Felix & Jenny’s Website - St Andrews

St Andrews – October 2006

St Andrews is a pretty and prosperous seaside town 62 miles north of Edinburgh. It is home to the world’s most famous golf links, the St Andrews Old Course (and golf’s governing body) and surprises with a collection of some great medieval ruins and idyllic costal scenery. Since whacking of tiny white balls with sticks isn’t our thing (i.e. we suck at it), we went on to check out the ruins…


The castle – founded around 1200 as a fortified home for the bishop - is mainly in ruins but features some impressive sea views and siege tunnels!

The above diagram shows how the under-siege guys dug the counter-mine in order to intercept the army of the Regent, Earl of Arran... at least they built a tunnel big enough to walk in!

An especially striking remnant of this role is the Bottle Dungeon, a bottle shaped pit dug 22ft down into the rock below the Sea Tower, accessible only via the narrow neck opening through a trap door. Into this prisoners could simply be lowered - or dropped - and forgotten.	Beatrix, Hans, Jen and I… at St Andrews castle.

Once the largest and most magnificent cathedral in Britain, the striking ruins convey a sense of its immensity. Founded in 1160 and focus of pilgrimage until the Reformation, when it was pillaged in 1559. St Andrews bones lay under the high altar. Until the cathedral was build they were enshrined in the nearby Church of St Rule.

The east end of the cathedral and the church tower of St Rule’s church is the only that remains these days.	A golfer’s tombstone at St Andrews cemetery.

A rather rocky beach at Crail.	A shot of the picturesque fishing village – Crail in East Neuk – a section of southern coastal Fife.