The castle of St Andrews sits on a low cliff above the North Sea — the residence of the archbishops of Scotland from the 13th century until the Reformation. It is small compared with Stirling or Edinburgh, but the surviving fragments are unusually atmospheric: the Sea Tower with its 'bottle dungeon' carved into the bedrock, the kitchen tower, and the ranges around the central courtyard.
The most arresting feature is below ground. In 1546, after the burning of the Protestant preacher George Wishart at the castle gate, a group of reformers seized the castle and held it for a year. The besieging Catholic forces tunnelled toward the walls; the defenders counter-mined to meet them. Both tunnels survive and can be crawled — bring a torch or borrow one at the visitor centre. Outside the castle wall, the initials "GW" picked out in cobbles mark the spot where Wishart was burnt at the stake.