Chapter V: Part 5

Turning now to the interior, it will be observed that the main piers are composed of a series of round mouldings, separated by slight square fillets, and that the corresponding wall shafts or responds (Fig. 1079) are of trefoil form, with good caps and carved bases, which rest on the side bench. The arch mouldings of the main arcade (see Fig. 1078) are shallow, with regularly recurring orders of decoration, each arch having an enriched hood moulding. The upper part of the wall slightly overhangs on a bold carved and moulded string course. The wall space between the clerestory windows is ornamented with two canopies and massive brackets placed one over the other.

The choir roof, which consists of a pointed barrel vault (see Fig. 1080), is divided by strengthening ribs into compartments corresponding with the bays, and each compartment is decorated differently (see Fig. 1078). The dividing ribs are moulded, and have large projecting cusps in the form of fleurs-de-lys, &c., on the soffit. The compartments of the roof are entirely “powdered with stars” or rosettes, set square or diagonally. The construction of the aisle roofs is peculiar, although something similar is frequent in castles, as will be afterwards alluded to. A regularly constructed straight arch with proper radiating joints, concealed behind upright joints, spans each aisle (see Fig. 1079) from pillar to wall shaft. These horizontal arches or lintels have flat relieving arches over them, which in some instances are visible. The aisles are roofed with a series of

pointed barrel vaults thrown between the above straight arches, and running at right angles to the axis of the building (Fig. 1081). This is

one of the most unusual features of construction in the edifice. The straight arches or lintels, as they may be called, are all most profusely

carved with foliage or figure carving (Fig. 1082), the amount of decoration on each being, as usual, of corresponding artistic value.

On the arched roofs of the north and south aisles, to the east of the

doorways and of the east aisle, there is carved in each bay an engrailed cross, the one limb running along the crown of each arch, and the other downwards from this on each side. But in the north and south aisles, in the three bays west from the doorways, the engrailed band is only continued along the crown of the arch, the other limb being omitted, which may possibly be meant to distinguish the more sacred part of the edifice.

The eastern chapels are the only part of the building in which there is groined vaulting. The compartments are oblong, and have pointed cross arches (Fig. 1083), the diagonals meeting at the apex. Elaborately carved pendants, about 4 feet long, occupy the place of the usual boss; while at the springing of the arches, against the east wall, great projecting horns, resting on curved corbellings or cones above the caps of the wall shafts, radiate outwards and downwards, one horn to each rib, so that they are in groups of three.

The object of these curved cones, with their projecting horns, may be explained as follows:--It will be seen on referring to the Plan (see Fig. 1070) that the centre line of the east chapels is not in the centre of the space between the two eastmost buttresses, and consequently not in line with the centre of the north and south windows between those buttresses. In order to make the centre line of the vaulting coincide with the centre of the windows, it was necessary to introduce some kind of support for the foot of the east arches, at a distance of about 2 or 3 feet from the east wall. The above cones and horns were introduced for this purpose, and from them the vaulting on the east side springs. In connection with this arrangement, the late David Roberts, R.A., contended that the “east wall of Rosslyn had been pulled down and set further back, to give 3 feet more room.”[85] But this supposition finds no warrant whatever from an examination of the building. A more likely explanation is that the above cones may have been introduced as a kind of imitation of the springing of

the fan vaulting common in England in the fifteenth century. The heavy pendants were also probably derived from the same source.

Against the east wall of the choir were the remains of four altars, which have been restored (see Fig. 1083), one of them being situated over the stair leading to the lower chapel. Beside it there is a square headed piscina, and on the south side of the other altars there are ogee headed recesses in the wall. On the east side of the south doorway there is a richly carved stoup.

In the transepts (Fig. 1084) there are remains of three canopied piscinas, two in the south transept and one in the north transept. They bear a general resemblance in their details to the sacrament houses in some of the churches in the north, and to the piscinas in Melrose Abbey. Between the two in the south transept there is a recess in the wall, showing where an altar has been intended, and a similar indication in the north transept on the north side of the piscina shows the same intention. Over each of these altars there are three moulded and carved brackets, probably meant for statues. On the south side of the centre opening into the choir there is a recess for another altar, and on the north side there is an arched piscina; both have carved brackets above them. A bracket in a similar position, relative to the altar and piscina, exists at Dunglass Church.

