St Rule's Tower question

[sweet]

Google has failed me....

Does anyone know if there was ever a gibbet at the top of St Rule's Tower?

[novium]

I doubt it.

[hr]

quem neque periculi tempestas neque honoris aura potuit umquaum du suo cursu aut spe aut metu demovere.

[exnihilo]

There was not.

[Count Dracula]

There may not have been a gibbet, but there is the tale of the ghost of the Prior Robert de Montrose who, it is said, can oft be seen atop St Rule's tower. He suddenly appears then, after an apparent struggle, can be seen toppling over the parapet and hurtling to the ground below. He is said to have been murderously stabbed in the back and thrown off the tower by a monk of his priory who was jealous of his position.

[hr]

Consejo no pedido, consejo mal oido.

[fat bastard]

i don't know, but apparently you can't go up the tower without going into the museum, which costs four quid, which is a farce

[Timata]

Quoting fat bastard from 11:57, 12th Aug 2007
i don't know, but apparently you can't go up the tower without going into the museum, which costs four quid, which is a farce

Ah, but if you go to the castle with your gown, they issue you with a regular ticket - then you go to the museum and hand it over and they let you in free there to. I don't think they can tell the difference, though I haven't actually tried.

[exnihilo]

You can go into the museum and buy a tower token without having to pay for anything else.

As for the ghost, how can he have stabbed him in the back and thrown him off, yet there is a struggle?

[Campbell]

Quoting exnihilo from 16:05, 12th Aug 2007
You can go into the museum and buy a tower token without having to pay for anything else.

no you can't

[iab2]

Quoting exnihilo from 16:05, 12th Aug 2007
As for the ghost, how can he have stabbed him in the back and thrown him off, yet there is a struggle?

Have you ever tried lifting a dead man over a parapet? I am sure most would struggle


[hr]

Do your duty, carry a ham!

[Jamie potton]

Quoting Count Dracula from 10:16, 12th Aug 2007
There may not have been a gibbet, but there is the tale of the ghost of the Prior Robert de Montrose who, it is said, can oft be seen atop St Rule's tower. He suddenly appears then, after an apparent struggle, can be seen toppling over the parapet and hurtling to the ground below. He is said to have been murderously stabbed in the back and thrown off the tower by a monk of his priory who was jealous of his position.

[hr]

Consejo no pedido, consejo mal oido.

I take it this is a different Robert of Montrose from the benefactor of St John's College? I don't think that's how he died...

[exnihilo]

Quoting campbell from 16:11, 12th Aug 2007

Quoting exnihilo from 16:05, 12th Aug 2007
You can go into the museum and buy a tower token without having to pay for anything else.

no you can't

I always did. I wonder when that changed? It was certainly still the case last summer...

[novium]

yeah, i went up the tower in june. Cost me 4 pounds. Didn't have to pay anything more.

[hr]

quem neque periculi tempestas neque honoris aura potuit umquaum du suo cursu aut spe aut metu demovere.

[rob 'f*ck off' wine boy]

I believe the price of four pounds was the bone of contention to begin with, not whether or not one could ascend the tower independently of having to partake of the museum experience (and price), which the price seems to include regardless.

I make that Pimms O'Clock.

[KateBush]

No, there wouldn't have been a gibbet at the top of St Rule's tower. Though it may feel like you are asphyxiating after climbing up there...

[hr]

Intelligence can leap the hurdles which nature has set before us- Livy

[Lindsay]

Which does raise the question: Where would the St Andrews town Gibbet have stood?

[hr]

[Frank]

Quoting Lindsay from 20:43, 12th Aug 2007
Which does raise the question: Where would the St Andrews town Gibbet have stood?

Physics?

[hr]

"There is only ever one truth. Things are always black or white, there's no such thing as a shade of grey. If you think that something is a shade of grey it simply means that you don't fully understand the situation. The truth is narrow and the path of the pursuit of truth is similarly narrow."

[flarewearer]

Quoting campbell from 16:11, 12th Aug 2007

Quoting exnihilo from 16:05, 12th Aug 2007
You can go into the museum and buy a tower token without having to pay for anything else.

no you can't

you could in the good old days. Cost £2 each or something.

[hr]

[Bonnie]

I thought they uncovered an old gibbet on the North Haugh a few years ago.

[exnihilo]

The most likely place is somewhere just beyond the old gates.

[sweet]

Quoting katebush from 19:10, 12th Aug 2007
No, there wouldn't have been a gibbet at the top of St Rule's tower. Though it may feel like you are asphyxiating after climbing up there...

[hr]

Intelligence can leap the hurdles which nature has set before us- Livy

Funny enough I was just thinking there was no bloody way that £4 would ever be extracted from me again for the dubious pleasure of climbing the thing!

I ought to add my reason for posting in the first place. We were walking down the Pends the other day, and I was talking to my good friend Richard about how creepy I have always found a certain section of the road (about half way down). There aren't many parts of the town that give me the heebiee jeebies - the only other one would be the mine/countermine at the castle. Anyway, he came clean and told me that he could always see 3 men in long tunics and tight trousers hanging from a gibbet atop the tower, but only from that particular angle. He is a bit special that way, does see the odd ghoulie (and usually omits to tell me).

Of course it'd be an unlikely site for a town gibbet (although it would have the advantage of being seen everywhere), but then again there was something of a religious war going on at one time, so it's perhaps possible there could have been a temporary and unrecorded one.