Chapter XI: Part 11

of the present nave. Parts of the east and west gable walls still remain. At a later period, probably about the middle of the fifteenth century, the church was extended to the south, and was converted into a building with a nave and a north aisle; and again at a still later period, in 1485, the south wall was taken down and a south aisle erected. The north and south aisles correspond in a general way with each other (Fig. 1406), and although the pillars on the north side are round and those on the south side are octagonal, both have very simple caps and bases, all of late form.

The arches of the arcade on both sides are round with broad notched splays. There are three clerestory windows on the north side, of a square shape. They formerly had oak lintels on the inside, but these, being decayed, were removed during the restoration, and the stone arches shown in Fig. 1406 were put in. On the south side there are eight clerestory windows, arched throughout.

The west tower is not in the centre, but occupies the space between the centre of the nave and the line of the south arcade. It appears to be an addition, but its lower plain vaulted story was probably erected before the addition of 1485, while the upper portion is of later construction. There is an entrance through the tower to the church, which, from the relative positions of the two, is not in the centre. The opening of a flat arched form is shown in Fig. 1406.

In 1242 Bishop de Bernham consecrated the Church of St. Vigean. It was again consecrated, along with two altars and the cemetery, in 1485 after the additions were built by Bishop George O’Brien, Bishop of Dromore, in Ireland,[185] acting probably, as Dr. Duke says, for the Bishop of St. Andrews.

MONASTERY OF RED OR TRINITY FRIARS, DUNBAR, HADDINGTONSHIRE.

This fragment (Fig. 1407) is all that remains of the monastery of the Red Friars at Dunbar. The field in which it stands is still known as the Friars’ Croft.

It is generally supposed[186] that this building was originally a belfry of the monastery, and that it was, at a subsequent period, converted into a pigeon house; but it is much more likely that, besides being the belfry, it was also the pigeon house of the monastery from the first. It appears to be still very much in its original state. The walls which support the central portion (Fig. 1408), which rise from arches in the interior (Fig. 1409) and give the structure its belfry-like aspect, are evidently as old as any other part of the structure, and the supporting arches with their corbels are not insertions.

It will be observed that in order to get solidity and strength in the walls under these arches, the nests or pigeon holes are almost entirely left out in those portions (see Fig. 1409). The cross beam and upright post seen in the sketch are old. The ladder, which is fixed, enabled a man to go up and search for the eggs.

This monastery was founded in 1218 by Patrick, sixth Earl of Dunbar,

but these remains clearly belong to an age some two or three centuries later. From the history above referred to, the monastery appears to have been suppressed before the Reformation, about the year 1529, at which date the brethren were translated to Peebles.

KEITH CHURCH, HADDINGTONSHIRE.

On a knoll within the grounds of Keith House, situated about five miles east from Tynehead Station, and a similar distance south from Ormiston, stand the ruins of an ancient church. It is surrounded by an old churchyard, and has a number of monuments erected against the south wall. According to an inscription on a tablet fixed to the wall, this edifice was “erected as a private chapel in the reign of David I. (1224-53) by Hervie de Keith, King’s Marischal; in the reign of Alexander II. (1214-49) it became the church of the parish of Keith Marischal; in 1618 this parish was joined to that of Keith Hunderbey, now called Humby.”[187]

The church (Fig. 1410) is now a ruin and is covered with a thick growth of ivy. It measures, internally, 59 feet 8 inches in length by 14 feet in width at the east end, and 15 feet in width at the west end. The east end is apparently the oldest portion, the east wall and north wall, as far as the break shown in the Plan, and a corresponding portion of the south wall being faced with ashlar. The remainder of the structure, westwards from the above, is built with rubble, and is apparently of later date. The north wall is much broken down, but the other walls are in fair preservation. The east end, as viewed from the interior (Fig. 1411) (where the growth of ivy allows the features to be tolerably seen), is an unusual and rather striking design, consisting of two narrow lancet windows, widely splayed internally, and a large vesica-formed opening above them. These windows have a broad double splay on the exterior of the jambs and arches.

One round-headed and cusped window survives in the south wall close to the east end (Fig. 1412), and the Plan shows that there has been another window adjoining, but it is now built up. The west end wall (Fig. 1413)

contains a single small pointed window, evidently of a late date. So far as can now be ascertained from the building the east end or chancel is comparatively ancient, probably of the beginning of the sixteenth century, and the remainder has been rebuilt not long after the Reformation.

A good seventeenth century monument is erected against the south wall (see Fig. 1412).

ST. PALLADIUS’ CHURCH, FORDOUN, KINCARDINESHIRE.

The village of Fordoun lies in the picturesque glen of the Luther Water, about 2½ miles west from Fordoun Railway Station. The name of Saint Palladius, the early “apostle of the Scots,” is attached to a small

chapel which stands in the churchyard surrounding the parish church. Dr. Skene’s opinion[188] is that Palladius was sent to Ireland (then the country of the Scots) and that Terrananus or Ternan, his disciple, brought

his relics either from Ireland or from Galloway (in one of which places he had been martyred) to his native district in the territories of the Southern Picts, and as the founder of the church of Fordoun, in honour of Palladius, became to some extent identified with him. Be that as it may, the name of Palladius has been handed down from the fifth century in connection with a religious establishment in the place. A chapel, a well, and an annual fair are named after him. The small chapel which now bears the name of the Saint is a modern restoration. It is a plain oblong structure (Fig. 1414), 39 feet by 18 feet internally. The walls are low, and there is a pointed gable at each end (Fig. 1415). The east wall has a recess, which probably contained a monument, and the west wall a round-headed entrance doorway. There are three small square-headed windows in the south wall and a doorway in the north wall.

