St Ninian's Square
Granite fountain in memory of Fox Maule Ramsay was moved to St Ninians Square from its original position in front of the Mechanics Institute. More to follow.

The Public Library was built in 1891 - 1893 and houses a museum depicting various aspects of the history of the Burgh. More to follow

Local sculptor and mason James Tosh constructed this unusual sundial. It gives 25 different time readings representing the time in 25 different countries. More to follow.

ST NINIAN and Angus
Dedication of Churches,Wells, Street Names and Caves in the name of St Ninian do not prove that he was personally there,but they show that his followers or "disciples" had brought Christianity to this part of Scotland.Indeed Christian beliefs existed in Scotland before the Roman legions left.

Ninian was himself the son of a British mother and father.His father was a chief or rex of a Cumbrian family,and a Roman Citizen.Hadrian's wall was still intact and Roman fortified camps existed in South Scotland and Northern England.

However,at the time of Ninian's birth,around 360 AD attack came from the Angles from the East,the Picts from the North,and Scots from Ireland,and Hadrian's wall was over-run.York was the centre of a bishopric whose influence reached north into the Borders and Galloway.Ninian's parents were Christians.

When Ninian reached manhood he was sent to Rome,where he was received by Pope Damasus 1,studied under St Jerome and was sent as a missionary to his own Cumbrian people.His travels brought him to Tours,where St Martin had established an early form of monastic community.Ninian introduced this movement when he settled in the Isle of Whithorn around 397AD,and set up a "monastery"with individual cells or huts near a stone built Church,(an innovation in Scotland), plastered in white,hence the name Candida Casa (White Shelter or Church) From there he and his missionary monks set out along the line of Roman Occupation from Galloway,through Central Scotland,Stirling and Angus,and possibly to Cromarty and Easter Ross.

In Angus he established a monastic settlement at Arbirlot near Arbroath,where you can see, in the present Manse Garden,a stone known as St Ninian's stone With plain cross marks and an open book(Bible),while in Arbroath there is a well out the cliffs called St Ninian's Well. Associations with St Ninian gave rise in much later times to dedication of Churches in Brechin Arbroath,Kirriemuir and street names(St Ninian's Square,Brechin) Whether he was here or not his influence reached the Britons, Southern and Northern Picts a good while before St Columba arrived in Iona from Ireland in 563.

References Dr Douglas Simpson The Celtic Church in Scotland St Ninian Edited by Ian MacDonald (Floris Books) Hay's History of Arbroath Public Library I.M April 2000.