Scotland Tours to Fife: St Andrews golf isn't the only reason to visit

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Sure, you can play golf here and enjoy the shops. But aside from St Andrews golf, if you want an authentic experience of Scotland’s history then visit the mine and counter-mine at St Andrews Castle, one of the most vivid reminders of the religious conflict in the nation’s story.

Let’s picture the scene. It’s 1546, the Reformation is under way and Scotland is ablaze with religious fervour. Protestant reformers, supporters of the preacher David Wishart, have seized the castle and murdered the resident Catholic Cardinal Beaton (who had previously got rid of Wishart by burning him at the stake – slowly). Then, having taken the castle, they hold on behind the walls. The Catholic forces try to dislodge them using cannon. Then they have a cunning plan and start tunnelling below the walls. It’s a massive tunnel for 1546.

The defenders hear them, and, in an effort to stop the undermining, they also tunnel out, only to discover they are going in the wrong direction. So they change their minds, start another tunnel, then finally break through. Imagine the confrontation, the sword-thrusts, all by candle-light in the confined space……..

Some month later, the castle was hammered into submission by a French fleet, under the instruction of the king’s wife, Mary of Guise, French wife of the (late) King James V of Scotland. The famous reformer John Knox, who had been inspired to preach publicly by the martyrdom of David Wishart, was by this time also a castle resident. He became a galley slave on a French vessel for the next eight years, before returning to his religious rabble-rousing career in Scotland.