Open to visitorscheck opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
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Out in the Firth of Forth, reached by boat from South Queensferry, Inchcolm has the best-preserved group of monastic buildings in Scotland. The Augustinian house grew out of a hermit’s cell after Alexander I sheltered here in a storm in 1123. Its church is the ruined part; the cloister, the stone-roofed octagonal chapter house and the bell tower still stand, and a medieval wall painting survives in the choir. Gun batteries and tunnels from both world wars take up the rest of the island. Ferries run in the summer season only, and the abbey ticket is booked with the sailing — Aberdour looks across at it from the Fife shore.