The east end is probably the oldest part. There is a burial-vault beneath it. An ambry with round head near the north door, and a plain pointed piscina at the south side of the eastern recess, are the only ancient appurtenances.

A chapel here is frequently mentioned in the records of the Priory of St. Andrews. It is not called a church till 1244.[189]

The Friars’ Glen, which runs north-westward from Fordoun, was, in the fifteenth century, in the possession of the Carmelite Friars of Aberdeen.

OLD GIRTHON CHURCH, KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE.[190]

A roofless ruin (Fig. 1416), about two miles south of Gatehouse, with walls fairly entire. It measures internally about 71 feet long by about 20 feet wide, and is lighted by windows in the south wall, and two high narrow windows in the east end, over which, in the apex, there is a shallow niche. There is only one small high window in the north wall.

The entrance door is in the south wall, not far from the centre of the church. In each end of the church there is a doorway, but these are probably modern. In the south wall, near the east end in the usual position of the piscina, there is what Mr. Coles calls an ambry, roughly formed out of a single stone. It is surrounded with a large hollow moulding 4 inches wide, over which it measures 1 foot 8 inches wide by 2 feet 6 inches high, and 9 inches in depth.

Mr. Muir[191] classes Girthon with a number of other churches which may be either of the Norman or first pointed period.

BLANTYRE PRIORY, LANARKSHIRE.

The fragmentary ruins of this structure are situated on the left bank of the Clyde near Bothwell, at a point where the river forms a sudden bend from west to north, and where the priory is confronted on the opposite side by the great donjon of Bothwell Castle. The eastern walls of the priory stand on the very edge of a precipice, which rises perhaps 80 or 100 feet above the river. The buildings at this part are situated on fairly level ground, but immediately to the west the ground rises rapidly, so that the cloister garth (Fig. 1417) and the western enclosing walls are on a considerably higher level than the main buildings. The ruins cover a space of ground measuring about 150 feet from east to west by about 115 feet from north to south. The western enclosing wall is from 5 to 10 feet in height, and the northern wall stands to the height of about 10 feet. The southern wall is nearly all gone, except a part at the return of the buildings at the east and west ends.

At the north-east corner stands a two-storied structure, the walls of which, except the south one, are almost entire. This was probably the prior’s house. It enters by a doorway at the west end of the south wall, and adjoining the door there appears to have been a stair to the upper floor (which is the floor shown on the Plan), but the place is in so confused a state with ruins and vegetation, that little regarding its arrangement can be made out. The house contained two rooms, one at each end, with the stair between. There are a fireplace and a window in each gable, and the eastern window looks straight across the river to the castle donjon. Along the north side of the house the ground is steep and inaccessible. On the south side of this house there was a courtyard with a building at the east end, the end wall of which still stands two stories high, in continuation of the gable of the prior’s house.

Adjoining this to the south is an apartment said, by the local guide, to be the chapel. Of this, however, almost nothing remains, except a part of the west wall, in which there is a stoup (Fig. 1418) hollowed out of a stone wrought with all the appearance of a corbel, like those found in the castles. On the face of the corbel is an incised cross. It is this feature which has obtained for the apartment the name of the chapel. There is a window in the west wall above the stoup, but with nothing of

an ecclesiastic character about it. This building does not appear to have been the church. It is more likely that the latter was placed somewhere about the line of the south boundary wall. It could not have stood anywhere outside of what is shown in the Plan on the north side, as in all this locality the ground is inaccessible.

A ruined fragment stands at the south-east corner of the monastery. It is a vaulted apartment, commanding the long reach of the river before

Stoup.]

it takes its northern bend. There is a narrow pathway in front of this apartment, giving access to it. The path is protected from the cliff by a parapet wall returned at the south end, where there is a shot hole. This parapet has gone on to join the buildings at the prior’s house.

The parish church of Blantyre stood in a village of the same name, and belonged to the priory, which is said to have been founded for Austin canons, and endowed with the tithes and revenues of the parish church, by Alexander II. Spottiswoode asserts that Blantyre was a cell depending on Holyrood. In _Bagimond’s Roll_ (1275), it is valued at £66, 13s. 4d. Chalmers states that this small monastery was founded by Alexander II. for canons regular brought from Jedburgh, and that the monks of Jedburgh retired here during the war with England.

The barony belonged to the Dunbars as far back as 1368. Walter Stewart, son of the Laird of Minto, was made commendator by James VI., and the Barony of Blantyre was erected, in 1606, into a temporal lordship in his favour, with the title of Lord Blantyre.

COVINGTON CHURCH, LANARKSHIRE.

