Inverkeithing Friary
Friary in Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Inverkeithing Friary, formally known as the Hospitium of the Grey Friars, is a 14th-century friary building and gardens located Inverkeithing, Fife, Scotland.[1]
| Inverkeithing Friary | |
|---|---|
Inverkeithing Friary from South aspect. | |
| Location | Queen Street, Inverkeithing |
| Coordinates | 56°01′47″N 3°23′54″W |
| Built | Before 1385 |
Listed Building – Category A | |
| Official name | Queen Street, The Friary including Well and Vaulted Cellars |
| Designated | 11 December 1972 |
| Reference no. | LB35100 |
  Shown in Fife | |
The surviving friary building is considered to be the finest remaining example of a medieval friary building in Scotland.[2] The building was restored in the 1930s and is now a Category A listed historic site by Historic Environment Scotland.[3]
The building now features as a focal point on the Fife Pilgrim Way, a long-distance footpath commemorating the journey of pilgrims through Fife during the medieval era.[4] It is now used as a community centre.
History
The friary could date from the late 13th century, with a charter in 1268 mentioning the building of a church and convent for the Franciscans. It may have been founded by Philip Mowbray, Lord of Barnbougle on the opposite shore of the Forth. There are no further mentions of the friary until 1384, but at the time, it would have been a thriving hub for pilgrims to Dunfermline and St Andrews, comprising accommodations, cloisters, storage cellars, and a chapel. The friary was sold to a private buyer in 1559 during the Scottish Reformation and remodeled into a tenement.[5]
Architecture
The hospitium visible today once formed the west end of the friary, and it was the only building preserved during the 16th-century alterations, while the rest of the complex was used as a quarry. An antiquarian renovation in 1932–1935 restored the 14th-century details for which there was evidence, and otherwise retained the 17th-century finishes. The building was originally cruciform, but only its central part remains, including several tunnel vaults formerly used for storage.[3]
Gardens
Photographs
Inverkeithing Friary, east aspect.
Inverkeithing Friary, front staircase.
Inverkeithing Friary, south aspect.
Inverkeithing friary doorways, east aspect.
1958 photograph showing former tenement buildings on the Friary site.
