St John’s Kirk

St John’s Kirk War Memorials

Robert Lorimer carried out a restoration to transform the Kirk into the War Memorial to the dead of Perth and Perthshire following the Great War 1914 – 1918. In addition to the concept of the whole building being a War Memorial, within the church are a series of individual plaques to specific regiments and groupings. The Parachute Regiment The Burma Star Association The Royal Army Service Corps. The Black Watch in the Boer War Members of the Congregation of St. John’s A shrine to all from Perth and County who fell in the two World Wars. The Scottish Area Women’s Royal Army Corps Association The Queen Mother’s window to the Black Watch. Masonic Brethren who fell in both World Wars. These two brass plaques are surrounded by interesting masonic symbols incised into the surrounding masonry.

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21/10/2023

War Memorials

Association of Perth Veterans War Memorial

Perth's most recent war memorial is in St John Street at the east end of St Johns Kirk. It was erected by the Association of Perth Veterans (APV) during 2020 and dedicated on June 26, 2021 after delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “The APV was formed in 2018 as a pressure group to ensure that those men and women who served in the forces from the Perth area, as well as those who gave their lives for our country – and the memorials erected to honour them – aren’t forgotten,” retired Colonel Bert Macrae, association secretary, explained to the local press in June 2021. “Our main aim from day one was to get a proper war memorial erected in the centre of Perth. The city has never had a proper war memorial and over the years wreaths were laid at the Mercat Cross, opposite Perth City Hall. This is not a war memorial – it was erected in 1913 to the memory of King Edward, Queen Victoria’s oldest son.” A bronze plaque accompanying the badges bears the inscription: “Erected in remembrance of all the men and women of HM armed forces who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the service of…

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21/10/2023

1000-1603 AD / Religious

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.

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16/10/2023

Religious

St Ann’s Lane and Chapel

A small green plaque at the South Street entrance to St. Anne’s Lane which runs north to St John’s Kirk tells the history of this ancient Kirk Vennel. It passed in part through the medieval graveyard next to the Chapel of St. Ann, which held a number of altars dedicated to the Mother of the Virgin. The chapel acted as a hospital for travellers and the poor. The chapel was in existence in 1514 when prayers were said every Tuesday for the soul of James IV who fell at Flodden the previous year. (Marshall T. H., The History of Perth: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, 1849 pp381-382) The site was later occupied by the original Perth Grammar School. In 1810 the school became a theatre which operated from 1810-1819 but burned down in 1823. The lane later contained the Champion Inn with stabling for four horses. The Perthshire Constitution and Journal was published in the lane from 1835-1948.

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07/10/2023

1000-1603 AD / 1603-1774 AD / Education

Former Perth Grammar School

The modern Perth Grammar School in Muirton has existed since 1971 but was not the first school to bear that name. A plaque high on the north side of South Street at its junction with Princes Street outlines a small part of the history of the original Perth Grammar School. The first recorded evidence of the school is in a charter of 1150. Robert, Bishop of St. Andrews together with a number of his successors confirm the presence of the school as part of the organisation of the church. By 1560 the Town Council, together with the reformed church had taken control of the management of the school. (The History Of Perth Academy, 1932, E. Smart, Milne, Tannahall & Methven, Perth, p30.) The school was demolished by Cromwell in 1652 but rebuilt in 1773. It was transferred to Perth Academy in Rose Terrace in 1807. When additional secondary school places were required in 1971, the new school in Muirton was given the long redundant title of Perth Grammar School. The old buildings were converted into a theatre which operated from 1810-1819 but burned down in 1823. Further details of the school and its surrounds are to be found on a plaque…

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07/10/2023