A singular feature of the church, which would have been more apparent had it been finished, is that the choir is almost cut off by a solid wall from what would have been the other divisions of the structure. Fig. 1084 shows the wall as seen from the outside. The openings into the side aisles are about 4 feet 3 inches wide and about 11 feet high, and the opening on the ground level into the central aisle is about 7 feet wide. These three openings are all covered with straight arches. Above the central opening there is a lofty aperture like a window covered with a pointed arch, probably meant to contain the rood. Above the caps of the jambs of the side openings there are two carved figures (Fig. 1085), that on the north being St. Sebastian, and that on the south St. Christopher.

Beyond the east end of the church and on a lower level, so as to suit the slope of the ground (Fig. 1086), a chapel has been erected, which is reached from the south aisle by a straight stair of twenty-five steps. This chapel measures 36 feet in length from east to west by 14 feet wide. It is barrel vaulted (Fig. 1087), and is lighted by one window only, at the east end. The window is a simple pointed one, without tracery. There are several ambries in the walls, and an eastern altar with a piscina. There are also a fireplace and a small closet about 11 feet square on the north side. A door leads out on the south to what has been an open court, where there are indications of other buildings having existed or been intended. It would thus appear that in all probability

there was a residence here, and the chapel may have served both as sacristy and private chapel.

This chapel or sacristy is supposed to have been built in the lifetime of Sir William St. Clair’s first wife, Lady Elizabeth or Margaret Douglas, daughter of Archibald, fourth Earl of Douglass, and first Duke of Touraine, from the circumstance that her arms (Fig. 1088) are sculptured on the east wall. The shield has two coats impaled: _Dexter_, a coat quarterly, dimidiated, viz.--First a galley within a double tressure, flory counter

flory, for Orkney; 3rd a cross engrailed for St. Clair, being the 1st and 3rd quarters of the arms of the Earl of Orkney; _Sinister_, in base a heart, and on a chief three mullets, for Douglas, the shield being surmounted of a fess charged with three fleurs-de-lys (2 and 1) for Touraine. Lady Elizabeth died in 1452.

The barrel vault of the sacristy (see Fig. 1087) is semicircular, and supports a flat roof formed with overlapping stones. The vault is strengthened with transverse ribs carved with the engrailed cross, which spring from corbels sculptured with figures of angels and saints (Fig. 1089).

In considering the history of Rosslyn Church many of the statements of Father Hay regarding the St. Clairs and Rosslyn require to be received with considerable caution. He was a hero worshipper, and Sir William was his hero. The latter is represented by the Father as living in more than royal magnificence at Rosslyn, with many of the nobles of Scotland waiting upon him as servants. That is a very incredible statement, as is also the assertion that under the fostering care of Sir William, Rosslyn became the “chiefest town in all Lothian, except

Edinburgh and Haddington.” But few who visit this chapel will be inclined seriously to quarrel with the Father on account of his enthusiasm for the Rosslyn family. To the purest in Gothic architecture Rosslyn may seem barbarous and debased, but it must be allowed to be splendid barbarism, meted out with the most liberal hand. Sir William is further represented by Father Hay as bringing artificers from foreign lands, and setting them to work on Rosslyn College, and on this unsupported statement many writers have found the prototype of this building abroad, some in France and some in Spain, and even Rome is hinted at in the well known story of the ’Prentice Pillar. The unusual richness of the ornamentation of the edifice, so different from most of the structures

erected in this country at the time, has doubtless led to these attempts to attribute the design to a foreign architect or a foreign country, where richly decorated structures exist.

The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Arms of Sir W. Sinclair’s First Wife.]

But this amount of decoration, being so exceptional in Scottish edifices, seems to have proved misleading. No parallel to Rosslyn has, so far as we know, been discovered abroad, and it is unnecessary to go so far afield in search of a model. The leading principles of the design are really Scottish, and it will be found, on careful analysis, that Rosslyn Church presents a rich and finished epitome, both as regards constructive and decorative elements, of the Scottish ecclesiastical architecture of the third or late pointed period. The plan of the east end of Rosslyn Church so closely resembles that of the choir of Glasgow Cathedral, that there is hardly room to doubt that the latter was the model after which the former was designed. The disposition of the pillars in the two buildings agrees exactly, the side aisles in both being connected by an eastern

The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Corbels in Lower Chapel.]

