OS1/15/22/72F

Continued entries/extra info

[page] 72f

[continued from 72e]
Sir - I am favored with yours of the 28 of
last month, and, in answer to it, am to acquaint
you, that I am decidedly of opinion that our
present parish church formerly belonged to the
Franciscans, or Minorites, and is the same that is
styled by John Fordun and John Major "Lucerna Laudoniae".
As a proof that it belonged to the Franciscans, the
ground adjoining the church is still denominated
the Friars Croft. The Convent stood nearly on the
same spot, where an Episcopal Chapel has been lately
built, and some of its ruins were dug out & Removed
a few years ago, so that not a vestige of it now
remains. In what part of the town the Dominican
Church and Monastery stood, I have not been able
to discover, as the town is possessed of no public
Records of any Kind prior to the beginning of the
last Century, and the town was not only almost
entirely destroyed during the memorable siege about
the middle of the 16 century, but since that time
was almost wholly consumed by fire.
To Frances Grose Esqre F.S.A. [Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries]