The Kingdom of Fife
John Hannavy explores historic churches, abbeys and cathedrals between the
Forth and the Tay.
If, in your clamour to see Scotland’s medieval churches, you can only spare the time to visit one area – visit the Kingdom of Fife. And if you can only spare the time to visit one town, then make that town St Andrews, for in one of Scotland’s smallest cities you will find not one but five wonderful sites to visit – and a castle as well!
St Andrews Cathedral was once the most important in the country. In medieval times, the Archbishop of St Andrews was the most powerful churchman in the land, and his magnificent cathedral – which actually doubled as the Church of the Augustinian Priory of St Andrews – broadcast that importance to anyone who came within sight of it. It was the longest church in Scotland by a mile – well not exactly by a mile, but at 109 metres from east to west, it dwarfed all of the others significantly. It was one of the most richly decorated, and certainly one of the wealthiest.
The first great cathedral on the site was completed in the early 13th century, rebuilt after a storm in 1273, and finally completed in 1318. A disastrous fire in the 1370s caused huge amounts of damage, and restoration work was not completed until 1440, by which time it was unrivalled in the land.
However, as the most important pre- Reformation church in the country, it suffered at the hands of the emerging Protestant Kirk, and was abandoned, slowly falling into disrepair, its stone being used as a quarry as early as 1577, and for many later buildings in the town.
By the east end.....
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By John Hannavy
Section : Scotland Churches
Page number : 18
