JtC*. fl. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 6$ 



SECT. II. RUINOUS BUILDINGS. 



THIS county presents to the eye a great num- 

 ber of ancient edifices, fallen, or falling into 

 de^ay. Some of these ruins are truly magni- 

 ficent, and are striking monuments of the taste 

 and opulence of our ancestors in ancient times. 



In St Andrew's, a town of great antiquity, 

 the remains of several superb structures are still 

 to be seen. St Regulus's Chapel and Tower, 

 said to have been built in the fourth century, 

 continue remarkably entire. The two side ailes 

 of the chapel, are, indeed, demolished ; but the 

 body of the building remains. The tower is a 

 square of 20 feet, and 108 feet high, of asler 

 work, and still in high preservation. The 

 arches of the doors and windows are semicircu- 

 lar. The priory also is an extensive ruin. The 

 surrounding wall is pretty entire, and part of 

 the houses belonging to the prior and sub-priors 

 still remain. 



Adjoining to the priory are the ruins of the 

 Cathedral. This magnificent fabric was begun 

 by Bishop Arnold in the year 1 161, and was fi- 

 nished by Bishop Lamberton, anno 1318, 157 

 years from the time when it was begun. It was 

 built in the figure of a cross, the length from 

 east to wesc measuring 370 feet, and the tran- 

 s-ept 322 feet. Of this extensive and elegant 

 building nothing now remains, but fragments of 

 the east and west ends ; a part of the west wall 

 of the south transept, and a part of the south/ 

 wall to ( the west of the transept. The res* 

 * .*. 



