Fig. 1290.—Greyfriars’ Church, Elgin. Plan.
Their first convent was in Edinburgh, where these friars were established in 1446. This convent was followed by one in St. Andrews, and a third house was settled at Aberdeen in 1450. The order then extended to Elgin, where it was introduced by John Innes, a member of a well-known Morayshire family, in 1479. The Franciscans, having no rentals to be taxed and no lands to alienate, probably fled when the Reformation came. Their convent was plundered by Montrose, but the church was not demolished, and still stands with its four walls complete, though sadly damaged. The domestic buildings have been obliterated or converted to modern uses.
The church (Fig. [1290]) is a simple oblong structure, 110 feet in length by 22 feet in width internally. It had an entrance door for the public in the north wall, near the west end. From the marks in the wall above it (Fig. [1291]) there seems to have been a wooden porch or awning over the doorway.
The church has been well lighted with large traceried windows (see Fig. [1291]) in the east and west end walls, and with six side windows in
Fig. 1291.—Greyfriars’ Church, Elgin. View from North-West.
the north wall and one in the south wall. Each of the end windows had three mullions with intersecting tracery in the arch, and the side windows were all divided into two lights by a central mullion, with two curved divisions in the arch. Near the centre of the building, and on both sides, there occur two small windows, one over the other, the lower one being single with ogee head, and the upper one having a central mullion. These windows have evidently been for the purpose of lighting the rood screen and loft. The lower windows would light the space under the rood loft, where there was no doubt an altar, and the upper windows the gallery or space over the screen. The corbels which carried the loft can still be traced on both sides of the church. A piscina in each of the side walls, close to the screen, shows that there were altars placed against it. In the north window, adjoining the screen, there is a stone sink, probably used by the priests as a lavatory. At the east end of the church there is an ambry in each of the side walls, and a window in the south wall to light the sanctuary. Under it is a recess, probably used as a sedilia. The conventual buildings have evidently been built to the south of the church. The junctions of four walls forming buildings on two sides of a courtyard still remain, and in the south wall of the church, between the above, may be observed the corbels which carried the roof of the cloister walk. There are also two doors from this side into the church. The structure is of a plain and simple style, corresponding to the character of the mendicant friars who occupied it. It was doubtless erected soon after the Observantines were introduced in 1479, and bears the character of the architecture of the period.
After the Reformation the church was no longer used for service. Criminal Courts sat in it till the middle of the seventeenth century, and it also served as a place of meeting of the crafts or trades in Elgin. Afterwards it became a place for Episcopal services, and it is now the property of the Convent of St. Mary of Mercy.