Pittenweem Priory was an Augustinian priory located in the village of Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland.
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Pittenweem Priory was an Augustinian priory located in the village of Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland.
The 6th century religious recluse St Monan is believed to have lived at a monastery at Pittenweem before leaving to take up residence in a small cave at Inverey. [1] Antiquarian Robert Sibbald says that in 1100, Edgar, King of Scotland gave Pittenweem to the Culdees. [2]
Around 1145, Benedictines from Reading Abbey founded the Priory of St. Mary the Virgin on the Isle of May. David I of Scotland granted the monks the manor of Pittenweem, [3] where they erected a priory [4] over the ancient sacred cave associated with Saint Fillan. It was a stopping off point for pilgrims on their way to St Andrews or St. Ethernan's shrine on the Isle of May.
Due to raiding parties from Orkney, the relative isolation of the community, and privations due to the difficulty of securing supplies, in 1288, Reading sold the Isle of May priory to the Bishop of St. Andrews, who gave it the canons of St Andrews Cathedral Priory. With the severing of ties with Reading, Pittenweem became their chief seat. It was less exposed to incursions by the English, nearer to the superior house at St. Andrews, and could be reached without the necessity of a precarious passage by sea. [5] In 1318, the canons on the Isle of May relocated to Pittenweem. [6]
The cave, which is fitted out as a chapel, was rededicated as a place of worship by the Bishop of St. Andrews in 1935. [7] [8]
The present Church of Scotland parish kirk is on the site of the priory church. Much of the fortified east gatehouse of the priory survives (15th century), as does the 'Great House', one of Scotland's best-preserved late medieval houses, which may have served as living quarters for the prior and monks. It was designated a Category A listed building in 1972. [9]
Fife is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. By custom it is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer. In older documents the county was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire.
The Firth of Forth is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.
Pittenweem ( ) is a fishing village and civil parish in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,747.
The East Neuk or East Neuk of Fife is an area of the coast of Fife, Scotland.
Kennoway is a village in Fife, Scotland, near the larger population centres in the area of Leven and Methil. It had an estimated population of 4,570 in 2020. It is about three miles inland from the Firth of Forth, north of Leven. This position gave it importance in the old days while travelling by coach, for the stage road ran through Kennoway from the ferry at Pettycur, through Ceres, and on to St Andrews. The street known as "The Causeway" was also added to part of the Fife Pilgrim Way in 2019 due ties with St Kenneth, the Causeway being part of one of the designated conservation areas by Fife Council
The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is about 1.5 kilometres long and 0.5 kilometres wide. The island is owned and managed by NatureScot as a national nature reserve. There are now no permanent residents, but the island was the site of St Adrian's Priory during the Middle Ages.
Saint Fillan, Filan, Phillan, Fáelán or Faolán is the name of an eighth century monk from Munster, who having studied at Taghmon Abbey, traveled to Scotland and settled at Strath Fillan.
Saint Fillan was a sixth-century Scottish monk active in Fife. His feast day is 20 June.
St Monans, sometimes spelt St Monance, is a village and parish in the East Neuk of Fife and is named after the legendary Saint Monan.
Saint Monan was a Christian missionary in Fife, probably a Gael. Little is known of him. Monan is believed to have lived at a monastery at Pittenweem before leaving to take up residence in a small cave at Inverey.
The Prior of St Andrews was the head of the property and community of Augustinian canons of St Andrews Cathedral Priory, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was established by King David I in 1140 with canons from Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire. It is possible that, initially at least, the prior of St Andrews was subordinate to the bishop as abbot, but by the 13th century the canons of St Andrews were given freedom by the bishop to elect their prior. By the end of the 13th century, the abbacy of the native canons was no longer there to challenge the position of the priory, and the native canons themselves had been formed into a collegiate church.
St Andrews Cathedral Priory was a priory of Augustinian canons in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was one of the great religious houses in Scotland, and instrumental in the founding of the University of St Andrews.
The Prior of May then Prior of Pittenweem was the religious superior of the Benedictine monks of Isle of May Priory, which later moved to the mainland became called Pittenweem Priory. The priory was originally based on the Isle of May, but was moved by 1318 to its nearby mainland site of Pittenweem, Fife, passing from the overlordship of Reading Abbey (Benedictine) to St Andrews Cathedral Priory (Augustinian). The following is a list of priors and commendators:
The Isle of May Priory was a monastery and community of Benedictine monks established for 9 monks of Reading Abbey on the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, in 1153, under the patronage of David I of Scotland. The priory passed into the control of St Andrews Cathedral Priory in the later 13th century, and in 1318 the community relocated to Pittenweem Priory on the Fife coast.
Portmoak is a parish in Kinross-shire, Scotland. It consists of a group of settlements running north to south: Glenlomond, Wester Balgedie, Easter Balgedie, Kinnesswood, Kilmagadwood and Scotlandwell.
James Haldenston or James Haldenstoun was an Augustinian churchman from 15th-century Scotland. Probably from somewhere in eastern Fife, Haldenston became an Augustinian at St Andrews, earned several degrees on the continent, and became prior of May before becoming prior of St Andrews, head of the wealthiest and most important religious house in Scotland.
Saint Adrian of May was a martyr-saint of ancient Scotland, whose cult became popular in the 14th century. He is commemorated on 3 December. He may have been a bishop of Saint Andrews.
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