aisle, which in each case has a central pillar in the east arcade, and in each edifice a series of chapels beyond this aisle forms the east end. The details are, as is natural, seeing that the buildings are about two centuries apart in date, entirely different, but it is curious to observe how in both cases even the minute parts of the design are remarkably alike. Thus the triple niche over the central pillar of the east arcade at Glasgow finds a counterpart in the same position at Rosslyn (see Fig. 1078). The east wall and gable of both choirs occupy the same relative position, rising above the eastern aisle and chapels. Churches with an eastern aisle are not unknown in England, such as Abbey Dore, Herefordshire, and Romsey Abbey, Hampshire; but the former has three openings in the east end, thus showing an arch in the centre; while Romsey Church, Glasgow Cathedral, and Rosslyn Church have the peculiarity of having a pillar in the centre of the east arcade.

Much has been made of the resemblance between the barrel vaults of Rosslyn and those of the south of France, but there does not appear to be any connection between them. The pointed barrel vault was the form commonly practised in Scotland in the fifteenth century, both in churches and castles. Mr Fergusson says that this kind of vault is “foreign and unlike the usual form of vaults found in Scotland,” but the examples given in this book show that he is mistaken. Pointed barrel vaults are to be found in the churches at Seton, Queensferry, Ladykirk, Whitekirk, Borthwick, Crichton, Corstorphine, Dunglass, and many others, and numerous examples might be given from the castles. There can, therefore, be no doubt that the masons of Scotland were at this period quite familiar with that system of vaulting, some of which, such as the vaults of Borthwick Castle, in the same district and built a little earlier than Rosslyn, are of considerably larger dimensions. The pointed barrel vaults of castle halls and churches are generally covered with sloping stone roofs, as at Bothwell, Borthwick, &c., but at Rosslyn the curved form of the roof has been adhered to, externally as well as internally. The coping of the east gable has been finished to this curve (see Fig. 1077), and there is no indication of any straight roof having been intended. It is possible, however, that it had been originally contemplated to cover the extrados of the choir vault, which still remains unprotected, with an outer stone roof, in accordance with the usual practice; but, owing to the slightness of the clerestory walls, the outer stone roof was omitted in consequence of its great additional weight, which, it may have been believed, would be too great for the side walls to sustain. The roofs of the aisles and east chapels, which are almost flat, are covered with overlapping flags. Until the building was restored some thirty years ago, these parts of the building were covered with a temporary slated roof, which cut off one half of the clerestory windows. The mark of this roof is still visible in the walls.

When we examine smaller details, we find the same methods adopted by the Rosslyn builders as were familiar to the other builders of the country, thus all the lintels or straight arches connecting the main pillars with the side walls, which are such striking features at Rosslyn, are composed of small stones, having radiating joints in the same manner as is frequent in the lintels of the wide fireplaces in the halls of the castles. It may also be noted that the jambs of these fireplaces often terminate in curious moulded caps, often very clumsy, and not unlike the caps of the responds at the east wall of Rosslyn. The plans of the castles sometimes show a series of small parallel apartments, with barrel vaults abutting at right angles upon a passage or wider hall, which may have suggested the parallel barrel vaults of the aisles of Rosslyn. But, indeed, the form of the main arcade itself suggests such an arrangement. The carved canopies and corbels placed on the face of the buttresses and window jambs (see Fig. 1090) are thoroughly characteristic of the Scottish churches of this period, and when their general design is considered, these features at Rosslyn will be found not to differ materially from those of the churches of Melrose, Linlithgow, Seton, Trinity College, and other buildings. Compare the disposition of small canopied niches round some central feature, such as the buttress niche (Fig. 778) at Melrose, and the pinnacles (see Figs. 1075 and 1076) at Rosslyn.

On the sides of each buttress at Rosslyn (see Figs. 1072, 1073, and 1091) there is a splayed moulding, a kind of set-off which runs from the front of the buttress back to the wall, on the top of the base string course. A somewhat similar set-off occurs on some of the buttresses of the chapter house of Glasgow Cathedral, built a few years before Rosslyn.

