John Cowane's Hospital, St John Street

A 17th-century almshouse for members of the Merchants’ Guild who had fallen on hard times – built with money left in the Will of merchant John Cowane, whose ghost, ‘Auld Staney Breeks’, is reported to possess the statue over the Hospital’s entrance and dance through the town each Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve).

Construction was interrupted by two ‘visitations’ of Plague.

Cowane's Hospital is currently closed to the public