Saint Andrews, city, royal burgh (1160), university town, golfing mecca, and former fishing port in Fife council area and historic county, Scotland. Located on St. Andrews Bay of the North Sea 13 miles (20 km) southeast of Dundee, it occupies a plateau of sandstone rock about 50 feet (15 metres) in elevation, which breaks off to the north in precipitous cliffs. The Eden River enters St. Andrews Bay northwest of the golf links, which rank among the finest in the world.
St. Andrews was once the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland. Its religious traditions began in the 6th century, when St. Kenneth is believed to have formed a Celtic ecclesiastical community. In the 8th century the king of the Picts established a new church dedicated to St. Andrew, who was adopted as the patron saint of the Picts and thereafter of Scotland. Relics of the saint were brought there and acquired such celebrity that the place, first called Mucross (“Headland of the Wild Boar”) and then Kilrymont (“Cell of the King’s Mount”), came to be known as St. Andrews. About 908 the bishop of the Scots transferred his seat there from Dunkeld. In the early 12th century the bishopric of St. Andrews was regarded as the most important in the kingdom; it was raised to the dignity of an archbishopric in 1472, when its holder was recognized as primate of Scotland.
The medieval cathedral and priory began with a foundation of Augustinian canons established between 1127 and 1144 by Bishop Robert, who was prior of the Augustinian house at Scone, in association with the church of St. Regulus. In 1160 a larger cathedral and priory church was begun by Bishop Arnold and eventually consecrated in 1318. Built partly in the Norman and partly in the early Gothic style, it was by far the largest church in Scotland, with an internal length of 357 feet (109 metres). The cathedral and priory were enclosed by an elaborate precinct wall, much of which survives.
In addition to the Augustinians, St. Andrews in the Middle Ages contained communities of Dominicans (c. 1275) and Observantine Franciscans (c. 1450). The castle, ruins of which remain on a rocky headland near the cathedral, was erected about 1200 as an episcopal residence that was commissioned by Bishop Roger. An organized municipality was founded about 1140; it was granted most of the privileges of a royal burgh by King Malcolm IV about 1160 and grew into one of the largest towns in medieval Scotland. In 1411 the university, the oldest in Scotland, was founded as St. Mary’s College. St. Salvator’s (1450) and St. Leonard’s (1512) were added and were subsequently united after the Reformation.
As Scotland’s ecclesiastical capital, St. Andrews was the centre of many of the most important episodes in the Scottish Reformation. After the triumph of the Reformers, the cathedral and priory were abandoned and fell into ruins. Nevertheless the town remained a place of considerable importance until the close of the 17th century. In the 18th century it underwent a serious decline, but it was eventually rescued largely through the efforts and civic leadership of Provost Hugh Lyon Playfair (1840–61), who revitalized the town, restoring its reputation as a university centre and developing it as a holiday and golfing resort.
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the ultimate authority in the golfing world, was founded in 1754. Some believe that golfers had been active as early as the 15th century. There are four main golf courses, the most famous of which is Old Course. The club periodically hosts the British Open, one of the major annual men’s professional tournaments.
Of the buildings of the medieval city comparatively little remains. The cathedral largely vanished apart from the east and west gables and part of the south wall, but the priory precinct wall was preserved throughout virtually its entire length. The north transept (1525) of the Dominican church and a great part of the castle still stand. Holy Trinity Church, after undergoing considerable alteration in 1799, was well restored in the early 1900s and is one of the most impressive churches in Scotland. The town is notable for its wide, handsome streets and interesting 16th- and 17th-century domestic buildings, many of which have been protected by the local Preservation Trust, a conservationist body. Pop. (2001) 14,209.