There are some interesting little (non-golf) places in St. Andrews, here's a good example. It's a Meridian line, i.e. a line of Longitude established back in 1673 by scientific pioneer James Gregory who had a lab at the University, this was some 200 years before the Greenwich Meridian was established. It placed the line some three degrees West of the current Meridian, roughly 12 minutes behind GMT. It seems that Gregory was somewhat of a polymath, not only did he work out an accurate Meridian line he's also credited with being one of the three inventors of calculus as well as creator of the "Gregorian Telescope" and doing pioneering work on diffraction gratings, all before the age of 35!
In addition to ancient lines on the pavement there are also ancient towers in the sky. Below is a picture of the Romanesque looking St. Salvator's Chapel tower, built in 1450 as part of the Church but now part of the main University quad.
The pink-red clock face contrasts beautifully with the local sandstone blockwork from which most of the ancient buildings in the town are constructed.
Another quiet little corner is St Mary's Quad which, built in 1538, houses the Faculty of Divinity originally established to preserve Catholic teaching against the Protestant reformers (my dad's bigger than your dad etc..) It's a lovely garden with a huge tree at the centre (supposedly planted by Mary Queen of Scots) my Son says that it's the best place to study in the whole University and has it's own ancient library as well as well kept lawn that occasionally acts as a Sun trap (as far as that's possible in Scotland!)
Here's the middle section of the quad (above) where there's a statue of Bishop Wardlaw who founded the University in 1413 as "an impregnable rampart of doctors and masters to resist heresy", I'm not sure the modern constituents quite align with this motto but then again "heresy" is an idea that's always in the eye of the beholder!
Monday (May 1st) was the traditional "May dip" ceremony where all the students jump into the sea off the East beach at sunset, rather them than me! (apparently there are some debauched drinking games involved), anyway, here's a photo (below) of the event from this year, looking at some of those skimpy swimsuits I'm sure Bishop Wardlaw will be spinning in his grave!.
(my Son and his mates are in here somewhere..)
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