On Wednesday, May 16, we travelled from Edinburgh over the Forth Road Bridge and through Fife to St. Andrews, whose Royal and Ancient Golf Club, founded in 1754, has given us the rules of golfing.
 

ST ANDREWS CATHEDRAL

Since this was to be a brief stop, we decided to visit the site of the ruins of the St. Andrews Cathedral. The settlement that became St Andrews rose through the dark ages to an eminent position in the Scottish Church, a process that was accelerated when Viking raids led to the removal from Iona of St Columba's relics in 849AD, and with them much of Iona's power base. By 1144 St Andrews' place in the Scottish Church was confirmed with the setting up here of a community of Augustinian Canons. At the same time, an existing band of Culdee clergy, was displaced, eventually finding a permanent home outside the precinct wall east of the cathedral. The first photo below is a ruins which Pat saw down at the harbour.
 

During the walk, we noticed other ruins down side alleys, the Church of Scotland MARTYRS CHURCH, and the Monument to the Martyrs at the golf course.

The inscription on the monument below reads

"In Memory of the Martyrs
Patrick Hamilton, Henry Forrest, George Wishart and Walter Mill
Who in Support of the Protestant Faith Suffered Death by Fire at St Andrews
Between MDXXVIII and MDLVIII
The Righteous shall be in Everlasting
Remembrance"