A large number of details from Melrose have a very decided resemblance to those found at Rosslyn. Thus the staircase turret (Fig. 773)

at the west side of the south transept of Melrose is in spirit so very like the work at Rosslyn that, had it been included in the illustrations of the latter, only those who have local knowledge would have detected it. The same remark applies to the south doorway from Dalkeith Church, given further on. A striking resemblance also occurs between the mouldings of the sacristy doors at Lincluden and Bothwell and the details of the clerestory windows at Rosslyn. In all these examples the mouldings consist of an outer and inner shaft, separated by a large hollow, containing carved work; and the shafts have, in every case, caps and bases treated in a similar manner.

The soffit cusping so common in the arches at Rosslyn is a decoration of the most frequent occurrence throughout Scotland; at this period, indeed, there is hardly an arched tomb recess in the country which is not so decorated. Carved rosettes set in hollows, which abound everywhere at Rosslyn, are likewise the common decoration of the period, both in churches and castles. Similar decorative enrichments are also very common in Tudor buildings in England, as, for example, in Henry VII.’s Chapel at Westminster, where also the small figures so frequent at Rosslyn above the caps and on buttresses, &c., find their counterpart, thus showing an association of ideas with English rather than foreign work.

The doorways at Rosslyn, with the porches formed in front of them by arches thrown between the buttresses, are paralleled by the doorways at Glasgow Cathedral; Trinity College, Edinburgh; and St. Salvator’s, St. Andrews. The engrailed cross which enters so largely into the decoration of Rosslyn, being employed all along the arched roof of the aisles and of the lower chapel, and forming the motive for the tracery of some of the windows at the east end, is peculiarly local, being the distinctive feature of the St. Clair arms, while the loop tracery in many of the windows is of common occurrence in Scotland. A number of details illustrated in Fig. 1092, being chiefly the corbels of niches, have a very marked resemblance to the similar carvings at Trinity College, Edinburgh. Those containing the fox preaching to the geese and the dromedary are specially interesting. Other examples (such as Fig. 1093) show that the character of the foliage is the same as that of many of our Scottish churches. Much of the carving at Rosslyn has considerable affinity with the late wood work in English churches (see Fig. 1082).

These comparisons are probably enough to prove that Rosslyn Church was built after the manner and style of its age and country, and only differs from other Scottish churches of the same period in possessing a superabundance of rich detail and carving in excess of what is usually found.[86]

The transepts, which project two bays to the north and south, were obviously intended to be two stories high, and probably of the same height as the clerestory walls of the choir. Indeed, a part of the east wall of the north transept exists of this height. The walls of the transept are well buttressed, as if to maintain a vault, and there are no windows in the existing lower part of the transepts, the intention probably being to light them with large traceried windows at each end, as in Trinity College.

The portions of the transepts and crossing which have been completed are too small to enable it to be clearly determined how these parts of the structure were intended to be carried out and vaulted. The west gable

of the choir (see Fig. 1084) is built with a curved outline on top, which seems to indicate the form of an intended barrel vault. The gable has been left unfinished, and the existing belfry is obviously a late addition. The above curve, if completed, would comprise the full width of the chapel, embracing both the centre aisle and the side aisles, and would rise considerably above the apex of the roof. The space included between the curves is about 36 feet wide, which is a wider span than would likely be undertaken at this period. The curved form of the top of the west wall of the choir may, therefore, be dismissed as an indication of a probable vault.

Attention has already been drawn to the usual mode of finishing the barrel vaults of churches at this period (see _ante_, page 3), viz., by the introduction of four solid walls (with small apertures) at the four sides of the crossing on which the barrel vaults of the various arms of the churches were stopped. This system has, so far as the structure is completed, been adopted at Rosslyn, the wall on the east side of the crossing

being built so as to receive the barrel vault of the choir. There seems to be no reason why the same plan should not have been intended to be used for the completion of the other sides of the crossing. The edifice would then be in harmony with the other collegiate churches of the period, and may have been intended to be completed with a central tower.

The building shown by dotted lines at the west end is a vestry and organ chamber erected a few years ago.

The sculpture with which the chapel is so profusely adorned generally represents Scriptural scenes, and has been very minutely described by the Rev. Mr. Thompson in his _Guide to Rosslyn Chapel_.

One of the most unique examples amongst the remarkable decorations of the edifice is the ornamentation of the south pillar of the east aisle,

generally known as the “’Prentice Pillar” (see Fig. 1081). It consists of a series of wreaths twisted round the shaft, each wreath curving from base to capital round one quarter of the pillar. The ornamentation of the wreaths corresponds in character with the other carving of the church; and the grotesque animals on the base find a counterpart in those of the chapter house pillar at Glasgow Cathedral.

