant activists and the friars ‘violently expelled’. The black friars’ site was later handed over to the St Andrew burgh council with the intention that it should support education, care for the poor and sick, and fund the new Protestant ministry.
Bruce of Culross and Carnock Monument (Source: Bess Rhodes)
Buckhaven and Wemyss Parish Church (Source: Presbytery of Kirkcaldy, 2021)
Buckhaven’s Baptist Church was formed in the early 1900s as part of a wider revival moment in Fife. The earliest mission began in November of 1908, with a church formally founded in 1910. This early congregation had 20 members and met in the Rechabite Hall, before building their own church in College Street in 1915. Capable of seating 200, it was built by G. C Campbell. The congregation remains active and has been on the same site for more than a century.
Buckhaven Baptist Church (Source: Amanda Gow, 2007)
Buckhaven Baptist Church (Source: Bess Rhodes, 2021)
The Buckhaven Christian Fellowship moved into the building on Institution Street in 1969. It had formerly been a United Free Church constructed in 1934. The Fellowship were a Pentecostal Church, originally known as the Assembly of God. The group had left the site some time before 2006, when it the building was demolished and sold to make way for houses.
The Buckhaven Church of God was formed as a breakaway from the Open Brethren in 1986. They are an evangelical organisation part of the global organisation known as the Churches of God. The church is still active.
Buckhaven Church of God (Bess Rhodes, 2021)
Buckhaven Church of God (Source: Amanda Gow, 2007).
Buckhaven Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Source: Amanda Gow, 2007)
In 1739 a Buckhaven resident and one of the elders of Wemyss Parish Church, Mr John Thomson, seceded from the Church of Scotland with a number of others and joined the Burgher Church. They attended first Bethelfield Associate Church in Kirkcaldy, and later Kennoway Arnot Church (after 1750), before in 1792 a number of local residents applied to the Burgher Presbytery of Dunfermline to form a congregation in Buckhaven. This was accepted, and a congregation numbering around 90 was formed in 1794, moving into their own church on the Links in 1795. By 1869, now part of the United Presbyterian Church, the decision was taken to construct a new, larger, place of worship on Church Street. The old links church was converted into houses, and the whole area was buried under refuse from Wellesley colliery in the early 1900s.
Buckhaven Parish Church (formerly St Davids) (Source: Bess Rhodes, 2021)
Buckhaven Salvation Army (Source: Bess Rhodes, 2021)
A guide to the stones used to build St Andrews.
A walking guide to the stones that St Andrews is built with.
Burgher Church / United Presbyterian Church
A Burgher Church was built on the west side of Clinton Street in the 1780s. The Burghers were a break-away movement from the Church of Scotland and enjoyed considerable support in Newburgh. In the 1790s the local Church of Scotland minister commented that the ‘Burgher Seceders may exceed one third of the whole inhabitants of the parish’. In the 1820s most of the Burgher churches in Scotland joined with the Anti-Burghers (a related movement which adopted a more severe line on engagement in civic life) to create the new United Secession Church. Not long after this, in the 1830s, the church on the west side of Clinton Street was expanded. In 1847 there was further reorganisation and the congregation became part of the United Presbyterians. Sadly for much of the late nineteenth century the congregation was split by bitter feuding, and in the 1890s the minister John Brown apparently gave ‘serious offence to a large section of his people’ by a controversial sermon on the evils of alcohol. At the start of the twentieth century the congregation became known as Newburgh West United Free Church (following the union of the United Presbyterians and the Free Church). However, numbers attending the church had already declined significantly. By 1912 the site seems to have stopped being used for worship and was functioning as a drill hall. The former church was used by Polish units during the Second World War. It later became a weaving centre and now serves as holiday accommodation.
During the 1730s a section of the Church of Scotland was unhappy with how ministers were appointed and the allocation of religious wealth. They formed a break-away group known as the Secession Church. This then split again in the late 1740s, leading to the creation of the Burgher Church. In St Andrews the members of the Burgher Church met in an old barn on Imrie’s Close. This was used as a place of worship between 1749 and 1774. In the mid-twentieth century there were plans to demolish the former kirk, but the property was rescued and restored by the St Andrews Preservation Trust. It is now a small house.
