St Andrews Castle is a ruined fortress, palace and prison. It is a fascinating visit for everyone.
It was built for the Bishops and Archbishops of St Andrews and was a key point in Scotland’s Wars of Independence with England. It also played a major role in the Protestant Reformation.
History
The Castle is one of Scotland’s most iconic landmarks and it has been a bishop’s palace, a fortress and a prison.
It has also played a key role in the country’s history of independence and conflict with England, and its many sieges are a reminder of how close Scotland came to falling under English rule.
In the late 14th century St Andrews Castle was a central focus of religious persecution during the Scottish Reformation. Its dungeons held Protestant reformers and John Knox wrote that ‘many of God’s children were imprisoned here’.
The siege of 1546 was a particularly brutal one. Cardinal Beaton had the preacher George Wishart burnt at the stake in March of that year and, following the capture of the Castle by the Protestant lairds, it was besieged for 18 months on orders from the Regent, Lord Arran. The defenders were eventually defeated by artillery bombardment from the French fleet and, after refusing to surrender, most of them were sent as galley slaves to France. Several of the Castle’s buildings were used for this purpose, including the Sea Tower, and brick lettering still exists here with some of the prisoners’ names.
Archbishops
Today the dramatic ruins of St Andrews Castle are a picturesque ruin, but for 450 years they played a pivotal role in Scotland’s History. St Andrews Castle, the rocky clifftop site was first fortified as a bishop’s palace and fortress around 1200. It was captured and rebuilt several times during the Wars of Scottish Independence and occupied, besieged and defended on many occasions.
St Andrews Taxis Service
After the Reformation, St Andrews was elevated to the status of archdiocese and Patrick Graham became its first archbishop. It was also the centre of religious persecution and controversy. The great Protestant reformer, John Knox, wrote of the castle’s infamous bottle dungeon: “Many of God’s children have been imprisoned here.”
When the office of bishop was abolished in 1606 St Andrews Castle passed from church control into secular ownership. A charter in July of that year gave the castle to George Gledstanes, earl of Dunbar. He did not live there and after a short time the castle fell into disrepair and eventually into ruin. Stones from the castle were even used to repair the harbour pier.
Siege
Growing up on a farm at Nydie near Strathkinness, Vicki was lucky to visit St Andrews Castle for the first time as a 12-year-old. She remembers being fascinated by Europe’s only surviving mine and countermine and the bottle dungeon where prisoners were kept pickled in salt for 14 months of a siege.
St Andrews Castle
The castle underwent a transformation in the early-16th century when Cardinal Beaton upgraded the fortifications. He added rounded towers to the southeast and southwest corners of the castle and strengthened the Fore Tower. He also built deep ditches around the castle in order to protect it from attack.
But he was murdered in 1546 by a group of Fife lairds in retaliation for his brutal treatment of Protestants including having Reformation preacher George Wishart burned at the stake for heresy just three months earlier. Their revenge included occupying the castle for 14 months, with John Knox joining the siege and delivering his famous “bottle” sermon during this dreadful period of Scottish history. The resulting cannon bombardment destroyed much of the castle’s seaside defences.
Dungeons
Located on a rocky promontory overlooking Castle Sands, the ruined St Andrews castle was the main residence of bishops (and later archbishops) throughout the Middle Ages. It was the focal point of the Scottish church at the time and witnessed some of the key events leading up to the Protestant Reformation.
Airport Transfers St Andrews
It also became a centre of religious persecution and debate. In March 1546 Cardinal Beaton had the local Protestant preacher George Wishart burnt at the stake in front of the castle walls. This prompted a well-connected group of Protestant Fife Lairds to try and capture or kill the cardinal, starting a long siege. This included the digging of a network of castle mines and countermines which you can still explore today.
Much of the castle is now a ruin, including the Great Hall which collapsed into the sea in 1801. It’s maintained by Historic Scotland and entry includes a good visitor centre that explains the castle’s fascinating history and also features some of the best surviving carved fragments. Other structures you can explore include the Hamilton facade, the Kitchen Tower, St Rule’s tower and of course the bottle dungeon – one of Britain’s most notorious medieval prisons.
Cathedral
Unlike most of the ecclesiastical buildings destroyed during the Wars of Independence the Cathedral survived. This was partly because the Bishops also used it as their secular home so they retained a sense of control and prestige within the building (and a good relationship with the monarchy).
It remained in the hands of the archbishops until 1605 when St Andrews Castle was abandoned and it gradually fell into ruin. The remains of the cathedral are largely intact but not fully complete (the east gable is nearly entire and less than half the west gable).
Taxi Services St Andrews
A fine example of skilled carved interlace, thought to be from the late 8th or early 9th century, can be seen on the shaft of one of the free-standing crosses.
The ruins are a haunted place – the ghost of Cardinal Beaton is said to haunt the castle, along with the apparition of John Hamilton who was hanged at Stirling for his part in the murder of Lord Darnley. There are also stories of a White Lady who is sometimes seen near the castle.