Covington is a hamlet in the Upper Ward, about four miles south from Carstairs Junction. A church existed here from the time of David I., and is frequently referred to in deeds. It stood near the Castle[192] of the Lindsays of Covington, who acquired the manor before 1442, and was no doubt in their gift and that of their predecessors in the property. The dedication seems to have been to St. Michael.[193]

The existing church (Fig. 1419) is of considerable age, but has been a good deal tampered with. It stands in the old churchyard, no doubt on the same site as the original edifice. The church is a simple oblong

chamber 72 feet 3 inches in length and 22 feet 4 inches in breadth externally. The old pointed windows (Fig. 1420) still remain in the south wall, three of them having a mullion and simple tracery, that of the eastmost being very good. The eastmost window has also good mouldings in

Covington Church.

Mouldings of South-East Window.]

Covington Church.

Arms in North Doorway.]

the jambs and arch (Fig. 1421). The second window from the east is narrow and ogee headed, and probably marks the position of the rood screen.

An old doorway remains, though built up, near the north-west angle. In the arch there is inserted a shield (Fig. 1422) bearing the arms of the Lindsays, to whom the castle belonged, and the letters W. L. and the date 1659.

The east end has been entirely altered, the east window having probably been built up, and an outside stair erected to give access to a gallery at that end.

AULDCATHIE CHURCH, LINLITHGOWSHIRE.

Before the Reformation Auldcathie formed a separate parish, but it is now included in the parish of Dalmeny, of which it forms a detached portion. The ruins of the old church (Fig. 1423) now stand neglected in the middle of a large field. The walls are much reduced, and are gradually crumbling away, but the plan is still quite entire. The structure measures, internally, about 30 feet in length by 15 feet in width. There has been a door near the west end, both in the north and south walls, two windows in the south wall, and none in either of the north, east, or west walls. There is a recess for a benitier, an ambry, near the south door, and an ambry in the east wall. Some more ancient stones seem to have been

used in building the latter. The features are all so simple that it is difficult to fix the date of the edifice, but it does not appear to be very old.

In the ancient _Taxatio_ this church is valued at only 4 marks. As it is not taxed in _Bagimond’s Roll_, it appears to have belonged in the thirteenth century to some religious house.

RESTALRIG COLLEGIATE CHURCH, MID-LOTHIAN.[194]

According to the legendary history of the Blessed Virgin Triduan, Lestalrig or Restalrig, a village to the east of Edinburgh, might claim a very great antiquity. Triduan is said to have died at Restalrig in the year 510.

A church can be traced here as early as the twelfth century, and it afterwards became the parish church of Leith. This edifice is frequently mentioned in connection with gifts bestowed upon it. The church of Restalrig was erected into a Collegiate establishment by James III., and was rebuilt by him, as stated in the Papal Bull of 1487. James IV. was also a benefactor to the foundation, and endowed an additional chaplain in 1512, and twelve years later another rectory was annexed to the church by James V.

The edifice has unfortunately been almost entirely destroyed. In 1560 it was resolved “that the Kirk of Restalrig, as a monument of Idolatrie be

raysit and utterlie caste downe and destroyed.” This was apparently done, as it is recorded that the ashlar work from the church was used by a

Jambs and Mouldings of Windows.]

certain citizen “to big his hous with.” In 1836 the church was restored, being practically rebuilt.

In the churchyard, however, there still exists a somewhat remarkable structure. Externally it is a mausoleum-like building, covered with turf. It is sometimes supposed to be “the crypt or family vault erected by Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig (who died 1440-41), by whom indeed it may have been built, while it has been used as such by successive proprietors.” “It was undoubtedly

attached to the college, perhaps as the chapter house or St. Triduan’s Chapel.”

Restalrig Collegiate Church.

Pier and Arch Ribs.]

This building is a hexagon on plan (Fig. 1424), measuring 29 feet in internal diameter, and stands about 3 feet from the south wall of the church, against which the angle buttresses have impinged.

On each of the three sides facing towards the south there is a window, now built up, each of which has a very flat four-centred arch, and contains three cusped lights (Fig. 1425), divided by two mullions. The section of the jambs and mullions is shown in Fig. 1426. The roof is vaulted (Fig. 1427) with ribs springing from a central pier, which has a filleted roll towards each angle (Fig. 1428).

Details of Carved Bosses and Caps.]

The ribs of the vault are moulded, and there is a ridge rib running round, with bosses and shields at the junctions with the other ribs (see Fig. 1427). The ribs spring from the caps of the central pillar and the caps of shafts in the angles. The style of the carving of these caps and the foliage of the bosses is evidently of the third or late period (Fig. 1429). From its use as a sepulchral vault the floor has now been greatly filled up with earth, which rises almost to the caps of the central shaft and wall shafts.

It is not known when the turf was piled up over the roof, but it is very desirable that it should be removed, and the windows opened up, and the interior cleaned out. It would then be seen to be, as Mr. Laing says, “a charming specimen of the architecture of the fifteenth century.”

NEWLANDS CHURCH, PEEBLESSHIRE.

The ruined church of Newlands stands in the midst of the old churchyard, in the retired and quiet valley of the Lyne, which flows southwards towards the Tweed from near the foot of the Pentland Hills. It is about four miles from West Linton Station on the Dolphinton Railway.

