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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.

St Andrews Present West Port Plaque

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).

St Andrews Original West Port Plaque
West Port St Andrews
West Port St Andrews
Blackfriars Chapel Ruins StAndrews

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.

Blackfriars Chapel Ruins StAndrews

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.

Blackfriars Chapel Ruins StAndrews

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.

Charles Lapworth Plaque St Andrews
Dr Andrew Bell Plaque St Andrews
Dr John Adamson Plaque St Andrews
Dr John Adamson House St Andrews

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.

Hamish the Cat Statue St Andrews

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 Boswell and Samuel Johnson  Plaque St Andrews
Gregory's Meridian Line Plaque St Andrews
Gregory's Meridian Line St Andrews

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 Memorial
St Andrews Town Hall
St Andrews Town Hall

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. 

James David Forbes  House St Andrews
James David Forbes plaque St Andrews

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.

Bailie Bell's House and Foundry Sign St Andrews
Bailie Bell's House St Andrews Statue St Andrews
Bailie Bell's House St Andrews
Christian Institute Building St Andrews

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

George Martine Plaque St Andrews
Old Royal Hotel and Robert Burns Club St Andrews
Robert Burns Plaque St Andrews

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

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