The rounded arch gave place in the thirteenth century to the early Gothic, of which the most striking feature is the pointed arch. This is the _First Pointed Period_. Ornament was more general, the mouldings were richer and more graceful and the foliage of trees was occasionally copied. The windows were narrow, lofty and pointed, giving an impression of space and lightness. Aberdeenshire is too far north to have developed many examples of this early style, but it has some. The Abbey of Deer is perhaps the most ancient ecclesiastical building, but it is now a complete ruin, all the best parts of it having disappeared within the last fifty years. It was founded in the thirteenth century. Deer had been an ecclesiastical centre long before that time. The story goes that Columba and his pupil Drostan travelled from Iona to Aberdeenshire when Bede was Mormaer (Earl) of Buchan. They were first at Aberdour on the coast, but ultimately journeyed to Deer, where Columba requested the Mormaer to grant him a site for a church. At first the Mormaer refused, but his son fell ill and in consideration of the efficacy of the prayers of the two holy men in bringing the youth back to health, the Mormaer granted them the lands of Deer and this was probably the first place in Aberdeenshire where a regular Christian church was erected. No trace of that church, built in the sixth century, is left. The Abbey was an entirely different structure and not begun till early in the thirteenth century. It was founded by William Comyn, Earl of Buchan, and was really a Cistercian Abbey, originally occupied by monks sent from Kinloss. From the ruins now within the grounds of Pitfour House, it can be made out that the length of the building (nave and chancel) was 150 feet. A few mouldings and the arches of some windows indicate that it belonged to the first pointed period. The building was of red sandstone probably brought from New Byth, some 12 miles distant. After the Reformation the Abbey fell to decay and its walls became, as in many other cases, a quarry from which other buildings were erected. In 1809 the ruins were enclosed with a wall by the then proprietor, Mr James Ferguson of Pitfour, but since then they have dwindled. No mention of Deer is possible without reference to the famous _Book of Deer_—a manuscript volume of the highest value, emanating not from the Abbey but from Columba’s monastery in the same region. The book was brought to light in 1860 by the late Mr Henry Bradshaw, University Librarian at Cambridge. It had lain unrecognised in the Library since 1715. It contains the Gospel of St John and other portions of scripture in the writing of the ninth century; but of even greater importance is the fact that on its margins it contains memoranda of grants to the monastery, made by Celtic chiefs of Buchan and all written in Gaelic. These jottings are of the highest historical value.