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ST ANDREWS CASTLE FACTS
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Location
St. Andrews, Fife
Description
St Andrews Castle is located in Royal Burgh of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The castle is built on a rocky promontory overlooking the adjoining North Sea. There has been a castle standing at the site since the 12th century. The site is protected by steep cliffs to the north and east, and thick curtain walls and rock cut ditches on the other sides. The stone castle built around 1400 had five square towers with ranges along the inside of each length of curtain wall, and other buildings in outer courtyards to the south and west. A disturbing feature of the castle is the Bottle Dungeon - a bottle shaped pit dug into the rock below the Sea Tower and only accessible through the narrow neck through a trap door from the floor of tower vault. The castle is open to the public, and there is a visitors centre.
History
The castle was modified by Archbishop James Beaton in the early 16th century with the addition of large gun towers, and the installation of heavy carriage-mounted guns. In 1546, a Protestant preacher, George Wishart, was burnt at the stake in front of the castle walls. In reprisals, Cardinal David Beaton was murdered at the hands of local Protestant lairds who captured the castle. This was followed by a siege where the attackers tried to get in to the castle by digging a tunnel under the castle. The defenders dug a "countermine" to intercept the tunnel and hold off the attackers. Visitors today can go down the countermine and into the tunnel. The siege ended in 1547 when a French fleet which reduced the castle to ruins. The castle was rebuilt, but after The Reformation of the Scottish Church in 1560 the castle declined and over time started to fall into disrepair.
In 1606 passed to the Earl of Dunbar, although ownership returned to the church before the castle finally fell into ruin. In 1656 the burgh council used stones from the castle to repair the pier. The main structures remaining principal remains are part of the south wall enclosing a square tower, the "bottle dungeon," the kitchen tower, and the underground mine and counter-mine.
Date
15th century
Notable Residents
King James I visited in 1410
Other Castles in the Area
Balgonie Castle
Ballinbreich Castle
Broughty Castle
Claypotts Castle
Dairsie Castle
Dirleton Castle
Dudhope Castle
Ethie Castle
Falkland Palace
Glamis Castle
Kellie Castle
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