Maison Dieu Chapel, Brechin

Founded between 1261 and 1267 by William de Brechin – his charters refers to St Mary’s Chapel and to the master , chaplains and poor people there. Bedesmen (Bedesmen are an order of paupers to whom the Kings of Scotland were in the custom

of distributing a certain alms, in conformity with the ordinances of the Catholic Church, and who where expected in return to pray for the royal welfare and that of the state) were still being maintained in 1582 and there are references to the mastership until at least 1636, when the office was cojoined with a mastership in the grammar school. The surviving 40″ section of the 13th century chapel consists of part of the south wall and a fragment of the east wall, worked in first pointed style. It contains a doorway with mouldings on the arch. There is a piscine in the south wall with a stone shelf at mid height

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