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St Regulus's Church and Tower
"This is supposed to be the most ancient edifice in Scotland perhaps in Great Britain. It is situated thirty five yards south-east of the Cathedral. The tower is square and about 108 feet in height. The walls consist of well hewn stones the space between them which is filled up with lime now so hardened as to be now more difficult to cut than the stones themselves. The arches of the doors and windows are semi circular approaching to the horse shoe form. This building was repaired in 1789 at the expense of the Exchequer and a winding stair completed from the bottom to the top the whole being roofed with lead within a stone parapet four feet high. The edifice can scarcely pretend to the antiquity which Boethius ascribes to it but its simple its simple [sic] architecture shows it to have been erected long before the introduction of what is called the Gothic Style. We may reasonably conjecture that it was constructed in the seventh or eight [eighth] century soon after the foundation of the Culdean monastery near which it stood and the church of which it no doubt was. The tower is built of a remarkably durable stone which is not now found in any of the quarries near St Andrews nor has it ever been known from whence it was procured. There are still the walls of the church remaining on the east side of the tower beyond which there was a chancel as appears from the annexed plan of the town as it stood before the reformation. There was also an anti-chapel on the west for of the sloping roof of this building a distinct trace may be seen on the wall of the tower and a complete view of it is represented on several impressions of seals attached to the city and college charters. The same seals represent a small turret [continues]

Transcriber's notes

Continuation of Description of St Regulus Chapel and Tower

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JCB

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