St Rule's Church and St Rule's Tower

Heritage listing

Date Added 12/02/1999 Last Date Amended 28/11/1999 Type Ecclesiastical: burial ground, cemetery, graveyard; cathedral; church; gateway; precinct walls; priory Local Authority Fife Parish St Andrews And St Leonards NGR NO 51432 16523 Coordinates 351432, 716523 — The monument comprises the precinct of the cathedral and priory of St Andrews and an area to the NE which includes the ruins of the church of St Mary of the Rock, Kirkheugh. The monument includes the ruins of the cathedral church, the monastic buildings to its S, St Rule's Tower, the remnant of the wall relating to the priory's guest house, the precinct walls, the Pends Yett and other gateways through the precinct walls, and the entire area within the surviving precinct walls within which related remains are expected to survive below ground. Carved stones indicate ecclesiastical use of the site from the 9th century onwards, but the earliest architectural remains are the 12th-century work at St Rule's Church (the predecessor of the cathedral) and the cathedral itself. The latter, and the remains of the adjacent priory built for the Augustinian Canons who served the cathedral, also embody major work of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, while the precinct wall, which is the most complete example of its kind, dates chiefly from two building campaigns of the late 14th and 16th centuries. Within the precinct wall, in the area to the SE of the modern roadway known as The Pends the remains of many of the priory's ancillary buildings are expected to survive, including the guest house, mill and teind barn. The monument lies between 10m and 20m above sea level, in a prominent coastal cliff-top location at the E end of the historic burgh of St Andrews. The monument was last scheduled in 1999, but the documentation did not m

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.