Burgher Meeting House, 141 South Street, St Andrews
In 1774 the Burgher congregation in St Andrews moved to a building in a yard on the north side of South Street. This property still exists and is now faced in yellow harling. The congregation does not seem to have been particularly large. In 1793 only 91 dissenters ‘of all denominations’ were recorded in the burgh of St Andrews, with a further five dissenters in the suburb of Argyle. The congregation relocated to a house on North Street in 1826.
Burntisland (/bɜːrntˈaɪlənd/, Scots: Bruntisland) is a former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 6,269.
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)
Dating from 1592, St. Columba's is the oldest pre-Reformation kirk still in use. In 1601, it was the venue of the General Assembly, held in the presence of King James VI, at which the need for a new translation of the Bible was suggested. The idea materialised a decade later with the appearance of the Authorised Version, known as the 'King James Bible', printed in England in 1611.
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.
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.
c.1070 Queen Margaret Supports Religious Change
Around 1070 King Malcolm III’s wife Margaret (later known as St Margaret of Scotland) brought a group of Benedictine monks to Dunfermline. The Benedictines were the commonest monastic order in Western Europe at that time. Over succeeding years Margaret tried to bring religious practices in Scotland in line with customs in Continental Europe. Margaret also encouraged pilgrimage to St Andrews, and set up a new ferry and hostel for pilgrims crossing the Forth. This was the origin of North and South Queensferry.
c.1124 – 1153 David I Reorganises Scottish Parishes and Dioceses
King David I (one of the sons of Margaret and Malcolm III) supported major changes in the Scottish Church. He increased the number of bishops and gave them oversight of dioceses organised in a similar fashion to Continental Europe. He also backed a rearranging of Scottish parishes, to make them function more like parishes in France and England. The parish boundaries established in Fife at this time survived for many centuries, and in some places still affect the shape of parishes today.
c.1130 – 1230 New Religious Orders Introduced to Fife
The late eleventh and early twelfth centuries saw a wish for monks to follow stricter rules. A number of new religious orders such as the Cluniacs and the Cistercians were founded, who led a more austere way of life. The Scottish royal family proved enthusiastic supporters of the new monastic orders and helped introduce them to Fife. The period between about 1130 and 1230 saw the Cluniacs established on the Isle of May, new Cistercian monasteries founded at Balmerino and Culross, and a Tironesian Abbey set up at Lindores. At this time the Augustinian order also founded communities of canons at St Andrews, Loch Leven and Inchcolm.
c.1160 – 1318 A New Cathedral is Built at St Andrews
In the 1160s work began on a grand new cathedral at St Andrews (to replace the smaller church now known as St Rule’s which was then in use). The new cathedral was the largest roofed space constructed in Scotland in the Middle Ages. It took more than 150 years to build, and was eventually consecrated in 1318. The consecration ceremony (when it was officially blessed) was attended by King Robert the Bruce.
The fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries saw major building projects at many Fife churches. New churches were built and old ones remodelled. The parish churches at St Andrews and Cupar were rebuilt at this time. Late medieval bell towers survive at both these churches, and at Anstruther Wester, Inverkeithing, and Kilrenny. This building boom was made possible by donations from churchmen and lay people anxious to save their souls by giving generously to the church.
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.
c.300 – 400 Arrival of Christianity in Scotland
Christianity was introduced to Southern Scotland during the Roman occupation of Britain. It is possible that some Christian communities survived the departure of the Romans and the subsequent period of migration and political change.
c.400 – 600 First Evidence for Christianity in Fife
The earliest evidence for Christianity in Fife comes from Christian symbols on carved stones and in caves. Early examples include the carvings on the Skeith Stone (which was found near Kilrenny) and cross markings at Caiplie Caves. These carvings probably date from the fifth and sixth centuries, and suggest that Christian missionaries were active in Fife at this time. St Serf (who is often associated with the areas around Loch Leven and Culross) and St Ethernan (who was supposedly buried on the Isle of May) were perhaps part of these early missions.
