South Queensferry: Carmelite Friars' Monastery

Category

Library Item

Item no

29124

Title

South Queensferry: Carmelite Friars' Monastery

Artist / maker

Ross, Thomas

Date

1877

Size

38.2 x 27.6 cm

Type

Watercolour

Location

Art and Design Library

Thomas Ross was born at Wardheads, Errol, and attended local schools before going to Glasgow around 1855 to work as an assistant to architect Alexander Kirkland.
In 1862 he began as an assistant to David MacGibbon in Edinburgh, and was made a partner in the firm of MacGibbon and Ross in 1872. Ross began sketching the architecture of Scotland along with his senior partner, contributing to the latter's public lectures, and culminating in the pair's major publications.

The Carmelite Friary at Queensferry was founded in 1330.The building had a variety of uses until the late 1800s, and during this time its condition deteriorated. The monastic buildings were demolished, as was the nave in 1875. Architects Henry Seymour and John Kinross completed a restoration scheme in 1889, and the following year James Montgomery, Dean of Edinburgh, reconsecrated the building for the Scottish Episcopal Church.

South Queensferry is located ten miles from Edinburgh city centre, on the shore of the Firth of Forth. It is sometimes called Queensferry, but South Queensferry is used in order to distinguish it from North Queensferry.

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