(Fig. 1385) of the east wall and gable, and a considerable part of the north wall. The east end (Fig. 1386) contains two narrow pointed windows with a simple moulding on the outside, which is returned round the sill. The moulding (see Fig. 1386) is rebated on the exterior for a shutter. The ingoings are widely splayed and have pointed rear arches. The ancient part of the north wall is built with ashlar work, the stones being of a cubic form, resembling Norman work, and the mortar is well washed out of the joints. The remainder of the north wall is built with irregular courses, and the wall opening has a straight lintel. There is an ambry in the north wall near the east end, and a recess in the wall near the doorway. The church has been 15 feet wide internally, and probably about 50 feet in length.
THE CHURCH OF THE DOMINICANS OR BLACKFRIARS,
St. Andrews, Fifeshire.
Amongst the many remains of religious establishments still visible in
this old ecclesiastical centre, the ruins of a small part of the Church of
the Blackfriars are prominent from their situation, being an ivy clad
fragment of the church which stands detached in the grounds of the
Madras College, and forms a conspicuous object close to South Street,
one of the leading thoroughfares of the town.
The Dominicans or Friars preachers were introduced into Scotland in 1231 by Bishop Clement of Dunblane, and they were encouraged by Alexander II., who founded eight houses of the order in the principal towns of Scotland. This order was brought to St. Andrews by Bishop William Wishart, well known from the great works carried out by him at the cathedral.
Bishop Elphinstone, the distinguished prelate of Aberdeen and founder of the University in that city, died in 1514, leaving a sum of £10,000, part of which Prior Hepburn of St. Andrews succeeded in obtaining from the executor, Sir Thomas Myrton, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, for the purpose of rebuilding the convent of the Friars preachers in St. Andrews. In connection with this arrangement, the provincial of the order, John Adamson, a great reformer, held a chapter at Stirling in 1519, in which the revenues of the convent at Cupar and part of those of St. Monans were transferred to St. Andrews, while these convents were suppressed.[1]
No record is preserved of the buildings erected at this time, but probably the church was rebuilt and a series of domestic structures erected round a quadrangle on the south side of the church. The monastery was attacked and pillaged by the mob in 1560. The possessions of the convent
- ↑ "The Dominican Friars at St. Andrews," Transactions of the Aberdeen Ecclesiological Society, by David Henry, F.S.A. Scot. 1893.
