Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

— a;MONTBOSEnecessary certificate for passenger traffic, and it wasremoved. Across the soutli channel there is a brickviaduct of 16 arches.The infirmary, near the N end of the suspension-bridge,was originally connected with the old lunatic asylumnoticed in the account of the parish. It afterwards becameseparate, and the present building, erected in 1837at a cost of £2500 and enlarged in 1865, includes a feverward, a small-pox ward, and a dispensary. It is underthe charge of the same directors as the lunatic asylum,and the average annual number of patients is over 400.High Street was, till 1748, divided along the centreinto two streets by a row of houses called Kotten Kow,but it is now a wide handsome open thoroughfare. Manyof the houses still present their gables to the street, butthese older features are slowly disappearing. Projectinginto the street towards the S end is the town-hall,erected in 1763, and with an upper story addedin 1819, a plain building, with arcaded basementand a pediment containing an illuminated clock. Itcontains a council-room, a guild-hall, a court-room,a coffee-room, a reading-room, and a large apartmentused as a public library (founded in 1785 ; annualsubscription one guinea). There is an extensivecollection of books amounting to over 19,000 volumes.Besides this there is a trades' or mechanics' librarywith 7000 volumes (founded 1819 ; annual subscription4s. 4d. ) and a grammar school library, founded in1686, and containing many old and rare books. Theold Trades' Hall on the E side of High Street, a shortdistance N ot the town-hall, is now known as the AlbertHall. The statues close by are those of Sir RobertPeel, erected in 1855; and of Joseph Hume, M.P.—native and for some years member for the Montrosedistrict of burghs—erected in 1859. The prison to theS of the town-hall superseded a disgraceful old jail inthe Steeple with only two or three miserable cells.BuUt in 1832, it has become almost useless in consequenceof the transference of all long-sentence prisonersto the prison of Dundee, though those with sentences ofnot more than 14 days are still kept here, and part ofit is used as a police court-room.There seems to have been a parish church as early asthe 13th century, but the present building, which isimmediately E of the to^\Ti-han, was erected in 1791 onthe site of an older church, and measures 98 bj' 65 feet.It is one of the largest in Scotland, the double tier ofgalleries and area containing 2500 sittings. The squaresteeple of the older church with its octagonal spiieformed a prominent feature in old views of the town.The spire was of later date, having been added in 1094MONTEOSEpersons ; and Knox U. P. church, in Castle Street,,built in 1860, for 300. The Independent church, inBaltic Street, was built in 1844 in place of a previouschapel,and contains 700 sittings. The EvangelicalUnion church (1849) has accommodation for 400 ; andthe Wesleyan church at the foot of New Wynd, built in.1873 in room of an older church dating from 1814,accommodation for 330. The Scottish Episcopal church(St Mary), in Panmure Place, was built in 1844, partlywith a donation of £1000 from H. Scott, Esq. ofBrotherton, and, as restored and enlarged in 1878, is agood Early English edifice, with organ, fine stainedglasswindows, and 350 sittings. The English Episcopalchurch (St Peter), whose early history has been alreadyreferred to, was rebuilt in 1859, and contains 500 sittings..Within garden ground on the W side of Murray Streetthere were, till the beginning of the present century,remains of a Dominican monastery. The original building,biggit and foundit ' ' and dedicated to the VirginMary in 1230 by Allan the Durward, last male representativeof the De Lundins, seems to have stood on theportionof the links known as St Mary's, near VictoriaBridge, but in 1516 the monks removed to new buildingsin the position first mentioned. Almost nothing moreis known of their history except that they found themselvesdisturbed in their new abode by the noises in thestreets, and were, in 1524, allowed to return to theirfirst dwelling.Montrose Academy stands on the Links, and was, aswehave already seen, in existence as early as the middleof the 16th century at least. Its early fame and itsconnection with Wishart and the Mel-vils has beenalready noticed. One of the teachers in the 17thcentury was David Lyndsay, a cadet of the Edzellfamily, who became Bishop of Brechin, and was afterwardsBishop of Edinburgh when Jenny Geddes threw herstool at Dr Hanna's'head. The bischop of Edinbrugh,named Mr David Lyndsay, cuming to preiche, heiringof this tumult cam nevertheles to Sanct Geillis kirk andteichit, but inquietatioun. Sermon endit and he goingout of the kirk dur, these rascall wemen cryit out aganistbischopis, reddie to stane him to the death, but being acorpulent man wes haistellie put in the Erll of Eoxbrughecoache, standing hard besyd, and was careit tohislodging ; the samen rascallis still following him andthrowing stones at the coache, so that he escaipitnarrowlie with his lyf ' Among the later pupils were-Joseph Hume and Sir James and Sir Alexander Burnes.The present building, which is surmounted by a lowdome, was erected in 1820, and contains accommodation'for over 700 pupils. The average attendance is about300, and the work, embracing the usual secondarysubjects, is carried on by a rector, six masters, and'three assistants. There is a very small endowment,the date on the vane now in the museum. It was in itthat Thomas Forster, a priest, met his death at the handsof John Erskine of Dun, a circumstance that led to theyoung laird's retirement to the Continent for a season, so that the income is to a large extent dependent on fees.and thus to his adherence to the doctrines of the ReformationFrom funds bequeathed by Mr John Erskine, of Jamaica,in 1786, education is provided at this school for eightand on it a ' fyre of joy burned ' in June 1566;on the reception of the news of the birth of James VI. poor boys, and a salary of £50 is paid to one of theassistantmasters. Dorward's Seminary — near theThe steeple having become somewhat rickety was takendown in 1831, and the present one, 200 feet high, Academy, erected in 1833 partly at the expense of theerectedin 1832-34 after designs by Gillespie Graham at Incorporated Trades and partly by subscription, anda cost of £3500, the gable of the church being altered afterwards transferred to the management of Dorward'sandimproved at the same time. There is a fine brass Trustees — gives instruction in English, writing, arithmetic,chandelier which belonged to the old church. Roundnavigation, Latin, and French, and the work isthe building is the old burial ground, which contains carried on by a master and mistress. In 1883 thirteen,the grave of Maitland the historian. There is a new schools, with accommodation, average attendance, andcemetery at Rosehill Road on the NE of the town. Government grant, were:—Erskine Street (152, 135,Melville Established church, built in 1854 as a chapel £114, 13s. 4d.), High Street (73, 119, £100, 10s. 6d.),of ease, is now a quoad sacra parish church. It has Lochside (120, 74, £57, 4s.), Montrose (381, 291,800 sittings. St John's Free church, in John Street, a £232, 6s.), Townhead junior (180, 109, £80, Os. 6d.),Grecian building, was erected in 1829 as a chapel of ease Townhead senior (207, 206, £193, 14s.), White's Placeata cost of £3969, and contains 1370 sittings. St (204, 191, £88, 17s. 6d.), White's Place infant (163,George's Free church, built soon after the Disruption, 154, £114, 18s.), Castle Street mission (242, 193,contains 1300 sittings ; and St Paul's Free church, a £115, 18s. 9d.), Dorward's Seminary (136, 61, £42, 15s.),plain Gothic building with a spire (1860), has 520 Dorward's Lower Seminary (123, 60, £27, 3s. 7d.), Stsittings. Mill Street U.P. church, built in 1830 for a John's Free Church (320, 179, £106, 3s.), and Unioncongregationformed in 1750, contains 500 sittings Street Works (83, 32, £29, 14s.).John Street U.P. church, built in 1824 for a congregationDorward's House of Refuge, at the N end of the-formed in 1787, has accommodation for 750 Middle Links, was erected in 1839, and is endowed from.56