Since the 18th century, the congregations of Greyfriars have maintained missions, church centres, and projects outwith the main church building. New Greyfriars was especially active in mission work, using the Gaelic Chapel in Castle Wynd and, in 1846, founding the Vennel Ragged School: one of the first of its kind in Edinburgh. In 1886, the congregation built the Robertson Memorial Mission in the Grassmarket. From 1835, Old Greyfriars rented the Magdalen Chapel as a preaching station to the poor of the Cowgate.