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St Andrews Cathedral is on the Scores, a
short walk from St Andrews Town centre, built
from 1158 next to a Church from the 700s.
The Cathedral can be visited all year with
an entrance fee. There is a Museum and Shop at
the Cathedral. Postcode: KY16 9QL
St Andrews
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The image top is from St Andrews Harbour
looking up at St Andrews Cathedral with St
Andrews Castle on the right on rocks.
The Town of Kilrymont is thought to have
grown around the Harbour with Fishing then
Farming, being renamed St Andrews some time
later.
AD 60 - Andrew was a deciple of Jesus,
crucified in Greece.
747 - there was a Church at St Andrews
sitting just above the Harbour, where the Ruins
of the small Chapel of St Mary on the Rock can
be found today.
700s - some bones of St Andrew were taken
from Greece to Kilrymont, leading to many
Pilgrims visiting the Town and the name being
changed to St Andrews.
1120s - the much larger St Rule's Church was
built next to the Chapel with a 100ft/33m high
Tower.
1158 - the building of St Andrews Cathedral
begins next to St Rule's Church. This was the
largest and most important Medieval Church in
Scotland at 391ft / 119m long.
1180s - the earliest parts of St Andrews
Castle were built to secure the area and later
to serve as a Secure Residence for the wealthy
Bishops from St Andrews Cathedral. The Castle
and Cathedral are close to each other.
The Cathedral, Castle, and Town Walls were
an impressive complex for the time, one of the
most Important and Secure places in Scotland
for worship.
The Bishops were powerful people, known for
having people that crossed them Locked up in
the Castle, or put to Death in gruesome
ways.
The Cathedral Museum covers information
about the Bishops, the Buildings, and different
Styles of Graves from the Pictish St Andrews
Sarcophagus in the 700s, to the Grave of the
famous Golfer Old Tom Morris in 1908.
Many of the most ornate Grave Slabs are from
the 1600s when Wealthy People had Symbols
carved on the Slabs for their Religious
Beliefs, Social Class, Occupation, and
more.
Sculls and Bones can be seen on many Grave
Markers from the 1600s and 1700s. This is just
a Symbol of Death, nothing more sinister, so it
is claimed.
1200s - 1300s - during the Wars of Scottish Independence, the
Castle and Cathedral changed hands many times
between the Scots and English.
1500s early - the Reformation reached
Scotland with many people converting from
Catholic to Protestant.
1546 - Archbishop of St Andrews, David
Beaton, imprisoned the Protestant preacher
George Wishart in the
Castle’s Tower. Wishart was
Burnt at the Stake outside the Castle on March
1st.
1546 May - Wisharts friends gained entry to
the Castle and Murdered Cardinal Beaton. They
then set up the first Protestant Congregation
in Scotland. The Castle was damaged in Battles
at that time.
1500s late - the Cathedral was abandoned as
the Reformation had led to Catholic worship
being banned in Scotland. Much of the stone
from the Cathedral was used for other buildings
in the town.
See St Andrews Castle for more
information on Battles and Executions connected
to the Castle and Cathedral.
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