On the East Wall in St John Street is a plaque recording that King David granted the Church of St. John the Baptist in Perth to Dunfermline Abbey in 1126 under whose auspices Perth fell at that time. In 2020 the Association of Perth Veterans War Memorial was placed in front of this plaque.
Outside the Kirk are two modern information boards. Earlier versions pictured here were initiated and funded by Perth Partnership, but these were replaced in 2021 by Panels 7 and 8 of the new Perth Medieval Trail created by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust in conjunction with Perth and Kinross Council. Panel 8 has disappeared recently.
Panel 7, entitled St John’s Town, deals with the history of the Kirk, explaining its environs in the Middle Ages and later. It describes the Kirk’s place in Scottish history from its founding, through the Reformation and into the modern period.
Panel 8, entitled Trades of Perth, explains the medieval origins of Perth’s manufacturing industries.
Robert Lorimer carried out a restoration to transform of the Kirk into a War Memorial to the dead of Perth and Perthshire following the Great War 1914 – 1918.
