THE GREYFRIARS AND THE Moat BRAkE. 15 
buildings for the erection of his castle, and in this he was only 
following the lead of others more highly placed. 
The Town Council soon deeply regretted their former 
apathy, and whereas before they could have had the Friars Kirk 
free as a parish church, in the near future they were to pay some 
what dearly for the privilege of worshipping within its walls. 
They found that the Friary Kirk and that of St. Andrew’s, which 
stood on the site of the present County Buildings, could be 
acquired for the burgh by the excambion* of a tenement known 
as the Peithouse, and a payment of two hundred merks and one 
hundred bolls of lime. 
The final clause of the disposition by Sir Thomas 
M‘Clellan to the burgh shows that men, even in 1570, were by 
no means satisfied that the new religion had been firmly estab- 
lished, and the astute Provost was taking the best means of pro 
tecting his interests should there be a return to the old regime. 
The charter to Sir Thomas M‘Clellan fairly accurately 
describes the boundaries of the conventual possessions in -he 
town. The expression “ between the river and the sea ’’ on the 
north, our highway on the west, and the land of Robert Forrester 
on the south shows that the possessions were bounded on the east 
by the creek which ran from what was in after days the harbour 
across St. Cuthbert Street, and on between Castle Street and the 
present Church grounds to the Meikle Yett near Townend, in front 
of Old Bank House, where it connected with the burgh fosse. 
On the west it was bounded by the High Street, which then ran 
in the same line, so that, allowing for the buildings of St. 
Andrew’s Kirk and the kirkyard in connection with it, these 
boundaries can be fairly accurately fixed. As regards the 
southern boundary, an entry in the Great Seal Registert shows 
that the land behind South High Street was in the possession 
of burghers, so that the line of that street may be taken as fixing 
the boundary. 
Up to the year 1730, when the ancient church was entirely 
demolished, there is little to be gleaned about it beyond the bare 
record of the ministers. From the time of the Reformation till 
* Given in full by Moir Bryce, II., 170. 
+ Given by Moir Bryce, II., 171. 
