Publication Account
Date 1987
Event ID 1016888
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016888
St Andrews Church is a fme example of the wide rectangular preaching churches built in Scotland in the second half of the 18th century. It was built in 1774 by the Incorporated Trades of the burgh to a design by Samuel Bell. The Palladian elements of the facade reflect the organisation of the interior. The two large tripartite windows flank the pulpit in the middle of the south wall. The two-storey treatment of the end bays shows the position of the south ends of the U-shaped gallery and the twin doors lead into the aisle round the communion table. The church has an elegant steeple sunnounted by a lively gilded dragon as a weather-vane. There is a formal garden to the south with contemporary gates and railings to the street.
The Glasite Chapel of 1777 is situated on the eastern boundary of the garden. This is a small octagonal building with the usual pyramidal roof and two storeys of round leaded windows. The interior was gutted some years ago when the building was used for commercial purposes. The refectory where the members ate between Sunday services stood to the north-east This building has been demolished and the octagonal chapel has been incorporated into the St Andrews Church halls which link the two structures. Although the Glasite or Sandemanian sect is almost extinct, being reduced to two chapels in Britain, John Glas remains an important figure in other nonconformist sects. Many of these sects consider his writings as fundamental to their beliefs, and, although he did not live to see the octagonal chapel described here, these writings were produced in the city.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).
