Of the building of the east end or choir interesting particulars are given in the Register of Dunfermline. In the year 1507 an agreement was entered into between James Beaton, Abbot of Dunfermline, and the Town Council and community of Stirling, wherein it is stated that the latter having “takin apon hand to big and compleitlie edifye, and end ane gud and sufficient queyr conformand to the body of the peroch kirk of the said burght,” they were to deliver to the abbot the “body” of the parish church (that is the west end or nave) to be used by the Convent as a “queir ay and quhill the said queyr now to be biggit, be fully and compleitlie biggit and endit.” Under this arrangement the Convent was to [Illustration: FIG. 1246.--Stirling Parish Church. Interior of Choir.] pay £200 Scots, and to provide all the ornaments necessary for the high altar and for the upholding of the same, and promised infeftment yearly [Illustration: FIG. 1247.--Stirling Parish Church. View from North-East.] of 40s. Scots. On the other hand, the Council agree to uphold the queir perpetually in all things “swa that the hie alter thair sall be honestly and honourably uphalding in the said ornaments as thai resceve the samyn thairto fra the said abbot and Convent.” By the year 1520 the work appears to have proceeded so far that a service, by order of the Provost and Bailies, was held in the choir, but it does not appear to have been then quite finished, as in 1523 Robart Arnot, “Maister of the kirk wark,” is ordered to make payment for timber for the queir.[127] The choir (see Fig. 1247) consists of three bays with north and south aisles, and an eastern apse of five sides. The latter is applied like an oriel window to the east end of the church, somewhat in the same way as the apse of St. Michael’s, Linlithgow. It is wider than the central division of the choir, and fits on awkwardly to it, causing the two side divisions of the apse to be lost to view when one looks from the west end (see Fig. 1246). The vaulting of the apse is managed in a peculiar manner, arches being introduced [Illustration: FIG. 1248.--Stirling Parish Church. Plan of Chapel of St. Andrew.] on each side in order to bring the central space into a form as nearly a parallelogram as possible, and thus enable it to be covered with a pointed barrel vault, strengthened with small ribs.[128] The mullions of the apse are treated somewhat like perpendicular work. The side aisles are vaulted with stone, and the tracery is modern. The piers are of an ordinary late section (see Fig. 1244), and the details recall the later work of St. Giles’, Edinburgh. The caps are of the character of many late Scottish buildings, such as St. Giles’ and St. Michael’s (choir), the abacus containing a number of straight members, while the bed moulding breaks round the mouldings of the piers. The small shreds [Illustration: FIG. 1249.--Stirling Parish Church. Interior of Chapel of St. Andrew.]