Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/143

 the old details, which were, however, much obliterated. A good deal of the stone facing was renewed at the same time.

The exterior of the church has been considerably altered and improved at various times. An open parapet has been carried along the top of the walls of the choir over the clerestory windows, and also along the walls of the aisles and up the sloping gables of the east end. Dormer windows to light the presbyterian galleries break in on this parapet on the aisle walls, and windows for the same purpose, constructed of wood, are seen on the roofs of the nave (see Fig. 1046). These dormer windows are all shown on the print in the Chronicle of Perth (see Fig. 1034), but not the parapets. This print shows a large and very elaborate porch, with a round arched doorway of many orders richly ornamented, as occupying the eastmost bay of the choir. This was originally the gateway or porch of the Carthusian Monastery of Perth, which, after the demolition of the abbey in 1559, was set up in this position, where it remained till about the end of the eighteenth century, "when it was demolished by an edict of the Magistrates."

The effect of the interior of St. John's is greatly marred by the cross partitions already referred to. This is much to be regretted, as the interior is exceedingly interesting, and, being in a comparatively fair state of preservation, exhibits more of its original features than the exterior does. When the church was complete, the effect of the gloomy nave, with its lofty unpierced wall above the main arcade, and the noble centre crossing, with the light refined choir beyond, must have been very striking and grand.

A peculiarity of the church and another resemblance to the nave of Dunblane and the north nave aisle of Dunkeld is the absence of vaulting in the aisles which many of our Scottish churches have. The aisles in St. John's never were vaulted, the only parts so constructed being the crossing and the north porch; the latter, it will be remembered, having also an upper vaulted story. This want of vaulting is a great defect of the church.

DUNDEE CHURCH TOWER.

The earliest notice in history of Dundee occurs in the first charter of Lindores Abbey, executed before 1198, in which the Church of Dundee is bestowed on the abbey. The church then existing is stated to have been erected by Earl David of Huntingdon, as a thankoffering for his escape from a great tempest. The Church of Dundee thus belonged to the Abbey of Lindores, which stood on the opposite side of the Frith of Tay, and a little further up the river.

In the time of Abbot James of Rossy (1442), an agreement was entered into between the abbot and the Provost and Burgesses of Dundee, by which the latter took on themselves the construction and maintenance