Browse Items (515 total)
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…
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)
1745 – 1746 Jacobite Rising (The Forty-Five)In August 1745 Charles Edward Stuart (sometimes called the Young Pretender) landed on the West Coast of Scotland. His arrival triggered a far-reaching…
Prince Charles Edward Stuart, also known as the Young Pretender. Portrait by Allan Ramsey. (Credit: National Galleries of Scotland / Wikimedia)
1746 Increased Restrictions on EpiscopaliansFollowing the failed rebellion of 1745 and 1746 checks on Episcopalians increased. Episcopal ministers who failed to take an oath of loyalty were…
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)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…
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)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…
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)Since the Reformation the Scottish government had banned Roman Catholic worship. In 1778 the British Parliament tried to reduce the restrictions on…
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)Following the death of Charles Edward Stuart, the leaders of the Scottish Episcopal Church agreed to support George III. After some argument, the…
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)In the early 1790s the British Parliament decided to resolve the status of Roman Catholics in Scotland. More than a decade after the harshest…
The Fife militia at Cupar in 1862. Until the 1790s Catholics were banned from serving in the county militias (which served on a part-time basis) or in the regular army. (Credit: University of St Andrews)After more than seventy years of disagreement (largely focusing on the relationship between church and state) most members of the Burgher Church…
After more than seventy years of disagreement (largely focusing on the relationship between church and state) most members of the Burgher Church…
Linktown Church in Kirkcaldy stands on the site of an eighteenth-century Burgher Church. For many years Kirkcaldy was a focal point for religious dissent. (Credit: Kilnburn / Wikimedia)In 1829 the British Parliament passed legislation lifting most restrictions on Roman Catholics. Among other new freedoms, Roman Catholics were now…
The Duke of Wellington backed Catholic emancipation in 1829. As prime minister he helped steer the legislation through parliament and put pressure on George IV to agree to the reforms. (Credit: English Heritage / Wikimedia)
Thomas Chalmers was the first moderator of the Free Church. This portrait was by the pioneering photographers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson who set out to record the likenesses of the ministers at the Disruption Assembly. (Credit: University of St Andrews)For more than a century there had been divisions in the Church of Scotland over how appointments were made and the relationship between church and…
Thomas Chalmers was a leading evangelical minister and academic. Following the Great Disruption he became the first moderator of the Free Church. This portrait was by the pioneering photographers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson who set out to record the likenesses of the ministers at the Disruption Assembly. (Credit: University of St Andrews)While the Church of Scotland was splitting again, some groups of seceders were joining together. In 1847 the United Secession Church and the Relief…
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. The building now serves as the parish church for Inverkeithing. (Credit: Graeme Smith / Wikimedia)For some decades there had been debates about the fact that clergy ordained by Scottish Episcopal bishops could not legally be appointed to positions…
St Andrew's Episcopal Chapel on North Street in St Andrews in about 1865. Not long after this photograph was taken the episcopal congregation moved to a larger church on Queen's Terrace which is still in use today. (Credit: University of St Andrews)Since the early 1700s the role of lay patrons in church appointments had been a major cause of discontent in the Church of Scotland, and had triggered…
The United Free Church in Newport in about 1903. This church was one of several founded in the nineteenth century by congregations who broke away from their traditional parish churches over the question of lay patronage. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
IncomeAs discrimination against Roman Catholics reduced, the Papacy decided to re-establish a traditional church hierarchy in Scotland. Six Roman Catholic…
Bishop John Strain - the first Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh after the Roman Catholic hierarchy was reintroduced to Scotland. (Credit: Wikimedia)For several centuries the University of St Andrews had not celebrated Christmas. However, in 1887 the university decided to have a communal Christmas…
The Christmas dinner at St Mary's was part of a wider effort to revive ceremonies associated with dining at the University of St Andrews. Sung graces and blessings were also reintroduced - as seen in this setting composed for the university by Sir Alastair Campbell Mackenzie in 1894. (Credit: University of St Andrews)The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had seen several groups leave the Church of Scotland. In 1900 two of the largest of these break-away…
The United Free Church in Leuchars in 1903. This church was built in the 1890s for a Free Church congregation. (Credit: University of St Andrews)Thousands of Fife residents served in the armed forces during the First World War. Many were killed. After the war communities across Fife put up…
Local dignitaries place crosses in the ground outside Holy Trinity Church in St Andrews on Armistice Day in 1936. (Credit: University of St Andrews)After centuries of the controversy about the relationship between church and state, the British Parliament passed the Church of Scotland Act. This…
The Houses of Parliament at Westminster in 1919. (Credit: University of St Andrews)At a joint assembly in Edinburgh the United Free Church agreed to merge with the Church of Scotland. This meant that many places in Fife now had…
Hope Park Church in St Andrews in about 1860. Hope Park was one of many United Free Church congregations to join the Church of Scotland in 1929. (Credit: University of St Andrews)During the Second World War the armed forces expanded and many people moved around the country. New places of worship were established in Fife for…
