- Location: The Scores, St Andrews KY16 9AR
- Opening times: 1 April to 30 September, 9.30am – 5.30pm; 1 October to 31 March, 10.00am – 4.00pm (Note: Closes 2.00pm Christmas Eve); CLOSED 25, 26 December and 1, 2 January.
- Entry: Members free, adult £11.00, child (7 – 15) £6.50, concession £9.00; prices slightly less if booked online.
- Access: Parking on street or in town car park, charges may apply.
I never need an excuse to visit St. Andrews, the utterly charming university town on the east coast of Fife, but this particular visit was prompted by a book I have just finished reading, The Castilians by VEH Masters. This novel follows the fortunes of the fictional Seton family caught up in the Scottish Reformation in general, and the 1546 – 47 siege of St. Andrews Castle in particular. Although I have been to the town many times in the intervening years I don’t think I’ve visited the castle since the mid-eighties and, after been quite caught up in the dramatized story of the siege, thought it was time for a return visit.
St. Andrews castle was home to Scotland’s senior bishops and archbishops, with the original castle built during the tenure of Bishop Roger (1189 – 1202). During the Wars of Independence it was captured by the English and retaken by the Scots several times before being razed by the latter in 1337 to prevent it from ever again becoming an English stronghold. It remained a ruin until rebuilt by Bishop Trail in the late fourteenth / early fifteenth century, and was further fortified by James Beaton, archbishop from 1522 to 1539.
James Beaton was succeeded by his nephew Cardinal David Beaton, a divisive figure in Scottish history. On one hand he was one of the staunchest opponents of Henry VIII’s plan to marry off the infant Mary Queen of Scots to his six-year-old son Prince Edward, which would effectively give the loathsome English king control over his northern neighbour, after which he planned on introducing his reformation to Scotland and smashing that country’s ‘Auld Alliance’ with France. Thanks in part to Beaton, Scotland successfully defied the corrupt tyrant’s wishes, which led to the Rough Wooing, a stupid name that diminishes what was in fact a war lasting nine terrible years. On the other, Beaton was himself utterly corrupt, a man who loved power, wealth, fine clothes, good food and drink, and lots of sex. He openly disregarded his vow of celibacy, living with his mistress Marion Ogilvy as if they were a married couple. They had eight children together and Beaton fathered at least another twelve, all the while prosecuting Protestants who, amongst other things, argued in favour of marriage for the clergy. It was corruption and hypocrisy like this that kickstarted the Reformation in the first place.
An early Scottish reformer was George Wishart, an itinerant preacher who over the course of 1544 – 45 promoted the teachings of John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli. He was seized on the orders of Cardinal Beaton, subjected to a show trial, and hanged from a gibbet and burned outside St. Andrews Castle on 1 March 1546. This enraged a group of Protestant-leaning noblemen – not to mention some with a personal grudge against the Cardinal – who gained entry to the castle on 29 May and stabbed Beaton multiple times, before hanging his mutilated body from a castle window. The above images depicting the deaths of Wishart and Beaton are taken from the excellent exhibition detailing the castle’s story.
Beaton’s assassins and their followers expelled the garrison and took control of the castle, styling themselves the Castilians. This political faction were pro-England, pro-Henry, and pro-Protestantism. In fact, they comprised the first Protestant congregation in Scotland, but they were hardly a sterling advertisement for the new faith as they promptly set about raping and pillaging the local community. They also held an important hostage, ten-year-old James Hamilton, son of the 2nd Earl of Arran, Regent of Scotland during the minority of Mary Queen of Scots. Arran had previously been in the pro-Protestant, pro-English camp, but had since converted to Catholicism and now favoured maintaining Scotland’s alliance with France. The stage was set for the siege of St. Andrews Castle, but Arran was currently besieging Dumbarton Castle in the west (there was a whole lotta sieging going on in sixteenth century Scotland).
When the siege finally got underway, Arran’s forces attempted to gain entry to the castle by mining through the rock beneath it, beginning in October 1546. Realising this, the Castilians then started countermining in the hope they could meet and repel the besiegers. Several countermines were created before the Castilians correctly calculated the position of Arran’s mine and successfully headed it off at the pass. Above is one of their ‘false’ countermines. The mine and countermine complex still exists and was until recently open to the public, but it has been closed for several years so that its safety – or lack thereof – can be assessed.
Another hole in the ground, this time the castle’s infamous bottle dungeon, so named because it is wider at the bottom and narrows at the top. It could only be accessed via ladders or ropes from the top. The unfortunate George Wishaw possibly spent his last days here, and this is where the Castilians stored Cardinal Beaton’s body in salt – “to keip him frome stinking” – during the length of the siege.
Arran’s siege of the castle ended in stalemate, and a truce was in place by December 1546. Henry VIII had planned on sending ships and troops to aid the Castilians but died in January 1547, and Edward VI didn’t proceed with his father’s plan. Wishaw’s onetime bodyguard John Knox entered the castle in April 1547 to serve as chaplain to the garrison, but his tenure was short-lived as the siege finally ended after Mary of Guise, mother of the infant Queen Mary, requested and received assistance from the French king Henri II. Henri sent his fleet to bombard the castle from the sea and troops to assist in the land assault, with the final battery taking place on 30 July. According to Knox, the castle was rendered indefensible within six hours. Many Castilians had already succumbed to plague and food poisoning, and the remaining nobles were sentenced to imprisonment in France. The lower ranks, including Knox, were sentenced to become galley slaves on French ships.
The siege was really the last hurrah for St. Andrews Castle. As mentioned, it was repaired by Archbishop Hamilton, but the Reformation changed how things were done in Scotland and the castle fell into disrepair due to the absence of diocesan funding. By 1656 its stone was being quarried to build, amongst other things, the harbour walls, and a 1693 illustration depicted it roofless and in ruins. In 1801 much of its eastern side collapsed into the sea, and this erosion continued for much of the nineteenth century.
Destination or Diversion?
For those wanting to dive deep into this period of Scottish history the castle is probably a destination, whereas those settling for a brief overview will possibly just regard it as a diversion. Either way it can be combined with a day on the beach, a wander around the mediaeval town, or visit to St. Andrews Cathedral, which is where I’m heading next. For those opting for the former, St. Andrews has two wide sandy beaches in West Sands and East Sands.
