Alt om Edinburgh
South Street St Andrews
South Street St Andrews
South Street is where you will find
St Mary's Quad and the Gregory meridian.
The oldest part of the University
and the (West Port) town gate.
Madras College, Blackfriars Chapel ruins,
the Town Hall and many other historic sites.
The West Port
South Street St Andrews Scotland
The West Port was built circa 1580
and is the only remaining gate
in its original position in Scotland.
The gateway may have been part of a town wall
that would have been closed at night,
in case of invasion by the English or French.
The gate was extensively refurbished in 1843.
Above the centre of the arch
is the St Andrews Coat of Arms.
The original plaque in the
St Andrews Museum (Kinburn House).
Blackfriars Chapel Ruins
Blackfriars Chapel was built in 1525.
The Blackfriars were Dominican Friars,
introduced to St Andrews
by Bishop Wishart after 1274.
The chapel was built on an
older church building, and consisted
of a nave and transepts.
The friary was damaged by fire in 1547
and destroyed in 1559 by a Protestant raid,
only the chapel remained.
Re-building took place in 1514.
Only the north transept of the chapel
now survives.
Madras College
Madras College is a Scottish comprehensive secondary school founded by Dr Andrews Bell in 1833 providing education for children between 11-18 years of age.
Plaques to Charles Lapworth and
Rev. Dr Andrew Bell can be found to the right of the Chapel Ruins.
Charles Lapworth Plaque
South Street St Andrews
Charles Lapworth was a teacher at Madras College 1875 – 1881.
A self-taught Geologist was the founder of a new geological time (The Ordovician Period)
He became a Professor of Geology in 1881 at Birmingham University.
Plaque Reads:
CHARLES LAPWORTH, LLD, FRS, 1842-1920
Between 1875 and 1881 Lapworth was a teacher of English at Madras College. In his spare time he studied the Rocks of extinct creatures called Graptolites to help unravel the complexities of these ancient rocks. As a result of his careful studies, he proposed anew division of geological time, The Ordovician Period that is now recognised and used internationally. He also correctly interpreted the Moine Thrust Fault Zone in the North West Highlands of Scotland as amass of older rocks pushed over younger ones, an idea which at the time conflicted with orthodoxy. He left St Andrews in 1881 to become Professor of Geology at the University of Birmingham.
Dr Andrew Bell Plaque
South Street St Andrews
Dr Bell was born in South Street St Andrews
in 1753 he died in 1832.
Son of Bailie Bell,
Andrew was Founder of the Madras College
pioneered the Madras System of Education.
Teaching system which went worldwide,
where older children taught younger children.
Plaque reads:
The Reverend Dr Andrew Bell 1753 – 1832
An educational reformer and philanthropist.
He was born in St Andrews.
It was while serving in Madras in India
that he developed a form of schooling
where the older pupils taught the younger.
When he returned he introduced his
“Madras” or monitorial system as an
economical form of mass education.
The idea spread, Madras Schools appearing
in Canada and Australia. Among the other local benefactions was the Bell fund
for the benefit of St Andrews.
He ended his career as Prebendary of
Westminster Abbey. Where he is buried.
Dr John Adamson (1809 –1870)
Dr John Adamson lived at 127 South Street
in St Andrews from 1848 to 1865.
He studied medicine at the
University of St Andrews and
the University of Edinburgh.
He qualified with a licentiate diploma (LRCS)
from the Royal College of Surgeons
of Edinburgh in 1829.
St Andrews played a major part in the
early development of photography,
Due to Adamson’s friendship with
Sir David Brewster
he became heavily involved with studying
the calotype and played a leading role in its research.
He was also responsible for the
first calotype portrait in Scotland
1840-1842 (mid 1842),
He taught his brother Robert Adamson
about the calotype process.
Robert, in collaboration with
David Octavius Hill,
(Rock Cottage Calton Hill Edinburgh)
used this process later to produce
more than 2500 photographs
from 1843 to 1848.