A naval inspection at Crail Aerodrome in about 1940. Early in the Second World War a chapel was built at Crail Airfield for the service personnel. (Credit: George Cowie / University of St Andrews)During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Presbyterian opposition to Christmas reduced. In 1958 Christmas became a public holiday in Scotland.…
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)The Second Vatican Council (held in the Vatican in Rome) sought to modernise Roman Catholicism. It agreed major changes to Roman Catholic worship. One…
St Paul's Roman Catholic Church in Glenrothes in 1962. St Paul's was one of several new Roman Catholic churches built in Fife during the mid-twentieth century. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
Cardinal Gray's coat of arms on a window in St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh. (Credit: Sheila1988 / Wikimedia)
Townhill village on the edge of Dunfermline. (Credit: The Majestic Fool / Wikimedia)Between the 1520s and the 1550s the Roman Catholic authorities in Fife severely punished a number of Protestant sympathisers. No less than four…
A wreath and the letters PH marking the site of Patrick Hamilton's execution on North Street in St Andrews. (Credit: Bess Rhodes)The 1540s saw fighting between Scotland and England. The conflict was partly driven by the English government’s wish to arrange a marriage between…
The young King Edward VI of England. Portrait perhaps by William Scrots. (Credit: The Met / Wikimedia)The bishops of St Andrews had for centuries claimed to be the most important churchmen in Scotland. In 1472 their special status was officially…
Reconstruction of the chapter house at St Andrews Cathedral in the late Middle Ages. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)In the early 1430s a doctor named Pavel Kravar (sometimes known as Paul Craw in Scotland) was burned for heresy in the centre of St Andrews. Kravar…
Pavel Kravar was burned at the stake beside the market cross in St Andrews. A saltire in the cobbles on Market Street shows where the cross once stood. (Credit: Bess Rhodes)In 1349 the Black Death (probably a severe epidemic of bubonic plague) reached Fife. Churchmen were particularly likely to catch the disease as they…
A fourteenth-century illustration of plague burials in Tournai. Similarly rushed burials probably took place in Fife. (Credit: Pierart dou Tielt / Wikimedia)Like many religious orders, the Franciscans (or grey friars) grew slightly less strict over time. This concerned some people, and led to the…
The street called Greyfriars Garden now covers where the Observant Franciscan friary once stood in St Andrews. (Credit: Bess Rhodes)The fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries saw major building projects at many Fife churches. New churches were built and old ones remodelled. The…
Reconstruction showing the possible appearance of the parish church of Holy Trinity in St Andrews, c.1559. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)During the late Middle Ages universities increasingly took over responsiblity for higher education. In 1410 a group of churchmen established a…
The ceremonial mace of St Salvator's College (one of the three colleges at the medieval University of St Andrews). The mace was commissioned by Bishop James Kennedy in 1461. (Credit: Sam Taylor / University of St Andrews)In the 1360s King David II spent a large amount of money rebuilding the church at St Monans. The king did this because in 1346 he had survived being…
The medieval church at St Monans built by David II. (Credit: Jim Bain / Wikimedia)During the thirteenth century some people felt that monasteries had become too wealthy. In response new religious orders of friars were created. The…
Remains of the late medieval church of the Dominican friars in St Andrews. (Credit: Bess Rhodes)The origins of the close connection between St Andrew and the people of Scotland go back into the early Middle Ages. However, during the wars between…
A late medieval image of St Andrew with his traditional X-shaped cross. (Credit: University of St Andrews)Queen Margaret (the wife of Malcolm III) seems to have been regarded as a saint by the residents of Fife soon after her death in 1093. Miracles were…
The medieval nave of Dunfermline Abbey. Dunfermline was the main burial place for the Scottish royal family from the time of Margaret's death until the early fourteenth century. (Credit: Otter / Wikimedia)In 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council officially declared the Roman Catholic Church’s belief in the doctrine of purgatory. This was the idea that most…
The tower of the old parish church of St Michael at Cupar. St Michael’s was one of the many churches rebuilt in Fife during the late Middle Ages, partly to make space for more chapels and side altars for masses for the dead. (Credit: Jim Bain / Wikimedia)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…
Reconstruction of St Andrews Cathedral in 1318. The older church of St Rule can be seen on the right. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)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…
The parish church at Markinch. The church tower is thought to have been built during the reign of David I. (Credit: Mcwesty / Wikimedia)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 ruins of the chapter house at the former Cistercian monastery at Balmerino. (Credit: Ed Marin / Wikimedia)Around 1070 King Malcolm III’s wife Margaret (later known as St Margaret of Scotland) brought a group of Benedictine monks to Dunfermline. The…
The Forth Bridge seen from the air near North Queensferry. The Victorian railway bridge crosses the Forth close to the route of Queen Margaret’s historic ferry. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)By the tenth century St Andrews had become one of the most important churches in the kingdom of the Scots. In 965 the brother of the King of Tara died…
The medieval religious precinct at St Andrews viewed from the air. (Credit: Open Virtual Worlds / University of St Andrews)
St Serf's Inch on Loch Leven. This island was home to an early Culdee community. (Credit: Mike Pennington / Wikimedia)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…
Detail of a hunting scene on the St Andrews Sarcophagus. (Credit: University of St Andrews)
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St Oran's Chapel on the island of Iona. (Credit: Libasstref / Wikimedia)
Early Christian carvings on the Skeith Stone. (Credit: James Allan / Wikimedia)