BRECHIN, one of the royal boroughs of Scotland, in Angus-shirc, is delightfully situated on the side of a hill which rises from the no'th bank of the river Southcsk, over which is a good stone bridge adjoining to the town. It lies eight miles west from Montrose harbour, from whence the tide flows within two miles of the bridge.
It was a bishop's see, founded about the year 1150 by DavicH., surnamed the .Saint, on account of his extra ordinary liberality to the church. Its annual revenue, paid in money and in kind before the Reformation, is said to have amounted to seven hundred pounds ; but, after that event, it was diminished to one hundred and fifty pounds, owing to the alienation of its estates by Alexander Campbell, the first Protestant bishop, to his chieftain the Earl of Argyle, by whose interest he had been promoted to that see. Keith, in his description of the religious houses in Scotland, says, " In this bishopric there is great confusion and uncertainty." At the Re formation, an account of the rents and revenues of all ecclesiastical benefices was required to be given in to the privy council of Scotland; and the return sent from the see of Brechin was as follows : " Four hundred and twen ty-fou• pounds seventeen shillings Scotch ; one hundred and thirty-eight capons ; two hundred and eight fowls ; eighteen geese ; three barrels of salmon ; eleven bolls wheat ; fourteen chalders and six bolls bear; twenty-five chalders and five bolls meal ; and one chalder and two bolls oats." The Culdees had a convent here, who afterwards gave way to the Mathurincs, or Red Friars. The ruins of the abbey, or convent of red friars, called the college, is still to be seen in the college, or canonry wynd, ad joining to the grammar-school ; from which it would ap pear to have been a large building. Here was also one of those hospitals, which, in the time of Popery, were to be met with in various parts of Scotland; foun ded for the maintenance of the poor, or the education of youth; and, as being of peculiar benefit to the commu nity, distinguished by the honourable name of Maisons de Dieu, or houses of God. It was founded about the year 1256, by William of Brechin, and the south wall is still entire in the upper part of the town.
It is not known by whom the cathedral was built. It is a Gothic pile supported by twelve pillars. The whole length, including the chancel which is demolished, was one hundred and sixty-six feet, and the breadth sixty-one feet. The west end of one of the aisles is entire ; the door is Gothic, and the arch consists of many mouldings; it has also a w indow of curious and beautiful workman ship. A nick in the wall, on which stood a statue of the
Virgin Mary, still remains. That part of the cathedral, which escaped the devastation of the reformers, is used as the parish church, and was some years ago fitted up into an elegant and commodious house for public wor ship. The steeple of the church is a beautiful square tower, one hundred and twenty feet high, with battle ments on the top, from which rises a handsome hexa gonal spire.
Adjoining to the church stands a round tower, of un common elegance, known by the name of the Mae stee ple, which is an object of attention and admiration to all so-angers. It consists of sixty regular courses of hewn free-stone, laid circularly, and tapering towards the top, which is covered with a spiral roof In the tower arc four windows, facing the four cardinal points ; and in the spiral roof are other four windows, placed ahem-ate on the sides, and resting on the top of toe tower. The inside is hollow, but has no stair ; two good bells are hung in it, which are reached by means of ladders, placed on wooden semicircular floors, each resting on circular abutments within the tower. The inner diameter at the bottom is eight feet; the thickness of the wall, at the same place, is three feet seven inches ; height to the roof eighty feet; the octagonal spire twenty-three feet ; making the whole height, from the ground to the top of the building, one hundred and three feet. The only other tower similar to this in Scotland, is at Abernethy in Perthshire, (see ABERNETHY,) but its height is only three-fourths of the one now described. Conical towers, of the same description, are frequently to he met with in Ireland ; but their date, and the use for which they were constructed, remain very doubtful, notwithstanding all the researches and investigations of antiquaries. By some they have been deemed watch towers, for the pur pose of descrying invaders, and communicating by sig nals their approach. Others suppose that they had been designed for belfries, and introduced by some of the cru saders, in imitation of the minarets of mosques, from whence the criers summoned the people to prayers. A third opinion is, that they were penitentiary toTucrs, used for the confinement of penitents, until they were re stored to the bosom of the church ; and that the Irish, (whose country obtained the name of the land of sancti ty, patria sanctorum, on account of the number of its re- • ligious houses,) might have been the original inventors, and have introduced them into Scotland.