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 utriusque
Progenies nati et natae charique2 nepotes
Et neptes necnon pronepotes3 atque proneptes
Haec quicunque legis morti nos nostraeque cuncta
Deberi tanquam speculo referente videbis
Haec etenim transit generatio nascitur illa
Transcription, notes and translations by David Bowler, 06 October 2020
1 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 to make.
Here lie father and mother, and a numerous
Progeny of both, sons and daughters, and dear grandsons
And granddaughters, and even great-grandsons and great-granddaughters.
Whoever reads all this, as if by looking into a mirror,
You shall see us and ours to be owed to death.
For this generation passes, that is born.
A more poetic rendition could be:
Here father lies and mother, and their swelling brood.
Sons and daughters, grandsons, granddaughters,
Great grandsons, great granddaughters, all here.
Reading this, as musing in a mirror, you shall
Behold us all and ours a debt to death.
For this generation passes, that is born.
An information board at the rear of the burial ground describes the wildlife to be found within the grounds. Another describes some of the early stones which are kept under protective cover in the rear part of the burial ground.
Land which previously belonging to the monastery was set aside as the town graveyard from 1580. (Marshall T. H. The History of Perth : From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, (1849, p380).
More plaques are to be found in the passageway between the burial ground and Tay Street. There are two awards, one from Perth Civic Trust in 2003 and a Heritage in Britain Award for the restoration in 2002. The others record funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund.