spared after being purged of all monuments of idolatry. Nothing was left but the bare walls and roofs, which were retained for use as the Parish Church. Before the end of the century, the building was fitted up with galleries, and in course of time it was divided into three separate places of worship by thick walls, which still exist.
In 1585 the kirk-session declared the church to be in a "ruinous, pitiful, and lamentable state," and the minister was requested to preach a sermon and obtain a collection for the repair of the fabric,[1] but apparently not till 1598 did "the town begin to repair the new kirk in wallis and wandows."[2] The next item in the Chronicle regarding St. John's shows that the existing lead-covered spire on the central tower is of a considerable age, for in March 1607, "Thair rais ane great extaordinarire winde, that blew the lead of the steipill, to Mr John Malcolme's back yett."[3] This was evidently a formidable mishap, as ten years elapsed before the session, in 1617, "appointed David Sibbald to be master of work to the reparation of the decayed parts of the steeple, and to recieve furth of an chest, containing the Hospital's writts, the sum of £20 (Scots), left over the last collection lifted for reparation of the kirk, and help to repair the said seeple with."[4]
As already mentioned, nothing now remains of the church of the twelfth century, referred to in the earlier of the above notes, no part of the present structure being older than the beginning of the fifteenth century. The rebuilding of the Chapel of St. James in 1400 is spoken of above, but that chapel no longer exists. In 1448 the east end of the church is referred to as the "New Choir," and we shall see as we proceed that the other portions of the edifice are of still more recent origin.
The church (Fig. 1032)[5] consists of a choir and nave, with north and south aisles, and a north and south transept without aisles. The total length of the main building within the walls is about 191 feet by about 58 feet 9 inches wide. The nave and choir are of almost equal length. The transept measures about 91 feet in length from north to south, by about 23 feet 6 inches in width. There was a chapel on the west side of the north transept, which no longer exists, but the wide arch of the opening into it is partly visible in the transept. A view of this chapel is given in the Memorabilia of Perth, of which Fig. 1033 is a copy. It is represented as a lean-to of two stories in height, adjoining the north transept, the upper story being evidently reached by a stair in the erection on the west side.
It will be remembered that, in 1448, the east end of the church is referred to as the "New Choir," and it is quite evident from its style
