Interior -view of N aisle from E Digital image of C 17686

Description Interior -view of N aisle from E Digital image of C 17686

Date 3/11/1993

Catalogue Number SC 785473

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 17686

Scope and Content North Aisle, Crichton Memorial Church, Crichton Royal Hospital, Glencaple Road, Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway This low, north aisle is divided by a series of stone half-arches into seven bays, each of which contains a small window recessed in the outer wall (right). It is separated from the nave by a pointed-arch arcade (left) with columns with foliated capitals attached to the piers. The marble floor, by Allen & Young, has a bold rectangular pattern. The church was built as a memorial to Elizabeth Crichton, widow of Dr James Crichton who died in 1823. Crichton, who amassed a huge fortune in service with the East India Company, left £100,000 to his wife and trustees to be spent on 'charitable purposes'. Mrs Crichton's first wish was to found a university at Dumfries, but the money proved to be insufficient. In 1833 she decided that the funds would be more beneficially employed in establishing an institution for the mentally ill, illustrating an immense shift in attitudes at the time towards the plight of the insane in Scotland. The foundation stone of the asylum was laid in 1835, and the first patient admitted in June 1839. Although the institution which opened was charitable, it was dubbed by the local press as the 'Crichton Foolery' and bitterly attacked as a misguided and undesirable avenue of philanthropy. 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/785473

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap