St Andrews, West Port

The West Port was built by the mason Thomas Robertson in 1587, incorporating parts of an earlier gate here. Edinburgh’s Netherbow Port, which was demolished in 1764, was the model for the gate’s design.

St Andrews was never a walled city in a defensive sense, and gate was more a symbol of civic pride than it was a fortification. Like other medieval Scottish towns, it was bounded by garden dykes. These were secured at street entrances by gates, of which the West Port alone survives.

The West Port consists of a central rounded, arched pend, two semi-octagonal towers and a corbelled parapet. The parapet is punctured by imitation cannon water-spouts.

The port seems to have fallen into dilapidation by the 1800s. It was ‘completely renovated’ in 1843 by the provost and Mr John Grant of Kilgraston. 

It was reported that ‘huge, uncouth buttress projecting into the street were removed and substituted by buttresses at once elegant and powerful’. Other renovations addressed stone panels containing the city arms and a carving of David I on horseback.