The eastern courtyard is triangular in form. The ruin on the east side is probably a fragment of the infirmary. On the south side is a range of ruined vaults, over which was probably the abbot’s hall. At the south-east angle stand the ruins of what was the abbot’s keep, or place of strength, erected apparently in the sixteenth century. It is of the ordinary form of the lay keeps of the period, having thick walls, with chambers formed in their thickness and a corbelled parapet for defence. It no doubt communicated with the abbot’s hall adjoining. It is built over the stream which bounds the convent on the south, and passes under the lower story, where it had an archway, grated at each end. The principal floor contains a good fireplace, with ambry adjoining, and a small stair leading to the water below. The upper floors contained the usual bedrooms, one of which still shows the remains of a carved fireplace. The [Illustration: FIG. 823.--Crosraguel Abbey. Chapter House, looking North-West.] north and east walls are demolished. The south and west walls are quite plain. Some of the corbels of the parapet, however, still survive. The south-west courtyard is of considerable extent, and contained a number of domestic offices, such as bakehouse, brewhouse, &c. A picturesque gatehouse gives entrance to the monastery through this courtyard, and strangers’ apartments are provided in the upper floors.[155] The pigeon house is also a well preserved example of that common class of structure. The ruins seem for a long period to have formed a convenient quarry for the district, but they were put in good order about fifty years ago by the Kilkerran family, and are now well preserved and cared for. ST. GILES’ COLLEGIATE CHURCH,[156] EDINBURGH. The Church of St. Giles occupies the site of the original parish church of Edinburgh. It stands in a conspicuous situation in the centre of the Old Town, on a comparatively level piece of ground (probably an ancient sea margin), which occurs in the general slope extending from the Castle to Holyrood. In the ninth century, when Lothian formed part of Northumbria, the Church of Edinburgh is mentioned as belonging to the diocese of Lindisfarne. About 1120 a new church was erected by Alexander I., of which some fragments remained till the end of last century. This church is frequently referred to in subsequent reigns. Notice of it occurs under Alexander II., in the early part of the thirteenth century; in 1319, it is mentioned in an Act of Robert I.; and in 1359, under David II., a gift of lands is confirmed to it. The earliest of these notices doubtless referred to the Norman church of the twelfth century, of which not a fragment now remains _in situ_; but some detached Norman carved stones, such as caps, have been found in excavations in the interior. The edifice appears to have been rebuilt about the time of David II.