Beneath the choir are the vaults in which many of the St. Clairs are buried. The entrance is under a slab on which the incised outline of a knight in armour is carved (Fig. 1094), with a dog at his feet, and a small shield at his head, bearing a lion rampant contourné.

The monument to George, fourth Earl of Caithness, who died in 1582, originally stood against the wall of the north aisle. It was removed in 1736, and placed against the wall at the west end of the north aisle (see Fig. 1079). This monument (Fig. 1095) contains the family motto, “Commit thy work to God,” and the arms of the St. Clairs.

THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF DUNGLASS,[87]

HADDINGTONSHIRE.

This deserted but very complete edifice is situated within one mile of Cockburnspath Railway Station. It is in a good state of preservation, and its masonry may be described as almost entire, with the exception of the damages done to it during last century, when it was fitted up for stabling and other farm purposes; or, as stated in the Hutton Collection,[88] made in the eighteenth century, “It is at present employed in a great variety of domestic uses.” The structure now stands a neglected ruin, and is put to no purpose whatever, except that the south transept is used as the burial-place of the family of the Halls of Dunglass.

The building (Fig. 1096) is cruciform, and consists of a nave 40 feet long by 20 feet wide internally, a choir 33 feet 3 inches long by 17 feet 9 inches wide, and north and south transepts, each 21 feet 7 inches long by 13 feet 9 inches wide. The total internal length of the church is 90 feet 8 inches, and the total length of the transept from north to south

is 63 feet. There is a sacristy 19 feet 3 inches in length by 13 feet 7 inches in width internally on the north side of the choir, from which it enters by a low centred arch, pointed and splayed.

The edifice (Fig. 1097) is roofed throughout, with the exception of the tower over the crossing, with a continuous pointed barrel vault over each arm of the cross, having a roof of heavy overlapping stone slabs resting on the outside of the arch. There is thus no timber used in the construction of the walls and roof.

The tower has been divided, internally, into three stages, and the

corbels for supporting the floor beams still remain. The lower set of corbels are set immediately above the apex of the tower arches, one of them being seen in the sketches of the interior of the crossing (Figs. 1098 and 1099). In the north side of the west wall of the tower (see Fig. 1098) a door opens into the nave at a high level, which probably was reached by wooden steps, there being no stone stair of access to the tower chambers.

It will be seen from the drawing (Fig. 1100) that the plan of the tower piers is peculiar. The two western piers stand out from the angle of the walls of the nave and transept, to which they are attached by a strip of masonry, only some 9 or 10 inches thick. The tower is thus considerably off the centre of the transept, and is much less in breadth than the limbs of the cross. The two eastern piers project from the angle into the choir, but not so as to diminish the width of the transept. It is difficult to account for the extremely unusual and eccentric position of the tower supports. Possibly the choir and tower were first built, and when the nave and transepts were erected, it was thought desirable to make them wider than at first intended. The piers of the crossing are simply splayed and notched on the inner diagonal faces, and they are all alike; but the arch faces or mouldings vary, those of the nave and transepts corresponding with the piers, while the choir arch is moulded on both faces with shallow mouldings. The former arches spring from moulded caps (see section Fig. 1100) and the latter from caps carved and moulded

The Collegiate Church of Dunglass.

Cap of Tower Arch, Choir.]

(Fig. 1101). The splayed base of the piers is omitted on the chancel side.

The windows in the end walls of the nave, choir, and transepts are all pointed, and were filled with tracery; but the tracery in every case is gone, and the west wall under the window sill has been cut out to allow of the passage of carts and horses. Below the end windows of the transept and sacristy are sepulchral recesses, which were probably enriched with cusping, which is now cut away. The ornamental brackets for supporting these enrichments have label terminations of angels. One of these, playing on a stringed instrument, is shown in Fig. 1102. The side windows of the church have segmental sconsion arches and double lights, with massive tracery (see Figs. 1099 and 1103). The north and south doorways of the nave are round arched, with moulded jambs (see Fig. 1097). The other doorways are plain, with lintels.

The Collegiate Church of Dunglass.

Corbel in Sacristy.]

