1793 Legal Restrictions on Roman Catholics are Reduced
description: In the early 1790s the British Parliament decided to resolve the status of Roman Catholics in Scotland. More than a decade after the harshest restrictions had been lifted on Catholics in the rest of the United Kingdom, it was agreed that Roman Catholic worship would be allowed in Scotland, and that Catholics could legally own land and join the army.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1793
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/317
title: St Peter's Episcopal Church in Kirkcaldy in about 1880. An Episcopal church was built in Kirkcaldy in 1811 following the lifting of restrictions in the 1790s. The building shown here was built in 1844 and demolished in the 1970s. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1792 Episcopal Worship is Legalised
description: Following the death of Charles Edward Stuart, the leaders of the Scottish Episcopal Church agreed to support George III. After some argument, the British Parliament removed most of the legal restrictions on Episcopalians in Scotland. Episcopal worship was now allowed, and Episcopalians could attend university. However, there remained some questions about the status of ministers in the Scottish Episcopal Church and whether clergy ordained north of the Border could work in England.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1792
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/319
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1778 – 1780 Protests in Support of Continuing Restrictions on Roman Catholics
description: Since the Reformation the Scottish government had banned Roman Catholic worship. In 1778 the British Parliament tried to reduce the restrictions on Roman Catholics. The proposed act caused major protests in Scotland. As a result of the popular unrest, Scotland was excluded from the new legislation, meaning that Scottish Roman Catholics continued to experience serious limits on their economic activities, choice of careers, and ability to practice their faith. Generations of discrimination meant that during the eighteenth century there were relatively few Roman Catholics in Fife.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1778
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/321
title: The modern parish church in Colinsburgh was built by a Relief Church congregation in the nineteenth century. It was probably on this site that the Relief Church first met in the 1760s. (Credit: Richard Law / Wikimedia)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1761 The Relief Church Splits from the Church of Scotland
description: During the 1750s and 1760s a dispute over the appointment of a new minister at Inverkeithing led to another split in the Church of Scotland. A group of ministers who objected to outside interference in parish appointments set up the new Relief Church. The first official meeting of the Relief Church took place at Colinsburgh. Perhaps unsurprisingly given its local origins the Relief Church soon gathered considerable support in Fife.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1761
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/323
title: The village of Balmullo had an Anti-Burgher congregation in the 1740s. They may have met on the site of the building with a bell and a porch seen near the middle of this photograph from 1903. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1747 The Secession Church Divides into the Burghers and Anti-Burghers
description: The new Secession Church had a number of internal divisions which came to a head in the late 1740s. A particular area of disagreement concerned whether Seceders could take an oath to support the religion ‘presently professed in the country’. This oath was required of public officials, and in some Scottish burghs was demanded of all burgesses (essentially urban residents holding property over a certain value). Those congregations which accepted the oath became known as Burghers and those who rejected it were called Anti-Burghers.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1747
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/325
title: During the eighteenth century many Episcopal services were adapted from the Scottish Prayer Book of 1637. Revised selections from the Prayer Book were sometimes published. These were called 'wee bookies'. (Credit: John Dowden)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1746 Increased Restrictions on Episcopalians
description: Following the failed rebellion of 1745 and 1746 checks on Episcopalians increased. Episcopal ministers who failed to take an oath of loyalty were forbidden to lead services for more than four people. Episcopalians were also not allowed to be public officials or attend university.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1746
type: Event

Prince Charles Edward Stuart, also known as the Young Pretender. Portrait by Allan Ramsey. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland / Wikimedia)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1745 – 1746 Jacobite Rising (The Forty-Five)
description: In August 1745 Charles Edward Stuart (sometimes called the Young Pretender) landed on the West Coast of Scotland. His arrival triggered a far-reaching rebellion in support of the Stuart claim to the throne. In comparison to many other parts of Lowland Scotland Fife had a significant Jacobite presence. Episcopalians were particularly likely to join the Jacobites, although many Presbyterians also backed the rising.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1745
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/329
title: Newburgh was one of a number of Fife communities where people seceded from the Church of Scotland in the 1730s and 1740s. View across Newburgh and the River Tay in about 1894. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1733 The Secession Church Splits from the Church of Scotland
description: Disagreements about the appointment of ministers and the role of powerful landowners as patrons led to a split in the Church of Scotland. A small group of ministers who wished for congregations to have greater control over church appointments broke away and founded the more radical Secession Church. There was considerable support for the Secession Church in Fife. Some of the break-away congregations worshipped in converted secular buildings. Others constructed their own churches, like the now demolished Bethelfield Church in Kirkcaldy.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1733
type: Event

Portrait of John Glas, the founder of the Glasites. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1730 The Glasite Church (or Kail Kirk) is Founded
description: 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).
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1730
type: Event

St Martin’s Church, Aberdour
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

St Fillan's Church, Aberdour (Source: Richard Fawcett, 2012)
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

St Fillan’s Church, Aberdour
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

St Martha’s Hospital and St Fillan’s Well, Aberdour
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

St Martha’s Nunnery, Aberdour
description: 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).
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

Aberdour Former Parish Church Interior (before 1926).
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type: Still Image

Aberdour Former Parish Church
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

Aberdour Free Church
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

St Columba’s Episcopal Church, Aberdour
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type: Still Image

St. Columba's Episcopal Church, Aberdour
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

St. Teresa's Roman Catholic Church, Aberdour
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

Crail Kilwinning
source: thechangingcoastline
contributor: eulac3d
type: Geolocated

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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

c. 1525 – 1530 Lutheran Ideas Begin to Spread in Fife
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1525
type: Event

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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1546 Cardinal David Beaton is Murdered
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1546
type: Event

The title page of Archbishop Hamilton's 'Catechism'. This was the first book ever printed in Fife. (Credit: Internet Archive)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

c. 1550 – 1559 Archbishop Hamilton Supports Roman Catholic Reform
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1550
type: Event

John Knox - one of best known Protestant preachers in Reformation Scotland. (Credit: Wikimedia)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1559-1560 Reformation Crisis
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1559
language: English
type: Event

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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/354
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

c.1560 – 1570 Establishing a Reformed Church
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1560
type: Event

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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1572 Protestant Bishoprics Established
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1572
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/358
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1574 Punishments Imposed for Celebrating Christmas
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1574
type: Event

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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1592 Presbyterian Church Government Established
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1592
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/362
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1601 General Assembly at Burntisland Proposes a New Translation of the Bible
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1601
type: Event

An anonymous engraving of King James VI and I. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1606 Restrictions on Bishops Removed
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1606
type: Event

A woodcut showing protestors objecting to Archbishop Spottiswoode's efforts to introduce the Scottish Prayer Book. (Credit: Wikimedia)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1638 National Covenant
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1638
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/368
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1639 – 1660 Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Cromwell’s Occupation of Scotland
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1639
type: Event

An engraving of King Charles II by William Fairthorne. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1661 Charles II Overturns Religious Changes
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1661
language: English
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/372
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1679 Archbishop Sharp is Murdered
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1679
type: Event

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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1689 – 1690 Presbyterianism is Restored
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1689
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/376
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1695 Episcopal Clergy Banned from Performing Marriages or Baptisms
description: 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’.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1695
type: Event

Engraving of Queen Anne by J.C. Marchand. Anne was the first ruler of the newly created United Kingdom. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1707 The Act of Union
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1707
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/380
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1711 Changes to Appointments in the Church of Scotland
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1711
type: Event

The Victorian artist John Philip imagines an eighteenth-century Scottish baptism in a private house. (Credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1711 The Scottish Episcopalians Act is Passed
description: 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’.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1711
type: Event

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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1712 Celebrating Christmas is Legalised
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1712
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/386
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
format: image/jpeg
type: Still Image

1715 – 1716 Jacobite Rising (The Fifteen)
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1715
type: Event

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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
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1719 Limits on Size of Episcopal Congregations
description: 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.
source: timelineoffifesreli
date: 1719
type: Event

https://fifecoastalzone.org/omeka/items/show/390
title: 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)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
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type: Still Image

The former burgher kirk on Imrie’s Close. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
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The former Christian Brethren Hall on Greenside Place. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
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Hope Street and Howard Place in St Andrews near to the Friends Meeting House. (Source: Jim Bain / Wikimedia)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
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type: Still Image

St Fillan's Church, Aberdour (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
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Anstruther Easter Parish Church (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
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Anstruther Wester (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
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St Serf’s Church, Culross
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

Culross Abbey Tower (Source: Bess Rhodes 2021)
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Abbey of Culross
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

Culross Church Exterior (Source Fawcett, 2011)
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Culross Parish (West) Church
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

St Mungo’s Chapel (Source: Ewan Malecki (October 2007).
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Chapel of St Kentigern, Culross
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

Bruce of Culross and Carnock Monument (Source: Bess Rhodes)
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Culross Abbey Parish Church
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

Culross Free Church (Source: Amanda Gow, 2007).
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Culross Free Church
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

St Serf’s Roman Catholic Church (Source: Amanda Gow, 2007)
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St. Serf's Roman Catholic Church, Culross
description: 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.
source: sacredlandscapesoffife
type: Site

Inverkeithing Baptist Church (Source: Bess Rhodes)
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Inverkeithing Episcopal Church (Source: Bess Rhodes)
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St John's, Inverkeithing (Source: Bess Rhodes)
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The Meeting House for the Society of Friends on Howard Place. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
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type: Still Image

The former Salvation Army Hall on North Street, now a restaurant known as ‘The Rav’. (Source: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
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type: Still Image

St Andrew’s Chapel in about 1865. (Source: University of St Andrews Library, ALB-10-62.)
contributor: Bess Rhodes
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type: Still Image