 Since the abolition of bishops within the Scottish Church in 1689 , ownership of the abandoned cathedral fell to the crown , but no attempt to halt the decline of the building took place . <unk> the necessity to <unk> the structure , the Elgin Town Council initiated the reconstruction of the perimeter wall in 1809 and cleared debris from the surrounding area in about 1815 . The Lord Provost of Elgin petitioned the King 's <unk> for assistance to build a new roof for the chapterhouse and in 1824 , £ 121 was provided to the architect Robert Reid for its construction . Reid was significant in the development of a conservation policy for historical buildings in Scotland and was to become the first Head of the Scottish Office of Works ( <unk> ) in 1827 . It was probably during his tenure at the <unk> that the supporting buttresses to the choir and transept walls were built . 
