Alternative Names Blackfriars Chapel
Site Type MONASTERY
Canmore ID 94440
Site Number NO51NW 5.01
NGR NO 5075 1654
Council FIFE
Parish ST ANDREWS AND ST LEONARDS
Former Region FIFE
Former District NORTH EAST FIFE
Former County FIFE
Datum OSGB36 - NGR

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Archaeological Notes

NO51NW 5.01 5075 1654

(NO 50751654) Black Friars' Chap (NR) (Remains of)
Black Friars' Monastery (NR) (AD 1274) (Site of).
OS 25" map (1914)

The house of Black Friars was founded by Bishop Wishart (1272-1279). The construction of the chapel or aisle (the sole remains) was authorised by Archbishop Beaton in 1525. The house was sacked in June 1559. The remaining portion of the church lies within the grounds of Madras College. It measures internally 26ft N-S by 21ft E-W. It is apsidal-ended and has originally had radial buttresses.
RCAHMS 1933

No 5077 1655 A watching brief was carried out on new trenches that were being dug for the floodlighting of the Blackfriars chapel and the front of Madras College. Some of the trenches located demolition rubble at c0.50m below modern ground level, possibly representing the demolished remains of the friary church and southern range. The floodlight trenches around the chapel contained no archaeological deposits but natural sand was encountered at 0.52m below modern ground level in two of them.
Sponsor: Fife Enterprise.
D Hall 1995.

Cowan and Easson, I B and D E (1976) 'Medieval religious houses, Scotland: with an appendix on the houses in the Isle of Man', London
Page(s): 119-20 Held at RCAHMS C.3.2.COW

Folco, J di (1987) 'A survey of medieval floor tiles in St Andrews Cathedral museum and the Abbot's house, Arbroath Abbey', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol.115
Page(s): 289, 291, 292

Hall, D (1995b) 'Madras College, South Street, St Andrews (St Andrews & St Leonards parish), Dominican Friary', Discovery Excav Scot
Page(s): 28