There has been a fortification of some sort at this site since the late 1100's. St. Andrews castle has been through many changes in ownership. It fell to the English in the early 1300's. The Scots retook the castle in 1314 but once again the English captured it in 1330. The Scots recovered the site in 1337. After this siege, the Scots destroyed the castle so that the English would find it unusable.
The Castle was used as a prison in the 1400's.
There is a subteranen part of the castle where you can venture at your own risk. As you can see there is a not a lot of space to manouvre!
In 1546 the Earl of Arran tried to access the castle by digging underground tunnels known as 'mines'. The protestants who were defending the castle dug countermines and intercepted the attackers. The protestants held out for reinforcements that never came and eventually the Earl of Arran took the castle.
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