The church (Fig. 1430), which is a simple oblong in plan, is evidently in some degree of ancient date; but it has been considerably altered in post-Reformation times, in order to make it suitable for Presbyterian service. For this purpose two large square-lintelled windows (Fig. 1431) have been inserted in the south wall, and one doorway near the east end of that wall (Fig. 1432) (the lintel of which bears the date of 1705). The ancient round-arched doorway near the west end (see Fig. 1431) has been

preserved, and has also been made available in later times. The later internal arrangements would thus be the usual Presbyterian ones, of having the pulpit placed in the centre of the south wall, with a large window on each side of it, and a central passage down the church, to which access was obtained by the two doorways near the east and west ends.

The church was doubtless originally lighted by several small windows in the south and west walls, and by a large pointed window in the east wall. The latter (see Fig. 1432) and the round-headed doorway near the west end of the south wall are the principal ancient features. The doorway has a bead on edge, and a plain hood moulding. It has all the appearance of being of early date. The east end is partly built with ashlar, and has a moulded string course near the ground running along part of it. The pointed window has double splays on the jambs and arch, both in the interior and exterior. It has doubtless had mullions at one time, but it is now impossible to find traces of them. The window is doubtless of third pointed date.

Various sepulchral enclosures have been added to the church, both internally and externally. That at the west end (see Fig. 1431) has probably had a coat of arms in the recess above the door, but it is now gone.

A number of quaintly carved tombstones of seventeenth and eighteenth century date are still crumbling away in the churchyard.

“The name of Newlands refers to the era when the lands lying around the Kirktown were first brought into cultivation by Scoto-Saxon bands.”[195] At the end of the thirteenth century Newlands belonged to the monks of Dunfermline. In _Bagimond’s Roll_ the _Rectoia de Newland_, in the Deanery of Peebles, is valued at £16.

CROSS CHURCH, PEEBLES.

The fragmentary ruins of the church of the monastery of the Redfriars stand in the middle of a fir plantation immediately to the west of the town of Peebles. All architectural interest connected with the edifice has been destroyed. The freestone work which Grose specially commends has been carried away, leaving only bare and ragged whinstone walls, and giving the structure a very desolate appearance. The monastic buildings were situated on the north side of the church; and the fir plantation, which seems to represent their extent, runs in that direction for about 100 feet, with an average length from east to west of about 250 feet, the whole extent of the plantation being a little less than an acre. It is probable, from these dimensions, that the monastic buildings were extensive, but, unfortunately, their destruction has been very complete. The ruins of the nave remain (Fig. 1433), and measure, within the walls, about 70 feet 6 inches from east to west by a width of 26 feet 9 inches. Grose gives the length of the church as 102 feet, and there are indications (see Plan) that it was longer at one time than it is now. There is a tower at the west end, which measures about 20 feet by 21 feet, and had an opening into the church, now built solidly up. From a view of the church in Grose’s _Antiquities of Scotland_, the building was evidently in a much better condition in 1790 than now. It appears to have been then entire, wanting only the roof, and the tower was finished with a projecting parapet and two gables, after the manner of a pele tower.

So completely has the place been harried that little is left to describe. There were three pointed windows in the south wall and one in the east gable, the latter of which (Fig. 1434) still partly remains. Against the north wall of the church there is an erection called the Douglas vault, to which a door opens from the church. It is in a very dilapidated state, although the vaulted roof is complete. Immediately to the west of this vault, with a passage between of about 7 feet, there are indications of other vaulted buildings, and similar indications are found at the east end of the church, all in a very fragmentary condition. In the historical books relating to the locality, a story is repeated of the finding, on this site, of a magnificent cross in 1261, of the miracles performed by it, and the ultimate founding of a church by the king, which was called the Cross Church. Such a church existed in 1296, for Frere Thomas, Mestre de la Maison de Seint Croce, de Pebblis, swore fealty to Edward I. at Berwick.[196]

At the Reformation the Cross Church became the church of the parish, and on the lintel of the door at the east end are cut the words “Feir God,” with the date 1656. A portion to the west of this may have been

the part, about 30 feet in length, which Grose says was walled off to form a school, probably at the date just mentioned.

The monastic buildings were used for various purposes, such as a school and schoolmaster’s house, and for persons suffering from the plague, but from about the beginning of the eighteenth century they gradually became ruinous, and have now reached their present lamentable condition.

ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH, PEEBLES.

Rather less than a quarter of a mile west from the Cross Church there stands the tower of St. Andrew’s Church. It has been so completely restored or transformed by the late Dr. Chambers, that it is now of no interest whatever as a specimen of the ancient architecture of Scotland. A view of the tower as it appeared at the end of the eighteenth century will be found in the _Antiquities of Scotland_ by Captain Grose; and on the Ordnance Map there is a plan of the church, from which it may be gathered that the tower was a western one, in a similar position to that of the Cross Church. The plan shows a nave measuring about 75 feet long by 40 feet wide, and a choir about 50 feet long, having apparently a building of some kind, either an aisle or chapel, along the north side. The total length of the building was about 140 feet.

The Church of St. Andrew at Peebles was consecrated by Bishop Jocelin of Glasgow in 1195.[197] St. Andrew’s was the parish church of Peebles.

In 1543 this church was made Collegiate. In 1548 it was burned down by the English, and never rebuilt. Captain Grose says that all the arches of the doors and windows were semicircular.

ABERUTHVEN CHURCH, PERTHSHIRE.

A ruined church situated near the village of the same name, about two and a half miles east from Auchterarder. The walls are almost entire, except part of the south one, which has been knocked down to give room

for a mausoleum of the Montrose family, bearing the inscription “John Adam--fecet 1736.”