The sedilia in the south wall near the east end (Figs. 1103 and 1104) is a very beautiful one, and is fairly well preserved. It contains the usual three seats indicated by three ogee crocketed arch-heads. These arches rest on carved capitals at each end (Fig. 1105), and the intermediate ones on corbels supported by angels, one holding a shield, and the other playing on a voil. The sedilia is recessed about 13 inches, and is 6 feet 6¾ inches long (see Fig. 1103) by about 5 feet 3 inches high from the seat to the springing of the arches. Between the sedilia and the east wall and below the sill of the window there has been a piscina, which has been cut away, and its position is merely indicated against the wall, as shown in Fig. 1103. It appears to have been supported by a shaft from the floor. Adjoining this, in the east wall, is seen (see Fig. 1104) a projecting corbel with a shield on the face. This was probably meant either to support a light or a figure in connection with the altar.

In the sacristy there are on the side walls four consecration crosses at the points marked on the Plan.

There is a diversity of opinion as to the name of the founder and the date of the founding of the Church of Dunglass. According to Nisbet[89] it was founded by “Sir Thomas Home, in the reign of Robert III.” (1390-1406). He married Nicola or Nicolas Pepdie, who brought him the

lordship of Dunglass, and their arms (Fig. 1106), which adjoin the north transept window, Nisbet says are impaled, viz., the lion for Home, and the “three birds called papingoes, relative to the name of Pepdie.” In Keith’s _Catalogue_ and by Spottiswoode we are told that the Collegiate Church of Dunglass was founded in the year 1450 by Sir Alexander Home of that Ilk. Chalmers, in the _Caledonia_, Vol. II. p. 512, says it was founded by Sir Alexander Home of Home in 1403. He was the son of Sir Thomas and Nicolas Pepdie. Sir James Hall, in a letter written in 1789 (see Hutton Collection), finds from examination, evidently of original documents in his possession, that it was founded by Sir Alexander in 1403. Dr. Laing also adopts this date as correct.[90] Perhaps, as above suggested, the choir and tower may have been built in 1403, while the nave was not erected till after 1450.

The Collegiate Church of Dunglass.

Details of Sedilia.]

The Collegiate Church of Dunglass.

Arms of Sir Thomas Home and his Wife in North Transept.]

Dunglass Church is generally regarded as having been Collegiate. In the appendix to the _Scotichronicon_, it is stated that in the reign of James II. the buildings of Douglas (probably a mistake for Dunglass) were in progress,[91] and in the _Originales Parochiales_, Vol. I. p. 153, the following note occurs:--“About the middle of the fifteenth century a petition regarding the erection of the Parish Church of Douglas (evidently mistaken for Dunglass) into a Collegiate Church was presented to the Apostolic See, but though the Pope’s consent seems to have been obtained, the purpose never was fulfilled.”

FOWLIS EASTER CHURCH, PERTHSHIRE.[92]

This edifice, which is one of the best preserved and most interesting of the minor churches of its date in Scotland, is situated about six miles north-west from Dundee.

The lands of Fowlis came into the possession of the family of Gray by marriage about the year 1397, when the only daughter of the last Mortimer of Fowlis and Aberdour married Sir Andrew Gray of Broxmouth. He was the first Lord Gray, and was succeeded by his son Andrew, the second Lord Gray, and it was doubtless by this Andrew Gray that the church was built. He died in 1469, and, judging from the style and various features of the architecture, the building seems to have been erected in his lifetime. Spottiswoode states that it was built by Sir Andrew Gray of Fowlis during the reign of James II. (1437-1460), and there is still

more conclusive evidence that the church was built by Sir Andrew. He married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir John Wemyss of Rires and Kincaldrum, and the arms of Gray and Wemyss are carved on the skew stones of the church. Further, in the _Old Statistical Account_ it is stated that the “beam which supported the organ loft” bore the inscription:--“Hoc Templum Structum fuit Anno Millesimo Centesimo Quadragesimo Secundo ab A. Gray.”

The church (Fig. 1107) is a simple oblong structure without buttresses or projections of any kind. It measures about 88 feet long by 28 feet wide outside the walls. It is built of fine ashlar in large courses of stone, obtained from the den of Fowlis in the immediate neighbourhood. The stone is of a bluish-grey colour, and has well stood the test of time. There are north and south doors (Fig. 1108) nearly opposite each other near

the west end, and a priest’s door near the east end, all round arched. The edifice was divided into a nave and chancel by a rood screen and loft.

