the tithes of Perth for six years, subject to paying the vicar and a
certain sum to the monastery, along with the fees for the right of
burial in the choir, for the purpose of building ‘Chorum, et vestibulum
ecclesie parochiale dicti burgi de Perth, prout eis placencius et
honestius videatur, ac eadem postquam fuerint edificata perpetuis
temporibus sustentabunt in omnibus et singulis reparacionibus choro et
vestibulo pertinentibus tectura,’ &c. This agreement was made in 1440,
the year before John Fullar was made a bailie. It is possible that the
tithes and fees did not suffice for the execution of the work laid upon
the magistrates, and that John Fullar and his wife volunteered to pay
for a part, certainly for the pillar on which their names are
inscribed.” From this it is evident, as Mr. Ferguson remarks, that the
work of renewing the building was to be begun after 1440. It is somewhat
singular that the above two persons, who were evidently great
benefactors to this church, should have been so completely forgotten
that their good work at St. John’s required to be rediscovered and
brought to notice again here.
In the second bay of the choir from the east, on the north side (at B on
Plan), there is a round arched doorway, now built up. It led to the
sacristy or revestry, as it was sometimes called. After the Reformation
the sacristy was used for meetings of the kirk-session, but it was taken
down about the beginning of this century, and the meetings were
[Illustration: FIG. 1038.--St. John the Baptist’s, Perth. North Side of
Choir.]
afterwards held in the building, shown in Fig. 1034, on the south side
of the nave near the west end, which has also since been in its turn
removed.
The existing north and south doorways in the choir are modern, although
the south one is in the position of the old doorway, as the print from
the _Chronicle_ shows (see Fig. 1034).
The four piscinas marked A on Plan and shown by Fig. 1037 all resemble
each other.
The choir (Fig. 1038) has no triforium, but good plain masonry instead,
undivided by wall shafts. The clerestory windows are small and round
arched, and are divided into two lights by a central mullion, and have
[Illustration: FIG. 1039.--St. John the Baptist’s, Perth.