The church (Fig. 1435) measures, externally, 65 feet 2 inches by 21 feet 9 inches. Its only architectural features are a seventeenth century belfry on the west end (Fig. 1436), and two small pointed windows (Fig. 1437) in the east end. The belfry, almost concealed with ivy, has long

View from South-West.]

narrow openings on the east and west sides, and small side openings. The east windows are between 2 and 3 feet above the floor, and are about 8 inches wide. The daylight of the northmost of these windows (Fig. 1438) is 2 feet 8½ inches high, and for some inexplicable reason that of the south window is about 4 inches less. Both have an ogee arch-head, and are lintelled on the inside. There is an ambry in the north wall near the east end. The usual set-off occurs on the east wall just above the windows.

The west end of the church is occupied by a modern burial vault and

Interior of East End.]

is not accessible, but it appears to be vaulted with a barrel vault. Another burial vault occupies

North Window in East Wall.]

the centre of the building. The church was a cell of Inchaffray, and was dedicated to St. Cathan. The existing structure is evidently of late date.

ST. MOLOC’S CHURCH, ALYTH, PERTHSHIRE.

Alyth is now a busy manufacturing town, and forms the terminus of a small branch line off the main railway between Perth and Forfar. It stands on the north side of Strathmore, at the point where the hills begin to rise, and the houses of the old part of the town are picturesquely terraced on the hillside. On one of these terraces may be seen the ruins of the ancient

church of St. Moloc or Malachi, according to the _Statistical Account_, but Mr. Muir calls it St. Ninian’s. The original fair of the village is still called St. Mologue’s and the date corresponds with the day of St. Moloc. Before the Reformation the benefice of Alyth was attached to one of the prebends of Dunkeld, and the patronage was exercised by the Bishop.

The old church was demolished about 1845, having been unroofed at that date when the last _Statistical Account_ was written.

The portion which still survives (Fig. 1439) in the middle of the churchyard consists of the south arcade of the nave and part of the chancel. The arcade (Fig. 1440) has plain octagonal pillars and three round arches with broad splays. The caps and bases are moulded, and indicate a late date.

The chancel is surrounded with a plain wall 6 to 7 feet high, and has a piscina in the south wall.

AUCHTERARDER CHURCH, PERTHSHIRE.

This old church is situated a little to the north of the town, and is surrounded by an old churchyard. It is densely ivy clad and generally

concealed by vegetation, and thoroughly neglected. The church (Fig. 1441) measures about 81 feet long by about 24 feet 6 inches wide externally. There is almost no architectural feature now

Auchterarder Church.

Piscina.]

visible except a piscina (Fig. 1442) in the usual place in the south wall near the east end, which part of the building is walled off as a tomb house. The piscina is triangular headed, somewhat like the one in the choir of Paisley Abbey. It is only visible through a chink in the door of the tomb. There has been some kind of projection in the south wall near the centre, but owing to vegetation and rubbish (Fig. 1443) it cannot be properly examined, nor for the same reason can anything be made out regarding any openings in the south wall. Both of the side walls are considerably ruined. There is a slightly projecting splayed base at the east wall, with the usual set-off just below the gable.

The edifice was dedicated to St. Mechessock, and in 1198 the church of Auchterarder was given by Gilbert, third Earl of Strathearn, to the Abbey of Inchaffray, but the existing ruin belongs to a much later age.

A well at a short distance south from the church still bears “St. M‘Kessog’s” name, and on his day (10th March) the principal fair of the town is held.[198] The church was served by a parochial curate appointed by the Abbot of Inchaffray.

CAMBUSMICHAEL CHURCH, PERTHSHIRE.

Finely situated on one of the most beautiful reaches of the Tay, a little below the Linn of Camsie and opposite the village of Stanley, this ruined church, with its churchyard, occupies the end of a plateau which slopes suddenly down to the river on the north side, and to a deep

ravine on the east; so that, like most churches bearing the name of St. Michael, it stands on a height. The building, as will be seen from the Plan (Fig. 1444) and the view (Fig. 1445), is still in a fair state of preservation, although it is quite evident, on the spot, that the trees which crowd the inside (but which are not shown on the sketch) will soon work the destruction of the walls. One great trunk has half obtruded itself into the heart of the wall at the doorway, and has so burst the wall that the doorway and the whole of the south-west corner will probably soon come to the ground. Another tree has toppled over the upper stone of the belfry, which lies not yet broken to pieces.

The church is finely built, and is well worth some little attention. It is of small dimensions, measuring on the outside 50 feet 5 inches by

20 feet 6 inches, and on the inside 43 feet 10 inches by 15 feet. The doorway, which is in the usual place on the south side near the west end, is round-arched with a wide splay, and is built with large stones. There

were probably three windows, all on the south side. One adjoining the doorway is lost where the wall is ruined, and another at the east end has only the sill remaining. The centre window (Fig. 1446) is complete; it is 5 inches wide with a slight chamfer on the edge, and with the opening on the inside splayed out to 3 feet 5 inches wide. An ambry occupies the usual position in the north wall. Both of the end walls have a set-off at the level of the eaves, as shown by Fig. 1445. The projecting eaves course and this set-off coincide, and their splays are very simply worked out (see Fig. 1446). The belfry on the west gable is a pre-Reformation example of a type which became very common in Presbyterian times. Below the belfry there is a small splayed slit with a segmental arched lintel. The east gable is terminated with a cross with a massive gableted base.

