![Hand drawn and coloured bird's eye view of the town of St. Andrews.](/media/nphegg4b/st-andrews-map-handdrawn.jpg?mode=max&width=800&height=0&upscale=false&rnd=133560150128630000)
S. Andre sive Andreapolis Scotiæ Universitas Metropolitana (1580).
This birds-eye plan of St. Andrews was made in around 1580. It is attributed to John Geddy (also spelt Geddie or Geddes) and shows property boundaries, colleges, and churches. The cathedral is shown before it fell into ruin after being abandoned as a place of worship in 1561.
Geddy worked as a secretary to historian and poet George Buchanan. Geddy was also in diplomatic service to King James VI, probably as a secretary for Anne of Denmark, who was Queen of Scotland.
Although this plan is unsigned, the handwriting matches with another book of Geddy’s, ‘Methodi, sive compendii mathematic’, which he dedicated to King James. The book was written in the 1580s, which dates this plan to the same time.
[Library reference: MS.20996]