‘New Treasures at the St Andrews Heritage Museum”
By Anne Lawton Browder
A view of the Garden Gallery at the St Andrews Heritage Museum, 2026, photograph, St Andrews, Scotland. Image courtesy of Anne Lawton Browder.
After an eighteen-month redevelopment almost five years in the making, the St Andrews Heritage Museum reopened its doors this past autumn on 14 September. Since then, a small but devoted team of staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly to make up for the nearly two year closure. ‘The Garden Gallery,’ one of the newest additions, has played host to various temporary exhibitions, including the popular ‘Unbroken Threads’ exhibition co-curated with representatives of the local Ukrainian population, and the recent ‘Muir Walker Pride’ exhibition which showcased Scotland’s oldest architectural firm, but their ‘New Treasures’ exhibition offers something more intimate, giving visitors the chance to get up close and personal with the highlights of over seven hundred recent acquisitions to their collection.
Situated at 12 North Street, just one door down from the much beloved St Andrews institution Northpoint Café, the Heritage Museum occupies a former seventeenth century grade B listed fishing cottage located just steps from the Cathedral in an area formerly known as the ‘Ladyhead,’ once the centre of maritime life in St Andrews. Since the redevelopment, which included the painstaking restoration of the seventeenth century stepped gable pantile roof, improved access, and created space for visitor facilities, the Museum has enjoyed a steady stream of visitors, despite now charging for entry.
Still, its latest exhibition has seen great early success. The museum has long benefited from artefacts donated by locals, and acquisitions continued to arrive even throughout the two year redevelopment. In a place with such a rich tapestry of local history, this is perhaps unsurprising; yet, as curator Sam Walker notes, ‘it was amazing to see how much people kept bringing things, especially during a time when we were constrained by the renovations.’ Now reopened, Walker and her team are keen to highlight a selection drawn from these recent acquisitions.
A gallery reception held on Friday, 20 March marked the exhibition’s launch, bringing together staff, volunteers, and trustees. Included among the highlights of the collection is a work connected with the St Andrews School, transported all the way from Newfoundland, an acquisition that volunteers agree speaks to the museum’s growing reach.
‘It was exciting to acquire our first overseas acquisition,’ Walker recalls, ‘the logistics of that were interesting to see play out, but the owners were keen to see the work returned to Scotland.’
Winifred McKenzie, Evening, 1971, oil on canvas. Photograph, 2026, St Andrews, Scotland. Image courtesy of The St Andrews Heritage Museum.
The exhibition itself portrays an eclectic array of local history. Paintings, textiles, audio installations, and an exquisite late-Victorian wedding gown are only scratch the surface of a display sure to appeal to a wide variety of visitors. Those interested in Scottish art will encounter previously unseen works by Annabel Kidston, as well as Alison and Winifred McKenzie in situ.
Kidston, a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, occupies a particularly resonant place within the exhibition. Her paintings and illustrations, widely collected and locally celebrated, are returned to a site in which she herself was closely involved, having hosted several exhibitions at 12 North Street in the early days of the Preservation Trust.
Nearby, an array of scrapbooks invites visitors to peruse photos and ephemera relating to everyday life in St Andrews going back generations, offering a more personal glimpse into the town’s interconnected social history.
What distinguishes ‘New Treasures’ from previous exhibitions is its unique curatorial approach. Rather than communicating a linear narrative, the exhibition embraces a less structured approach, and visitors are free to move leisurely from one item to the next, forming their own connections. There is a tactile quality too, further enhancing the experience. In many ways, the viewing experience artfully mirrors the organic way in which the collection itself has been built over the years, shaped by chance, generosity, and a sense of community.
A selection of artefacts related to the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, 2026, photograph, St Andrews, Scotland. Image courtesy of Anne Lawton Browder.
Running until 5 July, ‘New Treasures’ invites visitors to view the heritage of St Andrews through objects both ordinary and extraordinary, highlighting the community that has long shaped, and will continue to shape, the Museum’s collection and ethos for years to come.
‘New Treasures’ at the St Andrews Heritage Museum is open daily from the 1st of April from 10:30am to last admission at 4:00pm. Entry to the exhibition is included in the museum admission (adult: £7.50/ concession: £5/ child: £2.50. Discounted family passes available).
Bibliography
St Andrews Heritage Museum. Visitor Information. Accessed March 2026
Walker, Sam. Interview with the author. St Andrews, April 2026.