The fragmentary ruins of the church of the monastery of the Redfriars
stand in the middle of a fir plantation immediately to the west of the
town of Peebles. All architectural interest connected with the edifice
has been destroyed. The freestone work which Grose specially commends
has been carried away, leaving only bare and ragged whinstone walls, and
giving the structure a very desolate appearance. The monastic buildings
were situated on the north side of the church; and the fir plantation,
which seems to represent their extent, runs in that direction for about
100 feet, with an average length from east to west of about 250 feet,
the whole extent of the plantation being a little less than an acre. It
is probable, from these dimensions, that the monastic buildings were
extensive, but, unfortunately, their destruction has been very complete.
The ruins of the nave remain (Fig. 1433), and measure, within the walls,
about 70 feet 6 inches from east to west by a width of 26 feet 9
inches. Grose gives the length of the church as 102 feet, and there are
indications (see Plan) that it was longer at one time than it is now.
There is a tower at the west end, which measures about 20 feet by 21
feet, and had an opening into the church, now built solidly up. From a
view of the church in Grose’s _Antiquities of Scotland_, the building
was evidently in a much better condition in 1790 than now. It appears to
have been then entire, wanting only the roof, and the tower was finished
with a projecting parapet and two gables, after the manner of a pele
tower.
[Illustration: FIG. 1433.--Cross Church, Peebles. Plan.]
So completely has the place been harried that little is left to
describe. There were three pointed windows in the south wall and one in
the east gable, the latter of which (Fig. 1434) still partly remains.
Against the north wall of the church there is an erection called the
Douglas vault, to which a door opens from the church. It is in a very
dilapidated state, although the vaulted roof is complete. Immediately to
the west of this vault, with a passage between of about 7 feet, there
are indications of other vaulted buildings, and similar indications are
found at the east end of the church, all in a very fragmentary
condition. In the historical books relating to the locality, a story is
repeated of the finding, on this site, of a magnificent cross in 1261,
of the miracles performed by it, and the ultimate founding of a church
by the king, which was called the Cross Church. Such a church existed in
1296, for Frere Thomas, Mestre de la Maison de Seint Croce, de Pebblis,
swore fealty to Edward I. at Berwick.[196]
At the Reformation the Cross Church became the church of the parish, and
on the lintel of the door at the east end are cut the words “Feir God,”
with the date 1656. A portion to the west of this may have been
[Illustration: FIG. 1434.--Cross Church, Peebles. View from South-West.]
the part, about 30 feet in length, which Grose says was walled off to
form a school, probably at the date just mentioned.
The monastic buildings were used for various purposes, such as a school
and schoolmaster’s house, and for persons suffering from the plague, but
from about the beginning of the eighteenth century they gradually became
ruinous, and have now reached their present lamentable condition.