Documents

Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).

The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM13322_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600014481)

Summary

Description

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 meet modern standards: the present rescheduling rectifies this.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling includes all the precinct walls and towers, meaning the circuit of walls beginning N of the cathedral's E end and extending clockwise around the precinct to terminate on Abbey Street. The scheduling includes parts of the precinct walls that have been rebuilt since the medieval period and also the spur that extends N from Abbey Walk across the grounds of St Leonard's School to St Leonard's House. The scheduling also includes the walls W and S of St Rule's Church that define the extent of the cathedral graveyard. The above-ground elements of all other boundary walls are specifically excluded from the scheduling. The scheduling includes the reconstructed claustral buildings of the priory, but excludes all other buildings erected after 1840. The scheduling excludes the above-ground elements of all structures, fixtures and street furniture built after 1950, and the above-ground elements of the war memorial and of all fences, gates and sundials. The scheduling specifically excludes the collections and all modern fixtures and fittings within the Priory Museum and Visitor Centre. The scheduling specifically excludes all burial plots and memorial stones in the Eastern Cemetery, the top 50cm of the road surface of The Pends, and the top 30cm of all other paved areas and paths.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance as one of the earliest Christian foundations in Scotland, the site of the main administrative centre of the Scottish church from at least the 10th century to the Reformation, and because of the great scale and outstandingly high quality of its buildings. The remains of St Rule's Church and St Andrews Cathedral are exceptional architectural monuments that can inform understanding of the development of Romanesque and Gothic architecture in Scotland. The precinct walls also represent a unique and exceptional survival. In addition, buried archaeological remains have the potential to transform knowledge and understanding of the layout, development and economy of the priory and its precinct. As a point of historic interest, the cathedral is arguably the first non-royal structure in Scotland to have been provided with formal state guardianship, long before the Ancient Monuments Act of 1882. Our understanding of the architecture, character, layout and economy of Scotland's medieval monasteries and cathedrals would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

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Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.