The Architecture of St Andrews

I often take the architecture in St Andrews for granted. Like many of my peers, I am a chronic speedwalker, and I seldom stop to appreciate the buildings and ruins of the town as I weave through groups of people congregating on the street. My mind becomes overwhelmed with deadlines as I enter academic buildings, compelling me to ignore the architectural history of the classrooms where I earn my degree. Momentary lapses in academic or social chaos often allow me to slow my strides and admire my surroundings, relishing the historical moments that have influenced the town’s architecture.

The entrance to South Street is affectionately known as the South Street Arch among my friends. This corbel structure, called the West Port, originally served as a gate, denoting the official entrance to the town after its construction in 1587. Through the West Port and down the street lies the remains of Blackfriars Chapel, which was part of a Dominican friary that was partially destroyed by Protestant Reformers during the Scottish Reformation. Although it boasts masonry similar to that of the West Port, it was built roughly 70 years before its construction and doesn’t retain the same structural integrity as the West Port. The town of St Andrews is steeped in religious history, and Blackfriars Church was not the only structure affected by the Reformation.

Just down the street from Blackfriars Chapel lies Holy Trinity Church, which moved from the Cathedral grounds to South Street in the early fifteenth century. John Knox delivered a sermon at Holy Trinity Church in 1559, ordering the townspeople to reject Catholicism and destroy the monuments that reflected it. Overlooking the North Sea, St Andrews Cathedral was built in 1158, and it served as the centre of the Medieval Catholic Church in Scotland until it was ransacked as a result of Knox’s decree during the Reformation. The preservation of the Cathedral ruins was initiated nearly 300 years after its abandonment in the mid-sixteenth century, and it now serves as the burial ground for clergymen, academics, golfers, etc.  

The religious history of St Andrews is intertwined with the history of the University, reflected in some of the academic buildings. Replacing two ruined teaching buildings on South Street, St Mary’s College was founded in 1538 to promote Catholicism and defend against the teachings of Protestant reformers. However, in 1579, St Mary’s College became a Protestant organisation and was designated as a Divinity College by Parliament. About 100 years before the establishment of St Mary’s College, St Salvator’s Chapel was constructed in the late Scottish Gothic architectural style with the desire to provide a place of worship for the members of St Salvator’s College. 

Stone dominates much of the architecture of St Andrews, from the aforementioned buildings and ruins to the cobblestone streets that students tread or choose to avoid. Unrelated to the religious history of the town, the Swilcan Bridge on the Old Course features stone like many other paths in town and was built in the fourteenth century, allowing shepherds to help their livestock cross the Swilcan Burn that flows beneath the bridge. Unlike the Swilcan Bridge, which welcomes shuffling feet for posed photographs, students circumvent the ‘PH’ outside St Salvator’s Chapel. These initials mark the location where the Protestant Reformer Patrick Hamilton was burned at the stake in 1528, and nearly 500 years later, students hop over the letters to preserve their academic success. 

The charming streets of St Andrews present beautiful stone architecture enriched with its religious, political, and academic history, reflecting the influential figures and moments that have shaped the town as we know it today. 

Photo by Peter G. Adamson