Publication Account

Date 1990

Event ID 1018545

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018545

A group of Observant Franciscans established themselves in Glasgow sometime between 1473 and 1479 1 on a site granted by Bishop John Laing, which was confirmed by James III in 1479. 2 The friary was to the rear of the west side of High Street on the lands of Craignaught and Ramshorn. To the north was a path leading to the Meadow well or Deanside well; to the east was a lane which came to be called Greyfriars Wynd; and on the south and west were arable lands. 3

By June 1560 the friars had left their convent,4 although some of their members had been present in March of that year when Queen Mary gave them herrings as alms. 5 The friary buildings remained standing in 1562, 6 and the church of the Greyfriars was repaired as late as 1589. 7 The properties of Greyfriars were, however, granted to the town by the crown in 1567° and in 1573 transferred to the college, 9 although by 1575 they were in the hands of Sir John Stewart of Minto. 10

Notes

1. Cowan and Easson, 119.

2. W M Bryce, The Scottish Greyfriars (Edinburgh 1909 2

VO 1 S) , ii , 195

3. For a full discussion of the possible layout of the

Franciscan convent, see D M Farmer, The Franciscan

Friary in Glasgow (SUAT publication 1987).

4. Glasgow Protocol, no 1370.

5. WM Bryce, Scottish Greyfriars, i, 350.

6. Ibid, i, 346.

7. Glas. Recs., i, 127.

8. GUA 16485 Bl 287.

9. Glas. Chrs., ii, no lxii.

10. WM Bryce, Scottish Greyfriars, i, 348.

Information from ‘Historic Glasgow: The Archaeological Implications of Development’, (1990).