h was consecrated by David de Bernham,
Bishop of St. Andrews, in 1242, and it is stated that the heart of
Alexander III. was buried in the church of St. John.[289] The abbots of
Dunfermline allowed the building to become ruinous, and tried to place
upon the citizens of Perth the burden of upholding the fabric. The
interest of the citizens seems to have been diverted from the church,
and directed, probably at the beginning of the thirteenth century, to
the building of the Dominican monastery, and about the middle of the
century to the erection of the Carmelite or Whitefriars' monastery. It
is probable that in connection with repairs necessary for the church,
King Robert the Bruce in 1328 granted that stones might be taken from
quarries belonging to the Abbey of Scone, "for the edification of the
Church of Perth." Of the twelfth century church of St. John nothing now
remains to indicate its architecture, although it may have been both
magnificent and extensive. After the death of Robert the Bruce in 1329
the restoration begun by him probably ceased, and during the unrest of
the fourteenth century the church probably suffered further damage. In
1335 King Edward III. was in Perth, and slew his brother, John of
Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, before the high altar of the Church of St.
John for his excesses and ravages in the western districts of Scotland.
In 1393-1394, after a parliament at Scone, Walter Trail, Bishop of St.
Andrews, conducted divine service in St. John's Church. From 1401 till
1553-1556 there is a continuous record of the foundation of altars in
the church, and of endowment of already existing ones. The chapel in
which St. James' altar was situated stood on the south side of the
church, and the foundation charter of the altar of St. John the
Evangelist, founded in 1448 by Sir John de Bute, states that the altar
was situated "in the new choir of the Parish Church." The church
consists of a choir and nave, with north and south aisles, and north and
south transepts without aisles. The nave and choir are of almost equal
length; there was a chapel on the west side of the north transept that
no longer exists, but the wide arch of the opening into it is partly
visible in the transept. It was two storeys in height.

It is pronounced[290] as evident from the style of the architecture that
the choir and crossing beneath the central tower belong to the period
about 1448. The transepts may be later, and both are of the same p