Continued entries/extra info

[page] 29

[Carmelite Church continued from page 28]

"There was another Convent of Carmelites near the Queen's Ferry which was founded in 1330 by
the Laird of Dundas and consecrated to the Virgin. The remains of their house may still be seen by
antiquarian eyes and their Church which is almost entire may still be examined by those who
delight to trace Gothic Architecture. In this Shire however there were not many religious houses
though it contained the seat of the Templars." etc -- Chalmers Caledonia vol. [volume] 2 page 874

At the west end of Queensferry there is an interesting ecclesiastical ruin Though possessed
of few of the beauties of Saint David's edifices and scarcely indeed of any traces of their unrivalled
architecture though owning nothing in common with Melrose Kelso Jedburgh Dryburgh or Monastic
Teviotdale the little private friary of the Carmelites in Queensferry has its own points of admiration
for the eye of the archaiologist - none of the least being the admirable state of preservation of
the shell of the chapel as a solitary monument in Scotland of one of the monastic institutions
of the middle ages. The quaint low round Gothic arch aspiring timidly into the pointed
Norman might seem to mark an earlier period than actually belongs to this little building
Indeed the massive roof of overlapping flagstones flanked by the square Keep or tower and the
small rudely carved piscina in the interior of the thick wall of masonry Known only to the
adventurous who must needs brave the now inodoriferous Sanctum equally appear to indicate
the more primitive date that that of 1330 when this religious house is Known to have originated -- Summer Life at Queensferry by W.W.Fyfe page 58