Religious – Perth Civic Trust

Kinnoull Burial Ground

An excellent information board on the wall outside Kinnoull Burial Ground describes many of the most important headstones and descibes the history of the graveyard and Kinnoull Church. The headstone for George Gray Millias, the son of Sir John Everett Millias Bart. P.R.A. and his wife Effie Chalmers Gray is situated within this graveyard. Effie Gray is also recorded on the headstone. She was the first wife of John Ruskin. See also Bowerswell House - Effie Gray. The graveyard also contains a number of very old gravestones showing various crafts and occupations. There is a particularly large stone depicting a Ferryman, signifying his importance to the city.

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20/11/2023

Religious

Bible Baptist Church, Kinnoull Street

The Bible Baptist Church at 46 Kinnoull Street was founded in 1843.

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18/11/2023

Religious

St Paul’s Church

A modern information board entitled Going to Market (Panel 9 of the Perth Medieval Trail) can be found beside the newly redeveloped St Paul’s Church open-air space. This replaced an earlier information board describing the history of St Paul’s Church and surrounding area (also shown). St. Paul’s was the first church to be built outside the area of the old city walls. The population of Perth 1801 was 16,388 a rise of 7.00 in the previous 56 years. Perth City Council agreed an additional church was required. The current site was chosen in preference to one by the shore despite the site lying directly over a branch of the city lade. Planning began in June 1796 and the first service of induction was held in November 1807. (History of St Paul’s Church, J. R, Maclean 1957).

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18/11/2023

Religious

Glasite Meeting House at St Paul’s

On the other side of the High Street from St Paul's Church stands a building which used to be the Glasite Meeting House. John Glas founded the Glasites in Scotland in 1730. A Glasite Church which was regarded as the “foundation of the Glasites” may have been founded in 1733. This church building was later, thought to have been erected in Perth in 1773. The date of 1839 it is thought refers to a later renovation, not to the building’s actual construction. (History of St Paul’s Church, J. R, Maclean 1957) The Glasite churches aimed at a strict conformity with a primitive type of Christianity. Church unanimity was considered to be necessary; if any member differed in opinion from the rest, he must either surrender his judgement to that of the church, or be shut out from its communion. The Lord’s Supper was observed weekly and every member was required to be present. This did not take the form of symbolic morsels of wine and bread but a relatively substantial meal, a custom leading to the Glasites’ nickname of ‘Kail Kirk’ as Scotch Broth was served. The custom may have arisen as a charitable response to the poverty of most members of this…

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18/11/2023

Religious

St Paul’s Hospital

A simple plaque showing the approximate site of the hospital and a founded date as March 1650 A History of St Paul’s church gives the date of founding of this establishment by John Spens as 1434. The site at the corner of the Newrow had previously been occupied by a nunnery one of whose chapels was dedicated to St. Paul. It is stated in this History of St Pauls that the chapel was of a considerable size allowing it to provide a hospital for travellers, the infirmed and the poor. (History of St Paul’s Church, J. R, Maclean 1957)

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18/11/2023

Religious

Bishop of Dunkeld’s House, St John Street

A painted wooden board high up at the southern end of St John Street describes the position of the Bishop’s House. The house was erected in 1414-1416 and demolished in 1821. The board is in poor repair and becoming illegible. This board should be read in conjunction with Fountain Close.

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18/11/2023

1000-1603 AD / Religious

Greyfriars Monastery and Burial Ground

The Franciscan Monastery was founded in 1460 but destroyed in 1559 at the start of the Scottish Reformation. Franciscans are sometimes referred to as Greyfriars. The original Rule of Saint Francis did not allow ownership of property, requiring members of the order to beg for food while preaching. The austerity was meant to emulate the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Franciscans travelled and preached in the streets, while staying in church properties. The gate post and lintel at the entrance to the grounds give information on the Spey Tower, the city walls and details the site of the deaths of martyrs. The portal inscription reads:Hic genitor genitrixque siti et1 numerosa utriusqueProgenies nati et natae charique2 nepotesEt neptes necnon pronepotes3 atque proneptesHaec quicunque legis morti nos nostraeque cunctaDeberi tanquam speculo referente videbisHaec etenim transit generatio nascitur illa Transcription, notes and translations by David Bowler, 06 October 20201 The inscription reads ‘sitiet’, which makes no sense here. ‘siti et’ means ‘lying, and’, which is obviously correct.2 ‘charique’, a variant spelling for ‘carique’, meaning ‘and dear’.3 The inscription clearly reads ‘pronepotos’, which is not a latin word. Pronepotes means ‘great grandsons’, which is obviously correct. o for e is an easy mistake for the sculptor…

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18/11/2023

1000-1603 AD / Religious

Carthusian Monastery

Occupying extensive lands south of Hospital Street and west of King Street, the Carthusian Priory in Perth was the only one in Scotland, was founded in 1429 by James I (1406–1437). The foundation of a Carthusian or Charterhouse Monastery is recorded on the obelisk in the rounds, on the corner of King Street and Hospital Street. Further details are on the information board 'The Vale of Virtue' on Hospital Street, panel 10 of the PKHT Medieval Trail. The Carthusian Order is an enclosed order of both monks and nuns. The Carthusians are the most ascetic and austere of all the European monastic orders being regarded as the pinnacle of religious devotion to which monks from other orders were attracted when they felt in need for greater spiritual challenges. The name Carthusian is derived from the Chartreuse Mountains in the French Alps. The name was adapted to the English “Charterhouse”. Charterhouse Lane is nearby. It is said James I was buried within the grounds of the monastery following his murder at Blackfriars. Also buried in the monastery grounds are Joan Beaufort Queen of James I and Margaret Tutor, sister of Henry VIII and Queen of James IV. In 1750 the King James VI Hospital was built on…

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18/11/2023

1000-1603 AD / Religious

Blackfriars Monastery

This plaque at the corner of Charlotte Street and Blackfriars Street sets out three important dates in the history of Blackfriars Monastery. It was thought to have been founded King Alexander II in 1231. The Church of the Friars Preachers of Blessed Virgin and Saint Dominic at Perth, commonly called “Blackfriars”, was a mendicant friary of the Dominican Order. Mendicant were Christian religious orders who adopted a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to the poor. At their foundation these orders rejected the previously established monastic model. The friary was frequently used for national church councils and as a residence for the King of the Scots. Perth was perhaps the most important royal centre in the Kingdom of Scotland until the reign of King James III of Scotland who died in 1488. It was at Blackfriars on the night of 20th February 1437 that King James I of Scotland was murdered by followers of the Duke of Atholl. An information board on the King James public house in Kinnoull Street tells the story of the murder and more.

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18/11/2023

1000-1603 AD / Religious

St Leonard’s Priory

Also known as the Nunnery of St Leonard the Abbot, this nunnery first recorded in 1411 was occupied by both nuns and monks. When the Carthusian Monastery was established in 1429, it suppressed the nunnery. The lands of the nunnery were conferred on the Carthusian Monastery who continued the chapel under its patronage. Following the dissolution of the monasteries the lands were acquired many years later by the Glover Corporation. The plaque showing the site of this nunnery is on the old Salmon Fisheries Building on St. Leonard’s Bank. The land is now much changed due to the construction of the railways. The nunnery is remembered in the local street names of St Leonard’s Bank, Priory Place and Glover Street.

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18/11/2023