The University of St Andrews is designating one of its most beautiful seafront buildings as The Poetry House.

The four-storey listed building is thought to be the largest building in Britain devoted to writing and reading poetry.

The university hopes it will become a national focal point for poetry.

The Poetry House aims to celebrate the shared commitment to poetry that has been built over centuries at St Andrews

Professor Robert Crawford

Professor Robert Crawford, new head of the School of English at the university, said: "Poetry has its roots in language and in community.

"The Poetry House aims to celebrate the shared commitment to poetry that has been built over centuries at St Andrews.

"We hope that the wider community that sustains poetry in this town and beyond will treasure and celebrate The Poetry House."

The building will host research, teaching, workshops and readings from an international range of poets, readers and students of poetry.

Poems read in The Poetry House will range from Anglo-Saxon and early Scottish verse to freshly-penned lines from students taking the university's degree in creative writing.

The Poetry House is part of the university's School of English whose staff include poets Don Paterson, Kathleen Jamie, Douglas Dunn, Robert Crawford and John Burnside, amongst them winners of the Whitbread Prize, the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Somerset Maughan Prize.

Paul Muldoon, Tom Paulin and an international array of poets will also be visiting The Poetry House over the next 12 months.