Corbels, &c., at Rood Screen.]

The corbels for supporting the loft still exist, as shown on the Plan and in Fig. 1109. The nave is lighted by a large four light window in the west gable (see Fig. 1110), and one narrow lofty pointed window in the south wall (see Fig. 1108). There are one upper and one lower window in the south wall at the rood loft, the lower window pointed and the other square headed, and immediately to the east, in the south wall, another narrow and tall pointed window. Between the priest’s door and the east gable the chancel is emphasised by a large three light traceried window in the south wall (see Fig. 1110), and also by a slight rise in the base, which runs all round the church. There is a small round window in the east wall fitted with a piece of cast iron tracery, put in about the beginning of this century. Only one window occurs in the north wall, viz., at the rood loft, which corresponds to the lower window on the south side, and is furnished with similar corbels at each side, for the support of the rood loft. There is in addition a lower corbel a few feet west from the window, which was probably the wall rest of the upper step of the stair leading to the loft. The south-west doorway (Fig. 1111) has a very impressive appearance. The jambs and arch are moulded with two deep and wide hollows, having a filleted round between, which terminates, like many late Gothic mouldings, on a splayed base. The round arch is surmounted by a richly carved ogee shaped label, resting at each side on figures bearing shields, and terminating with a heraldic display at the top, where on a shield couché are carved the arms of Lord Gray, namely, a lion rampant, within a bordure

Window in South Wall of chancel.

Window in West End Wall.

FIG. 1110.--Fowlis Easter Church.]

engrailed, above which is a helmet supported by two lions, and bearing a swan’s head and neck, with wings elevated for crest. The carving is, unfortunately, a good deal decayed.

Adjoining the interior of each of the west doorways is a stoup; that on the north side is shown in Fig. 1112.

The ambry or sacrament house stands in the east wall on the north side of the altar. It is one of the most elaborately carved and sculptured examples now remaining in Scotland. The sacrament house is well shown in the drawing by Mr. Robertson (Fig. 1113). It is 5 feet 6 inches high by 3 feet wide across the cope and base. The opening, which is checked

for a door, has an ogee arch with richly carved buttresses on each side. Above the recess is sculptured a remarkable group (Fig. 1114). In the centre is the bust of the Saviour, on a larger scale than the other figures, holding in His left hand the globe, surmounted by a small cross--the attribute of sovereignty. On each side is an angel--that on the right holding the cross, and that on the left the pillar of the scourging. Both

Fowlis Easter Church.

Stoup in North Wall.]

have a nimbus, but are without wings. Above the cornice which runs along the top of the ambry and in the hollow of the roof or cope the Annunciation is sculptured. The Blessed Virgin stands on one side and the angel on the other, holding the scroll with the salutation. Between them is the pot of lilies, and behind the Virgin an open book, symbolising the prophecies regarding her.

Above the ambry are seen indications of broken work, as if there had been something more sculptured above, and in the village, built into one of the cottages, there is a series of figures (Fig. 1115), which have clearly been taken from the church, and which possibly stood over this ambry. These carvings are just the length required to fit the space, the panel containing them being 3 feet 1½ inch wide. Mr. Robertson, however, thinks that these figures formed part of a tomb, and that the broken remains on the top of the ambry indicate the former existence of some kind of parapet; but in any view, to bring these figures back to the church would be a fitting conclusion to the admirable work which has lately been carried out by the minister, the Rev. Dr. Burr, with the assistance of Mr. T. S. Robertson, architect.

The alterations lately effected consisted in removing a partition wall, which, along with the rood screen, separated the east end of the building from the part used as the Parish Church, and in removing the plaster ceiling, which cut across the tracery of the west window, preparatory to putting on a new open timber roof. The belfry replaces a nondescript erection of last century. The bell (Fig. 1116), which is old, is 14 inches high by 17¼ inches in diameter at the lip, and is attached to the stock by three canons. The stock is of oak, and, although bound with iron, is much rent. The bell is very heavy and of simple but beautiful form. The letters of the inscription seem to have been formed separately, and fitted round the mould in which the bell was cast.

The font (Fig. 1117) is richly sculptured, but is much mutilated. It is octagonal in shape, and measures 3 feet high, with a round basin, 20½ inches wide. In the panels round the basin are sculptured scenes from

the life of Christ, which are much broken and defaced. The Baptism occupies one space, and Christ bound with a figure on each side (Fig. 1118)

is carved on another. The panels also contain the arms of Gray and Wemyss, with others now obliterated.

