St Andrews Cathedral
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The phone line is currently down, please email standrewscathedral.vo@hes.scot to get in touch.
St Andrews Cathedral gallery
Walk the grounds of what was once Scotland's largest and most magnificent church. Even in its ruinous state, the cathedral remains a prominent landmark, highly visible from land and sea.
A Celtic monastery existed on this site since the 8th century and a church dedicated to St Rule was likely built around 1130. The 33m tall St Rule’s Tower may have been a beacon for pilgrims heading for the shrine of St Andrew.
Work to transform St Rule's into Scotland's greatest cathedral was begun in 1160–2 on the orders of Bishop Arnold. It continued over the next 150 years, but was stalled by a great storm in 1272, which blew down the west front, and by the first War of Independence against England.
King Robert I (Robert the Bruce) was present when the the cathedral was finally dedicated in 1318. By far the largest church in Scotland, it became the headquarters of the Scottish Church and the seat of the nation's leading bishops and archbishops.
Even in its ruinous state you can marvel at the cathedral's scale and get a sense of the centuries of religious history that has played out here.
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