Queensferry is a town on the south side of the Frith of Forth, at the
point where the water narrows and is spanned by the Forth Bridge.
At the time the drawings of this church were made, about thirty years
ago, it was entire, as shown on the Plan (Fig. 1214), the nave only
being roofless; but a few years afterwards the nave was ruthlessly cast
down, and the materials were entirely destroyed. The transept and
[Illustration: FIG. 1214.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery. Plan.]
[Illustration: FIG. 1215.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery. View from
North.]
choir, with the stone roof of the latter, were almost entirely hidden
from view beneath a dense mass of ivy; while the beautiful east end was
quite unapproachable owing to the incongruous surroundings. The
[Illustration: FIG. 1216.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery. Crossing, from
Transept.]
tower, the arches of which originally opened into the church being built
up, was used as a stable, while the transept was turned into a potato or
coal store and a huckster’s shop. The fortunes of the structure were at
the lowest ebb when, at the end of 1889, its renovation as a place of
worship was undertaken by the Dean and Chapter of St. Mary’s Cathedral,
Edinburgh, under the direction of Mr. J. Kinross, architect.
[Illustration: FIG. 1217.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery. Interior of
Choir.]
The church stands at the west end of Queensferry, on the north side of
the street, and the description of its situation in the oldest extant
charter relating to it, which is of the year 1457, is quite intelligible
at this time. James Dundas of Dundas grants “to God and the Virgine
Mary, and brethren of the Order of the Virgine Mary of Mount Carmel,
and their successors, a piece of ground lying in the town of the Ferry,
with the pertinents, with the yard and green adjacent to the church of
the Virgine Mary, and whole houses builded in form of a monastrie, as
also that other piece of ground lying betwixt the burn which runs near
the cross of the said town on the east parts [this burn can still be
identified where it comes down by the road immediately to the west of
the town house] and the highway [the present main street of Queensferry]
and ditch that goes towards Echline [a neighbouring farm, and still
known by this name] on the south parts, and the rivolute [still to be
seen] running from the town of Echline to the sea on the west,
[Illustration: FIG. 1218.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery. Section through
Choir.]
and the sea on the north parts.” The “houses builded in form of a
monastrie” have all disappeared, except a portion of the north wall,
seen in shadow in the accompanying view from the north (Fig. 1215).
[Illustration: FIG. 1219.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery. View from
South-West.]
The monastic buildings were on the north side of the church, between it
and the sea. The above wall, which stands on the shore of the Frith of
Forth, at the distance of about forty paces northward from the church,
determines the width of the monastery from north to south, while its
length from east to west can also be fairly well ascertained. The
eastern buildings of the monastery occupied the position seen on the
left part of
[Illustration: FIG. 1220.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery. Doorway in Nave
(now destroyed).]
the church in the north view, between the point where the water tabling
ends and the small pointed window near the east end; and perhaps also
some of the old houses on the east occupy the sites of monastic
buildings. In like manner the western buildings in all likelihood
occupied the position of the old house seen on the right hand in the
same view. A covered cloister ran along the north side of the church,
the corbels for carrying its lean-to roof being still visible, as well
as the stone tabling for protecting the same.
[Illustration: FIG. 1221.
Carmelite Friars’ Monastery.