The process of decay was reversed in the 19th Century when the state and local community began to take an interest in the preservation of the cathedral. The wall had four access gates, one of which—the Pans Port—still exists. The Bishop of Caithness and the Dean of Ross performed the translation ceremony on 19 July 1224. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the floodplain where the town of Birnie is. For this, Stewart did penance and contributed largely towards the rebuilding, which was a substantial exercise. Work may have begun on the cathedral before the see transferred from Spynie. The entire western gable between the towers was reconstructed and the main west doorway and chapterhouse were refashioned.In 1847–8 several of the old houses associated with the cathedral on the west side were demolished, and some minor changes were made to the boundary wall.
It was founded in 1224 as the seat of the bishopric of Moray and dedicated to the Holy Trinity. As usual, the cathedral was built on the site of previous churches and pagan holy places, and it was to be much larger than the cathedral it replaced in nearby Spynie. Only in the early years of the 19th Century did the Crown begin the conservation process: in 1824 the Crown funded the roofing of the chapterhouse supervised by Robert Reid, and between 1824 and 1826, John Shanks, a cobbler of Elgin, shifts '2,853 cubic yards of rubbish' from cathedral. The gable wall above the double door entrance that links the west towers is nearly complete and was rebuilt following the fire of 1390. 34 pp. The ruins were used as a quarry for the neighbourhood until 1807, when a wall was erected round them. Originally built in a cross shape it appears to have been significantly added to in the late 13th century after a fire in 1270. Elgin Cathedral was built on land granted to the church by King Alexander II and work on the cathedral began in 1224. Chronicler my church was the particular ornament of the fatherland, the glory of the kingdom, the joy of strangers and incoming guests, the object of praise and exaltation in other kingdoms because of its decoration, by which it is believed that God was properly worshipped; not to mention its high bell towers, its venerable furnishings and uncountable jewels. Today, these walls are at full height in places and at foundation level in others yet the overall cruciform shape is still discernible.
It suffered a damaging fire in 1270, requiring a rebuilding programme which greatly enlarged the building. In 1615, John Taylor, the 'Water Poet', described Elgin Cathedral as "a faire and beautiful church with three steeples, the walls of it and the steeples all yet standing; but the roofes, windowes and many marble monuments and tombes of honourable and worthie personages all broken and defaced".While the building was still largely intact in 1615, the winter of 1637 saw a storm which brought the roof covering the eastern limb down.
Large cathedrals such as Elgin had many chapel altars requiring canons, assisted by a plentiful number of chaplains and vicars, to perform daily services.The vicars were of two kinds: the vicars-choral who worked chiefly in the choir taking the main services and the chantry chaplains who performed services at the individual foundation altars though there was some overlapping of duties.Despite these numbers, not all the clergy were regularly present at the services in Elgin Cathedral. King Alexander II granted the land on which Elgin Cathedral now stands, and the cathedral was established in 1224. This church was subsequently sacked and burned by Alexander Stewart, the Wolf of Badenoch, in 1390: the West window, nave arcades, and Chapter Houses were all destroyed during the fire. Absence was an enduring fact of life in all cathedrals in a period when careerist clerics would accept positions in other cathedrals. Master Gregory the mason and Master Richard the glazier are mentioned in the chartulary of the cathedral. The result was a building some 280ft in length, taller than the original and with a new choir and an octagonal chapter house. In five years the cathedral will celebrated 800 years of existence. Subsequently, work was undertaken to clear the site and stabilise the building, with over 3,000 barrow-loads of rubbish being removed. The octagonal chapter house was also built. During the Wars of Independence the cathedral remained for the most part undamaged until it was burned in an attack in 1390 by the brother of King Robert III. There followed a rapid decline, with gales, storms and Cromwell's troops. There is a rubble wall with rounded coping enclosing the graveyard, dating from 1807. This tomb in the south transept of the cathedral is thought to be an effigy of a family member of the Innes' of Invermarkie.Elgin Cathedral viewed from the west towers. The Cathedral was built in Elgin in 1224. The south transept's southern wall is nearly complete, displaying the fine workmanship of the first phase.