Around Scotland: St Andrews

THANKS in part to the recent Royal Wedding between two of its former students, St Andrews has been enjoying extended coverage in the world’s media recently, but there’s more to the Fife town than meets the eye.

For those willing to scratch a little further beneath the surface, there is a fascinating history to be uncovered, from the origins of golf, to the traditions associated with Scotland’s oldest university.

St Andrews is widely known for having the most bars and pubs per student than anywhere else in the UK; indeed, some might suggest that a handful of prospective students bear this in mind when applying to study there. The reality is that the university’s consistent placing amongst the top 5 universities in the UK means that there are thousands of applications - in 2006 there were eleven applicants for every place - but for a lot of students, the lure of ancient traditions and quirky events is another reason.

Raisin Weekend is without doubt the centrepiece of St Andrean traditions, and is seen as something of a ‘rite of passage.’ The culmination of a weekend of ‘alternative party games’ is the much-documented ‘foam fight’ in St Salvator’s Quad at the heart of the university.

The May Dip is another well-attended event, which sees hundreds of students running into the North Sea at dawn on May 1st. Legend has it that the May Dip is the only way of removing the curse of a failed degree, inflicted on students who make the mistake of stepping on Patrick Hamilton’s initials, reproduced in cobbles near to the spot where he was burnt at the stake on North Street, as the first Protestant martyr of the Scottish Reformation.

Widely known as the ‘home of golf,’ due to the formation of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club founded there in 1754, the first recorded instance of golf in St Andrews can actually be traced back to 1552, in a license issued that permitted the local community to use what is now known as the Old Course to ‘play at golf, futball, schuteing ... with all other manner of pastimes’ although the first record of golf being played in St Andrews came some years later in 1574.

Nearly 500 years later and the locals are still immensely proud of the town’s golfing history, with streets named after Old Tom Morris

(or his son, Young Tom Morris), memorabilia and photographs adorning the walls of the pubs and hotels and a scholarship at the university named after the American golfer Bobby Jones.

Away from golf and education, St Andrews is also home to West Sands, the beach made famous in the film Chariots of Fire, and to some of Scotland’s oldest religious buildings including the tower of St Rule, or St Regulus, which offers a breathtaking panoramic view of the whole town.

People come from all over the world to St Andrews, whether to study at one of the UK’s best universities, or to play a round of golf at the world’s oldest course. Despite the influx of celebrities and golf-tourism, the town has managed to maintain its identity as a bastion of Scottish culture and history. The university proudly describes itself as ‘internationally Scottish.’ Perhaps this wouldn’t be a bad description of the town as a whole.