Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

ELGIN.
493
habits and repose of genuine ecclesiastics, in the full
enjoyment of an intellectual ' otium cum dignitate.'
The houses of the long main street of Elgin, as
it then existed, were of venerable age, with high-
crowned roofs, overlaid with heavy slabs of priestly
gray ; presenting, to the street, like those — we may
now almost also say of old — in Dysart, Edinburgh,
and other towns, the portly fore-stair, and a double
range of the more distinguished open piazza, consist-
ing of a series of pillared arches in the front wall,
over the entrance to a paved and sheltered court
within, in which, as well as in his humbler small
dark shop or cellar, was the ancient 'merchant'
wont, at times, with carelessness, but with complete
security, to leave his goods, and walk unceremoni-
ously off, — his "half-door on the bar," — to break-
fast, dinner, or his evening stroll. But few of these
piazzas now exist, and some that do, are either built
entirely up, or otherwise converted into shops of
modern style. Of those which still retain them
open, with a railing, Elchies-house is one. Diverg-
ing from the main street, the essential form of which
— as widened in the centre of the town, to compre-
hend 'the Muckle kirk,' 'the Little kirk,' its ad-
junct, and the Town-house, or Tolbooth, — is still
the same, though much improved in length and
breadth as well as substance, numerous lanes and
closes, flanked by houses of inferior grade, stretched
off, rectangularly, as they still do, like the ribs from
a spinal ridge. The dates of their erection, and the
names of their proprietors, were usually inscribed
upon the lintels of these ancient domiciles, with
here and there a holy benediction. The pave-
ment of the high or main street was an ancient
causeway, which tradition modestly reports to have
been the work of no more ancient hands than those
of Cromwell's soldiers ; though, most Ukely, it was
many ages older. It rose high in the middle; and
' the crown of the causeway,' where the higher-
minded folks delighted to parade, was elevated and
distinguished by a row of huge stone blocks, while
those of a more moderate calibre occupied the slop-
ing sides. The drains which ran along the street
were crossed, rectangularly, by the common gutter,
which, in heavy rains, was often swelled into a
mighty torrent. The street had no side-pavements,
till Lord Fife, aided by the citizens, and the road-
trustees, introduced them in 1821 .
St. Giles's, or ' the Muckle kirk,' has now no
local habitation. It was razed, in 1826, to make
way for the present splendid substitute. The period
when the original St. Giles was built is not on re-
cord. It was very ancient, and is early mentioned as
a parsonage. In the high and palmy days of the cathe-
dral's glory, it was in the bishop's pastoral charge.
It stood upon two rows of massive pillars, spread-
ing into pointed Gothic arches, with a vaulted roof,
weighed down by heavy hewn stone, instead of slate.
In 1679, on Sunday, 22d June, and, providentially,
in the interval between the services, the roof fell in,
and, except the arched tower in the centre, and the
pillars at the sides, the total fabric was destroyed.
In 1684, it was rebuilt, when two long aisles were
added, on each side, to the original form of the
church. The Little kirk, where service was per-
formed on week days, was appended to the middle
tower, upon its eastern side, but was demolished
half-a-century ago. Although the interior of the
Muckle kirk, with its rows of massive sandstone pil-
lars running along its aisles, and terminating upwards
in the high peaked arches which upheld its vaulted
roof, possessed a dignity and grandeur of no common
order, heightened and enhanced as was the tout
ensemble by its richly carved and massive oaken
pulpit, galleries, and seats, the exterior was by no
means rich in architectural display — presenting no-
thing worthy of record, indeed, except the lofty
pointed gable of its western aspect, which was oc-
cupied by a large and fine Venetian three-arched
window; and the central, Gothic, grand front en-
trance from the paved square called the Plainstones.
The central tower was a square and heavy mass
without a steeple. It possessed a curious old fash-
ioned clock, however, and a bell whose long familiar
tones were held in veneration by the natives, as in-
deed was every thing connected with the Muckle
kirk:* — so much that its demolition caused a general
feeling of deep regret, if not dismay, amongst them,
which the unequivocal symptoms of decay, and the
impending probability of other dangers such as those
of 1679, did little to diminish.
" The Tolbooth, biggit wt stanes frae ye kirk-
yard dyke, and sclaited wt stanes frae Dolass," in
the year 1605, is now, like 'the kirk-yard dyke'
itself, amongst the things that were. It stood in
the middle of the market-place, and consisted of the
court-house, and the jail, a square uncomely tower,
which terminated in a short spired roof. A new
and elegant court-house having been erected, it was
doomed, in 1840, no longer to incumber the ground ;
and immediately behind the court-house a new pri-
son, Containing 15 separate apartments, is about to
be erected at an expense of about £1,500, to be de-
frayed by the county of Moray, the town or city of
Elgin, and the town of Forres. [See 2d Report of
the General Board of Directors of Prisons in Scot-
land. Appendix, p. 100.] — ' The Muckle cross'
stood also in the market-place, but was many years
ago removed. ' The Little cross' still stands entire
near the entrance to Grant-lodge, — Lord Seafield's
house, — and opposite an old piazzaed mansion. Here
it probably marked the old burgh-boundary on the
east. The burgh, it is thought, was once surrounded
by a wall: at all events there were two entrances
or gateways to the town, one called the East port,
and another called the West.
On the flattened summit of the Lady-hill, a mount
with conical and precipitate slopes, north-west of
the High-street, there was anciently a royal fort
erected so early as the reign of William the Lion,
for protection to the town, which probably then
crept close around it. Ruins of the castle-walls, of
extraordinary thickness, are still visible : they seem
* " The bells," Bays a writer in the Forres Gazette, " did
not escape the general reformation, f They had been, indeed,
great transgressors. For centuries they had summoned the
people to the idolatrous sacrifices of the mass, and were thereby
polluted; and it was necessary that they should undergo a pro-
cess of purification. Accordingly, two or more of them were
sent to Turriff in lf>89, to be recast into one solid, sound Pres-
byterian bell. This new bell was hung in the kirk-steeple,
where it continued till 1713, when it was rent by a woman
striking it violently with a heavy key, for the purpose of arous-
ing the inhabitants to quench a fire which had broken out
in the town during the night. It was again recast, August
17th, 1713, at the head of Bailie Forsyth's close, by Albert
Gely, founder in Aberdeen, the expenses being again defrayed
by the town. It is said that numbers of the rich inhabitants of
Elgin repaired to the fouoding-place, and cast iu guineas,
crowns, half-crowns, and the poorer people shillings and six-
pences, during the time the metal was melting, which contri-
buted, in no small degree, to enrich its sound as well as its
substance. It was again elevated to its former place, in the
kirk-steeple ; and used on all solemn and joyful occasions, till
it fell a victim to excessive loyalty; — the boys bavins' over-
rung and rent it on the king's birth-day, June 4th, 1785. It
was taken down, and refounded at London, on the 17th Octo-
ber following, having the names of the then magistrates cast
on its body: the charges were of course defrayed by the town.
This is the history of ' the Big bell ' for a period of 250 years."
t It would appear tbat the ' Prayer bell,' commonly called the minister's
bell, has come scathless through this trying time. The inscription around it,
* Thomas de Dunbar me fecit, 1402,' tells that it is an ancient,— the only relic
(save and except the Ronald bell of Btrnie) of the former dispensation. This
venerable piece of metal was given to the town of Elgin, by the Earl of Mo
ray, 435 years ago. It has, with equal fidelity, lifted its sonorous voice ir
behalf of papists, presbyterians, and episcopalians; and has rejoiced at tbs,
success of royalists and round'heads, whigs and lories, as well as sounded
forth the requiem of eighteen sovereigns, during that period.