B R E 



449 



B R E 



BREASTWORK. Sec FORTIFICATION, and 

 GUNNI- 



BREBERS.orBEHKnnr.us. SceBAini.viiv, j 

 , BRECHIN, one of the royal bijiouKhs ot Scot. 

 land, in Angus-shire, is delightfully situated on tin- 

 side of a hill which rises from the north bank of the 

 river Southesk, over which is a good tone bridge 

 adjoining to the town. It lies eight miles west 

 from Muntrosc harbour, from whence the tide flows 

 within two miles of the bridge. 



It was a bishop's see, founded about the year 

 1 1.>0 by David I., surnamed the Saint, on account of 

 his extraordinary liberality to the church. Its annual 

 revenue, paid in money and in kind before the Refor- 

 mation, is said to have amounted to seven hundred 

 pounds; but, after that event, it was diminished to 

 one hundred and fifty pounds, owing to the aliens- 

 tion of its estates by Alexander Campbell, the first 

 Protestant bishop, to his chieftain the Earl of Ar- 

 gyle, by whose interest he had been promoted to 

 that see. Keith, in his description of the religious 

 houses in Scotland, says, " In this bishopric there is 

 great confusion and uncertainty." At the Reforma- 

 tion, an account of the rents and revenues of all eccle- 

 siastical benefices was required to be given in to the 

 privy council of Scotland ; and the return sent from 

 the see of Brechin was as follows : " Four hundred aad 

 twenty -four pounds seventeen shillings Scotch ; one 

 hundred and thirty-eight capons; two hundred and 

 eight fowls ; eighteen geese ; three barrels of sal- 

 mon ; eleven both wheat ; fourteen chalders and six 

 bolls bear ; twenty-five chalders and five bolls meal ; 

 and one chalder and two bolls oats." 



The Culdees had a convent here, who afterwards 

 gave way to the Mathurines, or Red Friars. The 

 ruins of the abbey, or convent of red friars, called 

 the college, is still to be seen in the college, or 

 canonry wynd, adjoining to the grammar-school; 

 from which it would appear to have been a large 

 building. Here was also one of those hospitals, 

 which, in the time of Popery, were to be met with 

 in various parts of Scotland ; founded for the main- 

 tenance of the poor, or the education of youth ; and, 

 as being of peculiar benefit to the community, distin- 

 guished by the honourable name of Maisons de Dieu, 

 or houses of God. It was founded about the year 

 1256, by William of Brechin, and the south wall is 

 still entire in the upper part of the town. 



It is not known by whom the cathedral was built. 

 It is a Gothic pile supported by twelve pillars. The 

 whole length, including the chancel which is demo- 

 lished, was one hundred and sixty-six feet, and 

 the breadth sixty-one feet. The west end of one of 

 the aisles is entire ; the door is Gothic, and the arch 

 consists of many mouldings ; it has also a windaw of 

 curious and beautiful workmanship. A nich in the 

 wall, on which stood a statue of the Virgin Mary, 

 Still remains. That part of the cathedral, which es- 

 caped the devastation of the reformers, is used as the 

 parish church, and was some years ago fitted up into- 

 an elegant and commodious bouse for public worship. 

 The steeple of the church is a beautiful square tower, 

 one hundred and twenty feet high, with battlements 

 on the top, from which rises a handsome hexagonal 

 pire. 



VOL. IV. TART II. 



Adjoining to the church stands a round tower, of Ertrliin. 

 nnrcmmoii rlcgance, known by the name of ll:c til/If 

 xlrcftlr, which 13 an object of attention ;iiul admira- 

 'tion to all strangers. It consists of sixty regular 

 courses of hewn tree-stone, liid circularly, and ti- 

 pering towards the top, which is covered with a spi- 

 ral roof. In the tower are four windows, facing the 

 four cardinal points ; and in the spiral roof are other 

 four windows, placed alternate on the sides, and 

 resting on the top of the tower. The inside is hol- 

 low, but has no stair : two good bells arc hung in 

 it, which are reached by means of ladders, placed 

 on wooden semicircular floors, each resting on cit* 

 cular abutments within the tower. The inner dia- 

 meter at the bottom is eight feet ; the thickness of 

 the wall, at the same place, is three feet seven inches; 

 height to the roof eighty feet ; the octagonal spire 

 twenty-three feet ; making the whole height, from 

 the ground to the top of the building, one hundred 

 and three feet. The only other tower similar to this 

 in Scotland, is at Abernetliy in Perthshire, (see ABEH- 

 NETHY,) but its height is only three-fourths of the one 

 now described. Conical towers, of the same description, 

 are frequently to be met with in Ireland ; but their 

 date, and the use for which they were constructed, re- 

 main very doubtful, notwithstanding all the researches 

 and investigations of antiquaries. By some they 

 have been deemed natch towers, for the purpose of 

 descrying invaders, and communicating by signal:; 

 their approach. Others suppose that they had bei-n 

 de-signed for be/fries, and introduced by some of the 

 crusaders, in imitation of the minarets of mosques, 

 from whence the criers summoned the people to 

 prayers. A third opinion is, that they \\erc peniten- 

 tiary towers, used for the confinement of penitents, 

 until they were restored to the bosom of the church; 

 and that the Irish, (whose country obtained the 

 name of the land of sanctity, patria sanctorum, on ac- 

 count of the number of its religious houses,) might 

 have been the original inventors, and hare introduced 

 them into Scotland. 



On the south side of the town stood the castle of 

 Brechin, but no vestige of it remains. It was be- 

 sieged by the English under Edward I. in 1303, and 

 was gallantly defended by its governor, Thomas 

 Maule, for twenty days, till he was slain by a stone 

 from an engine, when it instantly surrendered. Near 

 the scite, a castle of a modern construction was built 

 by James Earl of Panmure in 1711, which com- 

 mands a delightful view of the river Southesk, and 

 the adjoining country ; the river washing the foot of 

 the rock on which the castle stands. 



In the year 164-7, the plague raged with great vio- 

 lence in this town, and carried oft' six hundred of 

 the inhabitants in the short period of four months ! 

 Their bodies were deposited in the ground adjoining 

 to the church, and a monument was erected with the 

 following inscription, in memory of that awful visita- 

 tion of heaven. 



1G17. 



Luna, quater crescens, 

 Sexcenlos pi:itc percmptot 



(Disce mori!) vidil. 

 Pit/vis et umbra sumiis. 



This town has several well-attended markets, or* 