c.600 – 800 Missionaries from Iona and Northumbria
The seventh and eighth centuries saw increasing conversion of the Picts (who then inhabited Fife and much of Scotland north of the Forth). Missionaries seem to have come from the island of Iona in the west, and from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria in the south.
c.900 – 1050 Céli Dé (or Culdee) Communities Established in Fife
In the ninth and tenth centuries a new monastic movement known as the Céli Dé arrived from Ireland. Céli Dé means servants of God and is sometimes spelt as ‘Culdee’ in English. Communities of Céli Dé were established at St Andrews and Loch Leven, as well as several other locations in Scotland.
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 rock face by sea action, which in places have been artificially enlarged. They have been long associated with two saints, Ethernan and his later medieval incarnation, Adrian. The largest cave, known as the ‘Chapel Cave’, contains a number of incised and pecked crosses, many of which have been identified as dating from the early middle ages. A further cave, known as the ‘Mortuary Cave’ is 6 metres to the north. In 1841 a long cist cemetery was found in front of this cave and it contains a Pictish arch symbol cut into the wall. The exact way in which these caves were used in the early middle ages is unclear, but it is likely that they were occupied by hermits. Other crosses date from the High and Later Middle Ages, indicating that the caves continued to have a sacred purpose, perhaps as a stopping place on the pilgrim routes to the Isle of May, Crail and St Andrews.
Cardinal Gray's coat of arms on a window in St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh. (Credit: Sheila1988 / Wikimedia)
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 Sisters of the Carmelite Community. They established a closed community with room for 24 nuns. The nuns belong to the order known as the Discalced or Teresian Carmelites, who were formed in the sixteenth century by St Teresa of Avila. The convent is dedicated to St Thérèse of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun who died in 1897. In the 1980s it became an Infirmary Carmel, dedicated to caring for sick and older nuns of the order. Mass and other services are now held in the convent for members of the public.
St Andrews Castle was once the home of the bishops of St Andrews. There seems to have been a castle on this site since at least the 1190s. We do not know exactly when the castle chapel was built, but it is likely that there was a place of worship here from an early date. By the late Middle Ages the chapel was located towards the south-eastern corner of the castle. The chapel windows appear to have had a quatrefoil design at the top, not unlike some of the windows on St Leonard’s Chapel. Records from the time of Bishop Kennedy (who died in 1465) reveal that the castle chapel was richly furnished, with hangings, embroidered cushions, and silk and velvet vestments for the priests. Meanwhile early sixteenth-century accounts contain payments for wax candles and the washing of the altar linen at the castle chapel. Following the Reformation St Andrews Castle continued to be occupied for a while, although it is possible that the chapel stopped serving a religious purpose. During the early seventeenth century the castle fell into disrepair, and in 1656 stone from the castle was removed to repair the long pier at St Andrews Harbour.
Bed of fossil tree (Lepidodendron) stumps in Carboniferous sequence near Cellardyke, Fife
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 split in the congregation, with the fisherfolk of Cellardyke joining the Free Church and forming their own parish. In 1929 they rejoined the Church of Scotland. In 2016 a union took place between the Parish Churches of Anstruther and Cellardyke, with the congregation choosing to call the new entity, St Ayle Parish Church. This name was chosen as a tribute to the earliest recorded church in the Anstruther Easter, the fifteenth-century chapel of St Ayle. Since 2019 the congregation has been linked to Crail, sharing facilities and a minister.
Cellardyke Parish Church (Source: © Copyright 2021, SCHR Ltd)
Deformation feature in Carboniferous sandstones near Cellardyke, Fife
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Deformation structure within the Carboniferous sandstones at Cellardyke, Fife
Central Gospel Mission Revival Centre, Methil
In 1952 Alexander Smith listed a number what he described as Other religious bodies in Methil, including a Gospel Hall, the Central Gospel Mission and the Methil Town Mission. It is unclear where that organisation met, but a group with the same name have a premises on Herriot Crescent. They meet on Sunday and Monday, and host a choir and children and youth clubs.
Chalmer’s Memorial Free Church, Backdykes, Anstruther Easter
Following the Great Disruption in 1843, the minister of Anstruther Easter, William Ferrie, joined the Free Church, taking around 300 of his congregation with him. They built a small church in 1844 on a site in Hadfoot Wynd. In 1858 a larger, Gothic-style building was constructed on the same site, designed by the architect John Milne of St Andrews. In 1889 they moved again, this time to the Chalmers Memorial Church. Named after Thomas Chalmers, a key figure in the formation of the Free Church who was born in Anstruther, the new church was designed by the architect David Henry. The Free Church congregation joined with the United Presbyterians in Anstruther in 1900 and subsequently formed the Anstruther Chalmers Memorial United Free Church. After re-joining the Church of Scotland in 1929, it was known as Anstruther Chalmers Memorial, until a link was established with St Adrian’s Parish Church in 1973. Ten years later the church fell out of use, and into a derelict state. It was completely destroyed in a fire in 1991. There is no visible trace of the building, and houses have been built on the site.
Chalmers Memorial Church c.1890 (Source: Erskine Beveridge Collection)
Channel cut into Carboniferous sandstones at Roome Bay, Crail
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, George Muirhead noted the local tradition that the chapel had been part of a Dominican Friary. Cowan and Easson concluded that there is no reliable evidence there was ever a Dominican house in Dysart, although it has been speculated that they owned property in the town. The ruins of the building were converted into a forge shortly before 1794, and an Ordnance Survey of 1954 found some old walls, but no remains of a chapel. There is no firm evidence for the chapel’s existence, with the earliest references dating to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
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 late twelfth or thirteenth centuries. It was a key station on probably the most important and well used of routes by which pilgrims approached St Andrews and Dunfermline. Most pilgrims from the south would have taken the ferry across the Forth and then stopped to give thanks for safe passage at the chapel. By the later middle ages, it was served by two chaplains who tended to the needs of pilgrims. Following the Reformation, the chapel fell out of use, before sometime in the early eighteenth century the interior of the chapel began to be used as a cemetery by mariners from the North Queensferry Sailors' Society.
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.
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 later became the parish church, the source notes that it was located outside of the burgh, so it is likely to have been a different building, possibly related to a hospital that was found close to the west port of the burgh. It was last mentioned in the 1220s and seems to have disappeared sometime thereafter. Inverkeithing was a key station on the pilgrim road to St Andrews and Dunfermline, and the chapel, and hospital, both located close to the west port of the burgh, were probably intended to serve the needs of pilgrims.
Christian Brethren Hall, Greenside Place, St Andrews
In the 1930s the Christian Brethren leased a cottage on Greenside Place. This was subsequently converted into a hall for worship. The Christian Brethren used the hall until the early twentieth century. The property was then sold, and the building once again returned to being a house.
Christmas party in St Andrews in 1947. Father Christmas is dressed in the traditional red gown worn by St Andrews undergraduates. (Credit: George Cowie / University of St Andrews)
Church and War Memorial, North Queensferry
Local 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 or Erat’s, after which nearby Heriot Street is also named, can be found close to the site of the later medieval parish church. The well is first recorded in a charter of 1219, but the earliest firm reference to it as Eriot’s well can only be dated to 1588. A tradition seems to have developed in the late nineteenth century which suggested that Erat was a follower of St Ninian (one of the most popular medieval Scottish saints, whose shrine was at Whithorn in Galloway), and that he arrived in Inverkeithing sometime in the fifth century AD. The well, and a chapel at nearby Fordell, are the only recorded dedications to a saint named Erat or Theriot in Scotland and there are no contemporary documents nor archaeological evidence that confirm the local tradition.
