St Mary’s College and Her Living History

The grounds of St Mary’s College, the School of Divinity here at the University of St Andrews, are some of the most beautiful parts of not only the University, but of the entire town.  On sunny days, students are seen lounging on its grasses, professors standing and chatting in its courtyard, and tourists passing through, snapping photos of the 460+ year old College.  It’s truly hard not to enjoy this place.

Like all of Europe’s late medieval building sites, the extant buildings, walls, and features of St Mary’s are a silent witness to the changes throughout her history.  Some of these changes are noticed, but unquestioned.  Many, though present and visible, are never noticed.  And most are hidden by renovations and modernizations throughout their years.  The stones of buildings and walls have been added to, renovated, moved, torn down and rebuilt, or contemporized, and now hide the St Mary’s College that once was but is no longer.  

Envisioning what life might have been like as a student or professor 200, 300, or 400 years ago here is often what consumes my thoughts as I pass from one building to another and is what often inspires yet another photo of the same quadrangle I’ve photographed probably one too many times.  Though I sit on a regular basis in the same room as students did 300 years ago, tutor in the same rooms, and walk the same grounds, I’m confident that my experience at St Mary’s is entirely different than theirs. And yet, in many ways, our experiences are probably very much the same.

I have read pieces of the history of St Mary’s in various places, and what little I know I’d like to share with you.  In a series of posts, I’ll show your photos of the college as it stands today and make an effort to describe to you some of the changes  the buildings, structures, and features of the College have undergone throughout the last five centuries.  A lot can change in 500 years.  It may be difficult for some of you to imagine, having never been here, but perhaps you’ll enjoy learning a bit of the history and seeing the photos nonetheless!  St Mary’s truly has a living history—a history in which I am blessed to participate.

^{**The majority of my information will come from two sources:  Shaw, D.W.D., ed. In Divers Manners:  A St Mary’s Miscellany. St Andrews: St Mary’s College, 1990; and Gow, Elizabeth, Eveline Cowden, Gillian Wood and Dorothy Stewart. A History of the Grounds of St. Mary’s College, University of St. Andrews. A Research Project Undertaken by Heritage Volunteers of Fife Decorative and Fine Arts Society. n.d.}