Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/378

 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.

GREYFRIARS' CHURCH,.

This structure, which took the place of an older one, was built by the well-known prelate Bishop Gavin Dunbar at his own expense, between the years 1518 and 1532. Its architect was Alexander Galloway, parson

—Greyfriars' Church, Aberdeen. Plan.

of Kinkell, a well-known Churchman, who is specially referred to in the description of the later church. This church was dedicated to the Virgin.