Interior. Detail of arched window with niche below in N wall.

Description Interior. Detail of arched window with niche below in N wall.

Date 3/11/1993

Catalogue Number C 17692 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 785479

Scope and Content Window in North Aisle, Crichton Memorial Church, Crichton Royal Hospital, Glencaple Road, Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway The walls of the north aisle are of pink Gatelawbridge sandstone, and are divided into bays, each with a segmental arch recess containing an elegant narrow window. Below, a sculptured niche contains a radiator. The marble floor, by Allen & Young, has a rectangular pattern in dominant colours of purple and white. The church was built as a memorial to Mrs Elizabeth Crichton, wife of Dr James Crichton who died in 1823. Dr Crichton, who made a fortune in the service of the East India Company, left £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 as the money proved to be insufficient, chose instead to spend the bulk of the sum available 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, with every patient having a private bedroom. 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.

Medium Colour negative

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