COUPAR ABBEY, PERTHSHIRE.[199]

Of this once great abbey almost nothing remains. The present parish church stands partly on the site of the monastic church, and the conventual buildings, with the cloister garth, occupied the ground which now forms the churchyard, at the south corner of which is the gateway with the

Gateway.]

angle buttress shown in Fig. 1447. This small fragment is the only piece of building, properly so called, which exists. It comprises a plain opening 6 feet wide by about 7 feet high, leading through a wall about 9 feet thick, and at the corner it is flanked by a massive angle buttress. The ruin rises to a height of about 25 to 30 feet, and stands about 70 yards south from the church.

The churchyard extends for a distance of about 400 feet from east to west, by about 280 feet from north to south, and these dimensions in all probability give an idea of the extent of ground formerly occupied by the monastery, and which is believed to have been the site of a Roman camp.

The monastery was founded by Malcolm IV. in 1164, and was the sixth in the order of construction of the thirteen Cistercian Abbeys in Scotland. William the Lion granted a site for the abbey of about 50 acres of land, and also gifted it with the King’s Chase and a portion of waste land. In 1233 the church was dedicated, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, during the time of Alexander, the eighth abbot. King Alexander II. was a generous benefactor to the abbey, and amongst the nobles the Hays of Errol and the Earls of Athole were conspicuous in their gifts, the latter presenting, amongst other things, timber for the construction of the buildings. At the Reformation the value of the estates of the abbey are estimated by Dr. Rogers “as equal to at least £8000 of present money.”

The buildings, it is believed, were destroyed by the excited multitude who wrecked the religious houses at Perth and neighbourhood in 1559, and a portion of the buildings seems to have been occupied as a residence by Leonard Leslie, the first lay commendator, who died in 1605. In 1606 James VI., desirous to “suppress and extinguish the memorie of the abbacie,” converted the lands and baronies into a temporal lordship in favour of James Elphinstone, second son of the first Lord Balmerino, with the title of Baron Coupar. This lord appears to have made the abbey his residence, as in 1645 it was assailed by 200 soldiers belonging to the army of Montrose, in revenge for the support given to the Covenanters by Elphinstone. Probably this was the finishing blow given to the buildings, as in 1682 the place is described as “nothing but rubbish.”

In the Rental Book, from 1480 and onwards, there are several notices of the Porters, who, from their office, assumed that name as their family designation, the office having become hereditary. When the last of them demitted office it is stated in a charter that they had been hereditary porters from time immemorial, and in the Chamberlain’s Accounts Robert Porter received a commuted allowance, consequent on the secularisation of the abbey.

At the west end of the present church there are the remains of some of the main piers of the nave. As shown by Fig. 1448 these indicate work of the first pointed period, probably of the thirteenth century.

A broken slab, measuring about 3 feet 3 inches high by 3 feet in breadth (Fig. 1449), is lying in the churchyard. In the Rental Book it is referred to as being built into the wall of the church which preceded the present one (erected about thirty years ago), and as bearing “the effigies of a priest,” with the inscription on the margin--_Monachus de Cupro qui obiit anno dni. Millesimo quadringentesimo quqgesio_.[200] From the present state of the fragment it is evident that little respect is paid in Coupar to the remains of the ancient abbey.

The two sculptured slabs (Figs. 1450 and 1451) which are at present lying in a tool-house in all likelihood adorned the base of a mural tomb. They are evidently works of the end of the fourteenth century or of the fifteenth century. They are supposed to be remains of a monument to the Hays of Errol. Fig. 1451 appears to represent a pair who have been guilty, and are suffering under the prospect of finding themselves in the hands of the headsman.

Main Piers of Nave.]

On a house opposite the abbey occur the royal arms, shown by Fig. 1452, and throughout the village there are numerous carved and moulded stones to be seen, showing that the whole place has been built out of the ruins of the monastery.

In the Chamberlain’s Accounts for 1563 he describes the chapel “as being so completely wrecked, that with a view to preserve the timber, he had built up both doors; also the undermost door of the steeple. In the cloister he had collected the slates which had been removed from the roof. He had also repaired the broken windows, providing them with iron framework. The abbot’s apartments he had partially

Broken Slab.]

restored, and with proper fastenings made secure the granaries and store-houses. From having, in August 1562, accommodated the royal stud (during a passing visit of Queen Mary), the stables of the monastery are in the Account styled the ‘quenes stables.’”[201]

We have already referred to the Earls of Errol as benefactors to the abbey, and amongst the Errol Papers[202] there occurs a “Copy of the Tabill Quhilk ves at Cowper of all the Erles of Erroll quhilk ver Buryd in the Abbey Kirk thair,” from which it appears that sixteen Earls were buried in the monastery. Of these we suppose no memorial now remains; but we may take this opportunity of introducing a sketch (Fig. 1453) of a recumbent figure, now built into the churchyard wall of

Errol (Carse of Gowrie), which, from the following inscription, probably represents the eighth Earl referred to in the above “tabill”--“Item penultimo die mensis Ianuarij, Anno Domini M.D.LX(X)III. obijt bone memorie Georgius comes De Errol. apud Pertham et sepultus est Errolie.”

