Skip to content
The Great Britain Guide

Abbeys & priories · Scottish Highlands

Inverkeithing Museum

♿ Wheelchair: limited

Inverkeithing Museum in Scotland Islands, United Kingdom.

The Friary - geograph.org.uk - 4779219

Thomas Nugent — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
45 min–1.5 h
  • Family-friendly
  • Limited wheelchair access

About

Inverkeithing Museum is a place of interest in Scotland Islands, United Kingdom — drawn from open-data sources for visitor reference. See the linked Wikipedia article for the full description.

Photo gallery

From the Wikipedia article

Inverkeithing Friary, formally known as the Hospitium of the Grey Friars, is a 14th-century friary building and gardens located Inverkeithing, Fife, Scotland. The surviving friary building is considered to be the finest remaining example of a medieval friary building in Scotland. The building was restored in the 1930s and is now a Category A listed historic site by Historic Environment Scotland. 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. It is now used as a community centre.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

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.

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.

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
56.0298, -3.3984
District
Fife
Postcode
KY11 1LS
Parliamentary constituency
Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy
Established
1385

Sources

Other places nearby

Loading nearby places…

Nearby

More abbeys in this region

Frequently asked questions

Where is Inverkeithing Museum?
Inverkeithing Museum is in the Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom (postcode KY11 1LS).
When was Inverkeithing Museum built?
Built or established in 1385.
How do I get to Inverkeithing Museum?
Drivers can navigate to postcode KY11 1LS. It sits within the Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy parliamentary constituency.