Next to St. Andrews Bay and the North Sea in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland lies the remains of the cathedral of St. Andrew, St. Andrews Cathedral. It was built in 1158 and became the center of the medieval Catholic Church in Scotland. During the 16th century Scottish Reformation, Catholic mass was outlawed and it fell into disuse and ruin.
In June 1559 during the reformation, a Protestant mob incited by the preaching of John Knox ransacked the Cathedral, the interior of the building was destroyed. The Cathedral fell into decline following the attack and became a source of building material for the town. By 1561 it had been abandoned and left to fall into ruin. wikipedia After that nothing was done to preserves the site until 1826.
According to those that have studied the ruins, the building was 391 ft/119m long, 168ft/51m wide and 100ft/30m tall. Standing there being dwarfed by the enormity of this ancient structure one can only imagine what it was like in it’s prime. Situated towards the end of the town of St. Andrews, you can see it towering above everything else. Stepping onto the grounds transports you back in time.
Today is Saint Andrews day; he is the patron saint of Scotland (its official national day), Barbados, Romania (national holiday), Ukraine, Russia and some other cities. Happy Saint Andrew’s Day!
I like comments. Do leave one! Teri 📷
Images by T.Dashfield Photography 
Very beautiful shots! Love the narrative, too! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much. I will be sharing more about this historic site later.
Awesome! Can’t wait to see!
Those mobs weren’t called Protestants for nothing. It’s interesting how the façade and towers have remained standing with minimal support.
I looked at it and was amazed by that myself and really wondered what the windows looked like. Darn mobs!
Thank you for bringing back pleasant memories of the cathedral and castle ruins in St. Andrews!
You are most welcome 🙂
They are so beautiful now; it’s hard to imagine how amazing they must have been back in the day.
Just the idea of it being able to be made back then (and to withstand mobs etc.) is mind boggling.
1158… wow. Amazing that it still stands. And those arched windows.
They windows got to me too!