There are few notices of the buildings of the abbey. A plan of it was made about 1820 by William Mitchell, a mason, who corresponded with

Royal Arms.]

General Hutton regarding it; but they evidently could not come to terms, and it is not in his collection in the Advocates’ Library. Mitchell calls it “a true and just plan of the outlines of that pile of building.”

Dr. Marshall, in his _Historic Scenes in Forfarshire_, p. 144, had this plan before him when he wrote, and he characterises it as being unreliable. After a good deal of correspondence we obtained a sight of it, and have no hesitation in saying that it is a pure work of imagination, and is not a plan of the abbey at all; and, judging from the correspondence with General Hutton, we suspect the author intended to play a hoax on him, and yet was afraid to go the full length, and this is probably the reason why the General never got the plan.

In 1492 and following years there are references to Thomas Mowtray, mason. He was sworn to be “leyl and trew,” during the term of his life, to the abbot and chapter, and he is obliged to “wyrk leilly and profitably the masonwerk of our forsaid abbay, and to be the master of the werk, in al thingis that langis hys craft of masonry in our abbay or in our qwarellis

as it nedis.” He was to have 6 “markis” yearly with his meat and drink, a house with 2½ acres of land; further, the Lord Abbot “promised to give him yearly one of his old albs reaching to the ankles.” He was to instruct the “prentys” in all “craft of masonry.”[203]

In 1485 John, the mason, and his son are continued in the service of the abbey. In 1468 Thomas Bel was hired “for the constant carpentry” of the abbey; he had workmen under him and apprentices. There are also agreements with smiths, as John Lutare, smith, who “was hired (in 1484) for the common work of the monastery in the forge,” and next year David Smyth is hired to succeed William Byning, who was formerly in the same service. John Duncanson, tiler, in 1492, was to labour in his trade and in every other work which he knew. Nine years earlier John Sclater was hired as apprentice to work at his trade of tiler (_tegulator_). Patrick Dog (in 1490) was the abbey sawyer, with three workmen under him, who each day were to turn out “fourteen draughts for each saw.”[204]

DRON CHURCH, PERTHSHIRE.

A ruin situated on the braes of the Carse of Cowrie, in the parish of Longforgan, about two miles distant from Fowlis Church. It is in a very fragmentary condition (Fig. 1454), only the chancel arch remaining in anything like a perfect state, together with the foundations of the side

walls and part of the east wall. As shown in Fig. 1455, the chancel is about 28 feet long by 19 feet wide inside. The width of the chancel arch is about 11 feet, and from the ground to the top of the cap is about 7 feet 2 inches.

The jambs and arch mouldings (Fig. 1456) are of a simple character, and they are separated by a moulded cap, shown in Fig. 1457. From the form of the base of the jambs and the section of arch and jamb, it may be

inferred that the building is not earlier than the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century.

It will be seen from the Plan that the base of the east wall of the nave

Base and Cap Mouldings.]

extends a considerable distance northwards from the arch, which is suggestive of the idea that the church had a transept.

There appears to have been at one time a churchyard beside the church, which has now disappeared, having been absorbed into a neighbouring farm.

The Church of Dron belonged to the Abbey of Coupar, which was distant about six miles, in a north-westerly direction.

ECCLESIAMAGIRDLE OR EXMAGIRDLE CHAPEL, PERTHSHIRE.

A small ruined chapel situated on the north side of the Ochil Hills, about three miles south-west from the Bridge of Earn. It is surrounded by an old burial-ground, and adjoins the picturesque seventeenth century mansion of Glenearn.

The building (Fig. 1458), which is roofless, is otherwise fairly entire, but it is densely covered with ivy and its features are not easily seen. It measures about 25 feet 7 inches long by about

11 feet 5 inches wide inside the walls. The door in the south wall is lintelled and has a splay all round. There is a round-headed window (Fig. 1459) at the east end about 9 inches wide and about 2 feet high, having a stepped sill on the inside. A lintelled window in the west gable, now filled with a monument on the inside, measures about 29 inches wide. Both of these windows are splayed on the outside. The end window has been fitted with a smaller window at some later period.

In the centre of the east wall there appears to have been a recess about 4 feet 2 inches wide, and, as far as can be seen, it does not show on the outside. Its sill is about 4 feet up from the floor, and there has evidently been some kind of fixture against the end wall here, probably an

altar. Adjoining this, on the north wall, is a small ambry, checked for a door flush with the inside wall.

FORGANDENNY CHURCH, PERTHSHIRE.[205]

The small fragment of ancient work left at Forgandenny, a few miles south of Perth, along with the more important remains in the district, point to the importance of Strathearn in early times. That this has been originally a Norman church there can be no doubt, and it is suggestive and interesting to find such work here and at Dunning, each about two miles distant from Forteviot, the residence of the early Pictish kings.

The building is still in use as the parish church, but has been greatly altered at various times, and now it is only in some bits of detail that its antiquity can be detected. It measures on the inside (Fig. 1460) 70 feet 7 inches long by 21 feet 7 inches wide.

The east wall is in the main of Norman masonry. It has a splayed base, which returns at each corner, but is soon lost, as shown on Plan, by the rapid rising of the ground towards the west. From the east end the ground slopes downwards to a wooded dell which skirts the churchyard on that side.

