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St Andrews, St Leonard's School
Burial Ground (Early Medieval), Cross (Early Medieval), Grave Marker (11th Century)
Site Name St Andrews, St Leonard's School
Classification Burial Ground (Early Medieval), Cross (Early Medieval), Grave Marker (11th Century)
Canmore ID 34306
Site Number NO51NW 22
NGR NO 5134 1653
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/34306
- Council Fife
- Parish St Andrews And St Leonards
- Former Region Fife
- Former District North East Fife
- Former County Fife
St Andrews, St Leonard’s School, Fife, shrine tomb
Measurements: L 1.04m, W 0.27m, H 0.56m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 5139 1656
Present location: in St Leonard’s School, St Andrews.
Evidence for discovery: found in 1895 when the site was being prepared for the new St Rule’s boarding house for St Leonard’s School. It was associated with a cemetery of dug graves, and there were two inhumation burials beneath the stone and a plain upright slab at either end of the monument.
Present condition: weathered.
Description
This shrine tomb was carved from a solid block of sandstone in the shape of a gabled house. Below a plain ridge, there are three rows of tegulae on the sloping roof, beneath which the sides are vertical and plain. The gable-ends are vertical and carved in relief with a Latin cross with an inner incised line.
Date range: eleventh century.
Primary references: Hutcheson 1895; Lang 1974, 231.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019
NO51NW 22 5134 1653.
Cross and coped sepulchral monument. "The fragment of the cross is characteristic of the crosses of the pre-Norman period in Scotland...a plain Latin cross. Only the top and two horizontal arms remain, the shaft being broken off." The coped monument "in size and shape bears a striking resemblance to the so-called 'Hedda's Tomb in Peterborough Cathedral...It is another link rather with the North of England than with Scotland, and may quite possibly date nearly as far back as the time of the Bishop Acca (died AD 740).
A Hutcheson 1895
(Area NO 5134 1653) St Andrews. On 30th March 1894 while a road was being made from the Hospitium Novum to the Sanatorium of St Leonard's School, nine rude, full length stone cists were found and a tenth discovered three days later.
In March of the following year, when the foundation was being prepared for St Leonard's School boarding house, since known as St Rule's, another stone cist and a number of skeletons without cists were found. The number of skeletons was estimated by the workmen to be from 30 to 60. With the latter were found a shrine-shaped monument and a free-standing cross.
The shrine-shaped stone is 3ft 9ins long, 22ins high and 10ins broad; the sides are quite plain but on each end there is a Latin cross in relief, thought from the toolmarks to be of later date...On each side of the sloping top there are three rows of conventionalised roofing-tiles. According to the labourers who found it...two skeletons were beneath the monument...and a rude slab stood at each end of the stone.
The cross was 5ft 6ins high and had an incised line running round the border on both back and front. Both the Celtic stones are now in St Leonard's School."
D H Fleming 1931
Field Visit (17 July 1926)
Sarcophagus and Cross, St. Leonard's.
Two early sepulchral monuments were found within the grounds of St. Leonard's School, and are now preserved in the building. One is a fine shrine-shaped monument wrought from a single block of freestone. It measures 3 feet 8 inches long by 1 foot 9 inches in depth and 1 foot in breadth. The sloping sides of the top are wrought to resemble roof-tiles or shingles. On each gable is a Latin cross in relief, the arms being slightly expanded.
The other monument is a roughly shaped free-standing cross 5 feet 7 inches in height. The arms are 8 and 9 inches broad and project 10 inches. The shaft is 10 inches broad below the cross-head but expands to
a width of 1 foot7 inches at the base. The only markings on the stone are an incised line, wrought on both sides defining the cross shape, with four hollows at the angles.
ARMORIAL PANEL, ST. LEONARD'S. Built into a corridor of the school building is a panel bearing the Hepburn arms. The shield is backed by the pastoral staff and is supported by two angels. Above and behind the shield appear panels traceried like the windows of St. Leonard's Chapel. An ashlar wall is represented below the shield and under this is the motto, AD VITAM. The panel is contained within a foliaceous border.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 17 July 1926.
Field Visit (29 May 1964)
No further information was found regarding this burial ground or the cist found in it. The cross and the shrine-shaped stone were seen in St Leonards School.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 29 May 1964.
