Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
was originally home to four fishermen's families. Today you'll encounter inside a
mock-up vintage grocers, a chemist and a gratifyingly generous array of antiquarian
bric-a-brac.
St Andrews University
W
www.st-andrews.ac.uk
Scattered around the town centre,
St Andrews University
is the oldest in Scotland.
Founded in 1410 by Bishop Henry Wardlaw, the original building was on the site
of the Old University Library and by the end of the Middle Ages three colleges
had been built: St Salvator's (1450),
St Leonard's
(1512) on Pends Road and
St Mary's
(1538) on South Street. At the time of the Reformation, St Mary's
became a seminary of Protestant theology, and today it houses the university's
Faculty of Divinity.
British Golf Museum
Bruce Embankment • April-Oct Mon-Sat 9.30am-5pm, Sun 10am-5pm; Nov-March Mon-Sat 10am-4pm • £6.50
T
01334 460046,
W
britishgolfmuseum.co.uk
A collection of national importance, the
British Golf Museum
has pictures of golfing
greats from Tom Morris to Tiger Woods, along with clubs, trophies and a variety of
paraphernalia from the seventeenth century onwards. It's predominantly an attraction
for golfing obsessives, but the museum is designed to be family friendly. You can try
your hand with an old ball and putt on the museum's indoor green or get togged up in
traditional golfing attire.
8
East and West Sands
St Andrews has two great beaches: the vast expanse of
West Sands
, just north of town,
and the more compact
East Sands
, beside the harbour. he West Sands are best known
from the opening sequences of the Oscar-winning film
Chariots of Fire
and while
they're still used by budding athletes, less energetic activities include sandcastle
competitions, breathtaking dips in the North Sea, and birdwatching at the lonely north
end. he blustery winds that are the scourge of golfers and walkers alike do at least
make the beach a great place to fly a kite.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
ST ANDREWS
By train
The nearest train station is at Leuchars on the
Edinburgh-Dundee line, 5 miles northwest across the River
Eden, from where regular buses make the 15min trip into
town. When you buy your rail ticket to Leuchars, ask for a St
Andrews rail-bus ticket that includes the bus fare.
Destinations
Aberdeen (1-2 hourly; 1hr 30min); Dundee
(1-2 hourly; 15min); Edinburgh (1-2 hourly; 1hr).
By bus
The bus station is on City Rd at the west end of
Market St.
Destinations
Anstruther (2 hourly; 20-25min); Dundee
(1-2 hourly; 35min); Edinburgh (1-2 hourly; 1hr 30min);
Leuchars (1-2 hourly; 10min)
THE VISION OF ST RULE
According to legend, St Andrews was founded, pretty much by accident, in the fourth century.
St Rule
- or Regulus - a custodian of the bones of St Andrew in Patras in southwestern Greece,
had a vision in which an angel ordered him to carry five of the saint's bones to the western
edge of the world, where he was to build a city in his honour. The conscientious courier set off,
but was shipwrecked on the rocks close to the present harbour. Struggling ashore with his
precious burden, he built a shrine to the saint on what subsequently became the site of the
cathedral
; St Andrew became Scotland's patron saint and the town its ecclesiastical capital.
