Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

ST ANDREWS
ST ANDREWS
quadrangle were erected between that date and 1847 at
a cost of £18,600, the money being granted by Govern-
ment. The entrance to the quadrangle is underneath a
lofty tower at the W corner of the S side. It is a tall
square structure, with a stumpy octagonal spire, the
whole rising to a height of 156 feet. The College of St
Leonard's church, immediately to the E, is now looked
on as the parish church of St Leonards, its use for that
purpose dating from the early part of last century. It
contains a very elaborate monument to Bishop Kennedy,
the founder of the college (d. 1466), said to have cost a
sum equal to £10,000 sterling. It was greatly injured
by the fall of the stone roof of the church about the
middle of last century. The tomb was opened in 1683,
when six silver maces were found in it, of which three
were presented to the other Scottish Universities and
the remaining three were retained by the University of
St Andrews. One of these last, which was made in
Paris by Bishop Kennedy's orders in 1461, is very fine.
In the vestibule of the church is a flat stone marking
the grave of Dr Hugh Spens, principal of the College
1505-29 ; and on the N wall is a marble monument
erected by his brother officers to the memory of the
eldest son of the late Provost Playfair — Lieutenant W.
D. Playfair, who fell at Sobraon in 1846. There is a
good museum ; and in the hall are portraits of John
Hunter, Sir David Brewster, James D. Forbes, all of
whom were principals ; of Professors Ferrier and Mac-
donald, and others. At the union of the colleges of St
Leonard and St Salvator in 1747 the buildings of the
former, which were in South Street, near the E end,
were sold, and now the ruined walls of the chapel
alone remain. When Dr Johnson and Boswell were
so hospitably entertained by the St Andrews pro-
fessors this building was used as a 'kind of green-
house,' and, adds the Doctor, ' to what use it will
next be put I have no pleasure in conjecturing ; ' but,
as he had always been hindered by some excuse from
entering it, he admits that it was ' something that its
present state is at least not ostentatiously displayed.
Where there is yet shame there may in time be virtue.'
It was afterwards used as an outhouse, but the virtue
came in 1838, when it was cleared out, and since then
the ruin has been properly cared for. It contains a fine
monument to Robert Stuart, Earl of March, who died in
1611, and another in memory of Robert Wilkie, prin-
cipal of the college (1589-1611). The official residence
of George Buchanan when he was principal here (1566-70),
a short distance S of the chapel, was the property and
residence of Sir David Brewster when he was principal
of the United College (1838-59). St Mary's College
occupies the site of the old Pedagogy on the S side of
South Street, the college buildings and University
library forming two blocks at right angles, the library
and the principal's residence being on the N, and the
lecture rooms and old dining-hall on the W. The
library, a plain structure, built at the expense of the
University in 1764, and since greatly improved in 1829,
superseded an older building which had been used as
a provincial meeting-place for the Scottish parliament.
It is divided into four large halls, the principal one
76 feet long, 28 wide, and 28 high. There are portraits
of Cardinal David Beaton, George Buchanan, John Knox,
Adam Ferguson, Bruce of Grangehill and Falkland (pro-
fessor of logic at Edinburgh), Archbishop Spottiswoode,
George Wishart, and several of the chancellors. The
nucleus of the present library was established in 1610
by the union of the libraries of the three colleges, and
James VI., under whose auspices this took place,
made a valuable gift of books to the new institution.
Subsequent benefactors have been numerous, and there
are now about 100,000 printed volumes and 150 MSS.
Among the rarities may be specially mentioned a copy
of the Koran that belonged to Tippoo Saib, a copy of
Quinctilian (1465), a Latin translation of the Iliad (1497),
and the Phrases of Stephanus, both of which belonged
to George Buchanan, and contain notes in his hand-
writing ; a copy of the Canons of the Council of Trent
that belonged to James Melvil, a fine MS. of the works
306
of St Augustine, a MS. of Wyntouu's Cronykil, writteu
in the latter part of the reign of James IV. ; and the
original copy of the Solemn League and Covenant, sub-
scribed at St Andrews in 1643, and containing upwards
of 1600 signatures. To the S of the buildings are the
college gardens. St Andrews College Hall, to the SSW
of the Cathedral, opened in 1861, and belonging to a
joint-stock company with a capital of £5000, serves as
a residence for young gentlemen attending the Univer-
sity. It has accommodation for about 30 students, and
is conducted by a warden, a tutor, and such other
teachers as may be required.
The Madras College, off the S side of South Street
near the W end, was opened in October 1833, and
superseded the old grammar and burgh schools. It was
founded in terms of a bequest by Dr Bell, who was the
first to introduce the monitorial or Madras system of
school management. Dr Bell, who was the son of a
hairdresser in St Andrews, and was educated at the
University here, became, after various vicissitudes of
fortune, superintendent of a male orphan asylum at
Madras under the Honourable East India Company, and
there originated his monitorial system. At his death he
left a very large fortune, £120,000 of which was to be
spent in the erection and maintenance of schools on his
favourite system, and of this sum £60,000 was set apart
for St Andrews, while the sums of £52 and £25 paid
by the town as salaries to the masters of the former
grammar and burgh schools has, since the opening of the
new institution, been paid over to its funds. At first
there were only two masters, but now there are masters
of English, classics, arithmetic and bookkeeping, mathe-
matics, modern languages, writing, drawing, and gym-
nastics ; second masters in English and classics, and a
teacher of sewing. The grounds cover a space of about
4 acres, and the school buildings are ranged round a
quadrangle near the centre. A detached building to-
the W, built subsequently, contains 3 additional class-
rooms, and accommodation is provided altogether for
1540 scholars. At the two front corners of the ground
adjoining South Street are houses for the English and
classical masters, which provide accommodation for a
considerable number of boarders. The trustees of the
institution are the provost, the ministers of the first and
second charges, and the sheriff of Fife. Connected with
it is the Madras College Club, founded in 1871. Under
the burgh school board the East End and Infant schools,
with accommodation for 250 pupils each, had in 1883
attendances of 204 and 174 respectively, and grants of
£164, 3s. and £135, 15s. There are also 5 private
boarding and day schools for boys, and 3 private schools
for girls.
Trade, etc. — During the 15th and 16th centuries St
Andrews was one of the most important seaports to the
N of the Forth, and was resorted to by merchant vessels
from Holland, Flanders, France, and all the trading
districts in Europe. The number of vessels in port at
the time of the great annual local fair called the Senzie
Market — held in the priory grounds in April — is even
said to have been from 200 to 300, but if this be so they
must have been of small tonnage, and probably not
larger than a fair-sized herring boat. The trade, how-
ever, seems to have departed during the Reformation
troubles, and in 1656 Tucker, one of Cromwell's Com-
missioners of Customs — who described the town as 'a
pretty neat thing which hath formerly been bigger,
and although sufficiently humbled in the time of the
intestine troubles, continues still proud in the ruines of
her former magnificence' — mentions that there was
only 1 vessel of 20 tons burden belonging to the port,
while upwards of a century later we find that there
were only 2 small vessels. By 1838 these had
increased to 14 vessels of, aggregately, 680 tons, and
bonded warehouses having been subsequently fitted up,
the place became a head port and yielded a customs
revenue of about £700 a year. A great trade also
sprung up in the export to iron-works on the Tyne of
calcined ironstone from workings near Strathkinness,
but this did not last, and the port sank again to the