St Leonard's Chapel
St Leonard's Chapel
The origins of St Leonard's may go back as far as the twelfth century, when an (unnamed) hospital was referred to in a document concerning St Andrews Cathedral. By the mid thirteenth century a hospital dedicated to St Leonard was firmly established on the site now occupied by St Leonard's Chapel and School. Like most medieval hospitals St Leonard's primarily provided accommodation - in this case for pilgrims visiting the shrine of St Andrew. During the late Middles Ages the number of pilgrims visiting St Andrews declined, and in 1512 the hospital was converted into a university college for the education of "poor clerks". The College of St Leonard survived until the eighteenth century when it was amalgamated with St Salvator's College (on North Street). The university subsequently sold off most of St Leonard's buildings but retained ownership of the college chapel. The rest of the college buildings are now occupied by a boarding school.
Street View
Additional Information
Location: By passage leading from the south side of South Street. Date Built: Possibly twelfth to twentieth centuries.
The precise date at which St Leonard's Chapel was built is uncertain. However, it is thought that the majority of the building dates from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Life in St Leonard's College was highly regulated. Amongst other restrictions no women were allowed on site. The only exception to this ban was the college laundress, who had to be at least fifty years old.
During the mid-sixteenth century the members of St Leonard's College had a reputation for spreading Protestant ideas. Supposedly, the phrase "to drink at the well of St Leonard" came to mean that someone had Protestant sympathie
At one stage St Leonard's Chapel had a large tower at its western end but this was demolished after the building had fallen into disrepair.