Interior -view from E Digital image of C 17650 CN

Description Interior -view from E Digital image of C 17650 CN

Date 3/11/1993

Catalogue Number SC 785445

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 17650 CN

Scope and Content Nave and Crossing, Crichton Memorial Church, Crichton Royal Hospital, Glencaple Road, Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway This seven-bayed nave is lined with tall, slender columns with foliaged capitals that carry the vaulting's ribs. At the crossing (foreground), clustered shafts of pink Gatelawbridge sandstone rise to the ceiling. The floor, by Allen & Young, is marble, with a geometric pattern in dominant colours of purple and black in the crossing, and a diagonal design in the nave. The stained glass window is by the Glass Stainers Company, and is exceptional, with black and pale colours against a clear background. The elaborate Art Nouveau-style wrought-iron lamp which hangs from the centre of the crossing, has fleur-de-lys decoration. The church was built as a memorial to Mrs Elizabeth Crichton, wife of Dr James Crichton who died in 1823. Dr Crichton, who entered the services of the East India Company, became physician to the Governor General of India towards the end of the 18th century. By his commercial enterprises both in India and China, he amassed a large fortune, and left over £100,000 in his will to his wife and trustees to be spent on 'charitable purposes'. Mrs Crichton's first idea was to found a university at Dumfries, but the money proved to be insufficient, and she chose instead to spend the bulk of the sum on the building of a lunatic asylum 'capable of accommodating 100 patients'. The asylum opened in 1839 as a charitable institution catering for five classes of lunatic patients, the annual charge for treatment and accommodation varying from £10 to £350. Crichton Memorial Church, designed by the architect, Sydney Mitchell (1856-1930), was built in 1890-7 during a major period of development of the Crichton Royal Hospital (then the Crichton Royal Asylum for Lunatics) site. It stands at the heart of the complex of buildings, and is unquestionably the finest building within the grounds. It was designed to be used by all denominations and all classes of patients, and was built as a memorial to the asylum's founder and to celebrate the institution's 50th anniversary. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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