St.Andrews: City by the Northern Sea

by Raymond Lamont-Brown

Author and broadcaster Raymond Lamont-Brown has produced a fascinating and comprehensive history of St Andrews, from the dawn of Pictish times to the present, based on several decades of residence in the burgh and on original study of its thoroughfares and byways. The book focuses on a lively selection of colourful characters who have made St Andrews what it is, from doughty residents Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair and Cardinal Archbishop David Beaton to illustrious visitors like Mary, Queen of Scots, John Knox and Samuel Johnson. Thousands of others, from artisans to golfers, have contributed to St Andrews' past, to make it a burgh whose history forms the core of Scotland's story.

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 1996

Reviews

[Kate]

Very irritating. Clearly a lot of research has gone into this book but this has been arranged (dumped?) into thematic chapters and follows no narrative structure. It reads like a gigantic sprawling tourist brochure. The sentences are convoluted. Some interesting facts but they required considerable and very tedious unpicking.

[Evan Harris]

While parts were interesting the book wasn’t very captivating, large amounts felt much more like specifically a history of the churches of St. Andrews.