St Andrews

St Andrews (Scottish Gaelic: Cill Rìmhinn) is a coastal university town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, 10 miles (16 kilometres) southeast of Dundee and 30 miles (50 kilometres) northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a population of 16,460 in 2022, making it Fife's fourth-largest settlement and the 45th most populous settlement in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. The settlement grew to the west of St Andrews Cathedral, with the southern side of the Scores to the north and the Kinness Burn to the south. The burgh soon became the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, a position which it held until the Scottish Reformation. The famous cathedral, the largest in Scotland, now lies in ruins. St Andrews is also known globally as the "home of golf". This is in part because of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, founded in 1754, which until 2004 exercised legislative authority over the game worldwide (except in the United States and Mexico). The Old Course of St Andrews Links (acquired by the town in 1894) is the most frequent venue for the Open Championship. It is home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world and the oldest in Scotland. It was ranked as the best university in the UK by the 2022 Good University Guide, published by The Times and The Sunday Times. The Martyrs Memorial, erected to the honour of Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, and other martyrs of the Reformation epoch, stands at the west end of the Scores on a cliff overlooking the sea. The town also contains numerous museums, a botanic garden and an aquarium.