Congregational Church, 105 Market Street, St Andrews
A Congregational church was built on the north side of Market Street in 1807. The church had seating for 320 people. There were two entrances from the street and there appears to have been a gallery above the doorways. During the early nineteenth century Thomas Paton, one of St Andrews’ first Congregational ministers, established a Sunday school in the burgh. The church closed in 1854 after the congregation moved to a new building on Bell Street.
Congregational Church, Bell Street, St Andrews
During the mid-nineteenth century a Congregational church was built on the east side of Bell Street. It was substantial Victorian stone building designed by the architects Andrew Kerr and Jesse Hall. The church closed in the 1960s, and was demolished in 1983. The site is now occupied by shops.
Crail Scottish Gaelic: (Cathair Aile) is a former royal burgh, parish and community council area (Royal Burgh of Crail and District) in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland.
During the First World War an airfield was built at Crail, but the site was abandoned following the end of hostilities. At the start of the Second World War Crail was once more brought into military use and expanded to become an important base for aircraft from the Royal Navy. Both men and women served at Crail Airfield and a chapel was built for these service personnel. The chapel had a stained glass window paid for by Wrens and sailors based at Crail in memory of their comrades who lost their lives in World War Two. Following the war the Royal Navy removed most of its aircraft from Crail, but the site continued to be used for military training until 1960. Much of the brick structure of the chapel still survives, although the building is now derelict.
There appears to have been a castle at Crail by the middle of the twelfth century. In 1359 the castle chapel is described as being dedicated to St Ruffinus – which is thought to be a Latinised form of St Maolrubha (an early medieval saint who was popular in north-west Scotland). There are a number of references to the chapel at Crail Castle in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, including in 1512 when a rent from Drumrack was being used ‘to support divine service in the chapel of St Maolrubha in the castle of Crail’. By the time of the Reformation the castle had fallen into disrepair and in 1563 David Spens of Wormistoun obtained permission to rebuild it. The castle chapel is briefly mentioned in 1620 but then slips out of the written record. By the early eighteenth century Crail Castle was itself in ruins. Today a small section of masonry in Castle Garden is all that remains of this former residence and fortification.
The rock at Crail is largely Carboniferous Sandstone and Shale, but a variety of types of rock have been used to build the village.
The parish church at Crail has been a place of worship since at least the twelfth century. During the reign of Malcolm IV (who died in 1165) revenues from the parish of Crail were given to the Cistercian nunnery at Haddington. The nuns at Haddington retained significant rights concerning Crail into the sixteenth century. Around 1517 Crail became a collegiate church – in other words it was served by a largely self-governing community of priests. Before the Reformation Crail parish church was lavishly furnished with statues, satin altar hangings, silver and gold crosses, and collections of religious books – all recorded in a surviving inventory. Meanwhile a famous cross known as the Rood of Crail was the focus of pilgrimage. Most of these items were destroyed in the summer of 1559 when John Knox and other Protestant activists descended on Crail. From this point onwards the parish church became the scene of Protestant worship. However, the religious changes were not embraced by everyone. In the 1560s John Melville, the new Protestant minister of Crail, faced considerable disruption to services in the parish church, with members of the congregation threatening to drag him from the pulpit by his ears. Religious controversy continued in Crail throughout the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, although disagreements became increasingly focused on which type of Protestantism should be adopted. In 1648 James Sharp was appointed minister of Crail – he would go on to become archbishop of St Andrews before being murdered by religious opponents. By the early 1800s much of the parish church was in poor repair and the east end had largely fallen out of use. Major rebuilding work took place in the nineteenth century, and further alterations were undertaken in the 1960s. However, significant sections of the medieval church survive, with parts of the tower probably dating from around 1200.
Crail Parish Church in 2021. Marks from the changing rooflines of the church over the centuries can be seen on the tower and end wall of the nave. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews.)
Crail Parish Church in early September. This is a photo of listed building number 23244.
Culross (/ˈkurəs/) (Scottish Gaelic: Cuileann Ros, 'holly point or promontory') is a village and former royal burgh, and parish, in Fife, Scotland.
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.
Culross Abbey Tower (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
Culross Church Exterior (Source Fawcett, 2011)
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).
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.
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