Two widely splayed narrow windows are shown on the Plan in the east wall, but only the built centre mullion or pier now exists. It is of fine masonry, in four courses 2 feet 10 inches high, and is set at a height to the sill of about 8 or 9 feet above the floor. These windows have been built up, and all traces of them were lost till an examination of the wall for the purpose of preparing this Plan revealed their existence.

Two or three windows in the side walls, with double splays on the exterior, probably belong to the fifteenth century. They are square-headed, and have been greatly knocked about. In the north wall there is a peculiar narrow door about 2 feet 3 inches wide, splayed on the exterior and lintelled like the windows just mentioned.

The doorway to the church, which is now built up, was in the south side near the west end. It appears to have been of Norman work, and a small piece of its enrichment still remains, consisting (Fig. 1461) of the trigonal moulding with a double notch enrichment, frequently found in the outer member of Norman arches. At some later time a porch has been added, as shown on the Plan, when probably the Norman door was dismembered, and the fragment now shown was built into the wall. Sometime after the Reformation, a laird’s seat (belonging to the Oliphants

Enrichment of Norman Doorway.]

of Condie) was projected into the church, as shown by dotted lines on the Plan. It was on a high level, and the congregation gained access under it. This seat was done away with by giving the Oliphants of Condie the

porch, which they converted into a burial vault, enlarging it at the same time, and making their seat over it, with an opening into the church.

Font.]

The Ruthven vault, situated further east, is probably a structure of the sixteenth or seventeenth century. Some closed up windows have features of that period. The seat belonging to Freeland House is situated over it.

The foundations of a building were recently discovered on the north side of the church, exactly opposite this vault (as shown by dotted lines on Plan), suggesting the idea that the simple Norman building had been converted into a cross church.

The bowl of the font (Fig. 1462) still remains. It is octagonal, but

not equal sided, and is somewhat broken. It measures 2 feet 1½ inches over all by about 15 inches high.

Fig. 1463 shows another font which exists at a chapel at Muckersey, a few miles distant. It likewise is octagonal and not equal sided, and has a coat of arms on one side, which we have not been able to identify. The chapel at Muckersey is now used as a family vault, and has no other ancient features.

INCHAFFRAY ABBEY, PERTHSHIRE.

The ruins of the Abbey of Inchaffray, the ancient Insula Missarum, stand on a wooded mound not far from Madderty Station, about six miles east of Crieff.

The abbey was founded by Gilbert, Earl of Stratherne, who succeeded his father, Earl Ferteth, in 1171, and died in 1223, and his first wife, Matildis, the daughter of William de Aubegni. Their eldest son, Gilchrist, was buried in 1198 at Inchaffray, which had been founded before that date. In 1200, when the great charter of the abbey was granted, the Earl and Countess endowed it with various churches, including St. Mechesseok of Ochterardouer and St. Beanus of Kynkell (illustrated in this volume). They declared their affection for Inchaffray, affirming “so much do we love it that we have chosen a place of sepulture in it for us and our successors, and have already buried there our eldest born.”

The abbey was dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin and St. John the Evangelist, and was a house of the canons regular of the order of St. Augustine. Although not reckoned as one of the great monasteries of

Scotland, it was “endowed with many privileges and immunities by David and Alexander, Kings of Scotland,” but its principal benefactors were the family of the Earls of Stratherne, Earl Robert, the son (1223 and 1231) of Gilbert being particularly liberal.

Only one of the abbots, Abbot Maurice, has obtained any popular recognition in history. He it was who blessed the Scottish army at Bannockburn in 1314. Five years afterwards he was promoted to the See of Dunblane, within which diocese Inchaffray is situated.

The first head of the house was Malis, a religious hermit, in whose piety and discretion Earl Gilbert and Matildis had full confidence. At the Reformation Inchaffray suffered the usual fate. Alexander Gordon, brother of George, fourth Earl of Huntly, was made commendator in 1553. Five years later he was promoted to the See of Galloway, and shortly afterwards he was accused, by the General Assembly, of neglecting his duties, and in particular, that he had resigned Inchaffray in favour of a young child, and set divers lands in feu in prejudice of the kirk. The young child was James Drummond, son of David, Lord Drummond of Innerpeffray, in whose favour the abbey was erected into a temporal lordship.

The ruins of the abbey are situated on ground which rises slightly above the surface of the valley. This valley in ancient times was a great

marsh extending for many miles, and it was from this feature of its situation that the abbey received the name by which it was very generally known throughout the middle ages, of “Insula Missarum,” or Isle of Masses. As early as the year 1218 the monks had reclaimed a portion of this marsh, and they doubtless continued their labours; but it was not till 1696 that an Act was obtained, under the authority of Parliament, for dealing effectively with it.[206]

Plan of Doorway.]

The fields around the abbey are now all cultivated, and the ruins are enclosed with stone dykes, as shown by double lines on the Plan (Fig. 1464); so that the few fragments which remain are now properly protected. Within the dykes almost nothing is visible but a dense mass of trees and brushwood, with mounds of ruins in the utmost confusion. A gable at the north-west corner stands entire (Fig. 1465), with a round-arched vault adjoining, about 21 feet long by 10 feet 6 inches wide and 10 feet high. This is one of the