He also taught Thomas Rodger the technique
and art of photography and inspired him
to become a pioneering photographer.
Brewster, Adamson and Rodger
made St Andrews a
world centre of Photography.
James Boswell and Samuel Johnson
Plaque
This is the site of the Glass Inn
29 South Street where
James Boswell and Dr Johnson
had supper on 18th August 1773.
We had a dreary drive in a dusky night to St Andrews where we arrived late. We found a good supper at Glass's Inn. Closed circa 1830.
Hamish McHamish Statue
Logies Lane St Andrews
Hamish McHamish was a ginger cat,
(aged 15 years)
that lived in St Andrews Scotland.
He became an international star
when a book entitled
Hamish McHamish of St Andrews:
‘Cool Cat about Town’ was published.
Hamish a social media star
with his own Facebook page and Twitter account
@Hamish_McHamish.
A nomadic cat that was looked after
by many of the residents of St Andrews.
Once owned by Marianne Baird.
James Gregory's
Meridian Line
South Street St Andrews
South Street St Andrews Scotland James Gregory
was first Regis professor of Mathematics.
He and two others were the founders of calculus.
He invented the Gregorian telescope.
The Meridian Line was established in 1672.
James Gregory mathematically established a meridian line,
a line circling earth from pole to pole
along which the time is the same
this line passed through St Andrews.
The Greenwich Meridian (GMT) is now
how time is calculated around the world.
St Andrews Meridian / Gregory's Meridian
is 12 minutes behind GMT
Stand with one foot on each side of the line
and you will be standing in both
the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
You also gave you an extra 12 minutes
to get to where you are going.
St Andrews Town Hall
St Andrews Town Hall erected in 1858
for municipal and public purposes
Sir Hugh Playfair became
Provost of St Andrews in 1842.
He was knighted for services to the town
and University and received
an honorary LLD in 1856
St Andrews Town Hall
Polish War Memorial
Polish Soldier Mosaic Memorial St Andrews
The mosaic on the town hall of St Andrews commemorates the large number
of Polish troops stationed in the area
after the capitulation of Poland in 1939.
James David Forbes
House and Plaque
South Street St Andrews
James David Forbes was born in Edinburgh
20 April 1809 at 86 George Street.
He was educated at Edinburgh University in 1825.
At 19, became a fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh,
and in 1832 he was elected to the
Royal Society of London.
In 1859 he was appointed successor to
David Brewster as principal
of the United College of St Andrews,
which he held until his death in 1868.
It could be said he was first to study
the heating of the earth.
Bailie Bell's House and Foundry
South Street St Andrews
In 1620 Edward Raban came to St Andrews and set up a printing press in a building
on the corner of
South Street and Church Street.
This was later demolished by Bailie Bell
in 1740 so he could build his house.
This house is where his son was born in 1753 (Andrew).
Andrew (Dr Andrew Bell) was to found
Madras College and the
"monitorial system" of education.
Christian Institute
South Street St Andrews
The building in South Street now the
Christian Institute was originally built as a Main Post Office circa 1890
George Martine of Claremont 1635 -1712
He was a lawyer commissary clerk of
St Andrews and author of the first history
of the "Reliquiae Divi Andreae" (1683)
He lived in 56 South Street St Andrews as did his son.
George Martine
(the younger) FRS 1700 - 1741
George went to the University of St Andrews
when he was thirteen. Later, he went to study medicine
at the University of Edinburgh in 1720
and the University of Leyden,
where he graduated in 1725.
He was a Physician, Surgeon and geologist,
George was the first to make a careful study
of heat and scales of temperature,
making the first estimate -400F,
of the absolute zero temperature.
He made the first useful mercury in glass
clinical thermometer. He also was in 1730
the first to perform a Tracheotomy in Britain
Robert Burns Club Plaque
South Street St Andrews
St Andrews Burns Club Plaque
Can be found on what was
the Royal Hotel where the club
was founded on 25th January 1869.
13 in the Robert Burns World Federation