The door of the rood screen is still preserved. It is of dark oak, and is one of the few examples of pieces of furniture of this description remaining in Scotland (Fig. 1119). It has open work in the upper part, occupying nearly half the height (see details in Fig. 1120) and four

panels below, the lower two having the linen pattern, and the two above (forming the centre of the door) being decorated with tracery work.

One of the most remarkable features of this church consists of four large pre-Reformation paintings on oak panels, two being at present hung on the east wall and two on the north

Font.]

Carvings on Font.]

wall.[93] The two on the east wall are in much the better state of preservation. The upper picture represents our Saviour on the Cross, the soldier on horseback on his right thrusting the spear into his side, and numerous

Details of Upper Part of Rood Screen.]

other figures on both right and left. The lower consists of eleven panels, each representing a saint, some male and some female. The tenth panel has near the foot the Gray shield in colours. On the north wall the upper painting has the middle part entirely rubbed off, and also, to a considerable extent, the central part of the upper division; but what remains shows a large head and shoulders, surrounded with a glory. Probably this part of the picture was a representation of the Trinity. To the right of this is a female saint with a sword piercing a king’s head; at her feet and behind her there probably was another figure, now wanting, to balance the two figures on the left, namely, John the Baptist, holding the lamb in his arms, and behind him the Virgin and Child. The lower division has in the centre a representation of the entombment, with three figures on either side. The panels of the other picture are not in their correct places, but they represent some figures on horseback, and others on foot--subject uncertain.

As already mentioned, the skew putts contain arms. These are as follow, viz.:--

S.W. Wemyss of Reres 1st and 4th lion rampant, 2nd and 3rd a bend.

S.E. A lion rampant within a bordure engrailed for Gray, impaling
the dexter half of the foregoing arms, namely, 1st a lion rampant,
3rd a bend.

N.E. Scotland, lion rampant within a double tressure flory counter
flory.

N.W. Lion rampant; for what family is uncertain.

COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. SALVATOR, ST. ANDREWS, FIFESHIRE.

The College of St. Salvator was founded and endowed by Bishop Kennedy, in 1456, for a provost and prebendaries. This bishop was distinguished for his liberality to the Church. He also founded and endowed a Franciscan Monastery in St. Andrews, which has now entirely disappeared.

The Church of St. Salvator is the only portion of the college buildings which still survives. It is now attached to the united colleges of St. Leonard’s and St. Salvator, which form the existing University of

St. Andrews, and the other buildings of which are modern. The church bears the marks of the period when it was erected, the latter half of the fifteenth century. It consists (Fig. 1121) of a single oblong chamber about 107 feet long and 28 feet wide internally, with a three-sided apse at the east end. There are now no windows in the north and west walls, but the south wall is divided by buttresses into seven bays, with a large pointed window in each, which, together with the three windows of the eastern apse, sufficiently light the church. The central window of the apse is larger than the others. The tracery in the windows is modern. The buttresses between the bays are bold and effective (Fig. 1122), having a broad moulded base and being enriched with canopied niches for statues on their face. The canopies on the buttresses next the apse are placed

facing one another on the angle of the buttress instead of on the face, an arrangement not easily explained. The buttresses are now finished on top with gabled pinnacles, but these are a modern restoration. The original pinnacles were, doubtless, of the late and rather stunted character usual at the period, of which one specimen survives, at the north-east

angle of St. Salvator’s, where, however, it is little seen. Between two of the buttresses, near the south-west corner, a porch is introduced under the

window (Fig. 1123), the buttresses being slightly extended beyond the others to receive it. The porch is roofed with groined vaulting, and has a stone bench on each side, and a canopied niche on each side of the wide entrance arch. A shield at the apex bore the arms and mitre of Bishop Kennedy. The doorway within the porch has a three-sided head or arch, and the north door opposite it has a similar top.

The tower at the south-west angle of the church is of the usual plain unbuttressed form (Fig. 1124) common at the period in Scotland. On the ground floor it contains the gateway to the college. Over the outer archway are the arms of Bishop Kennedy in a cusped panel (Fig. 1125), having a canopied niche on each side. Over this the tower rises to the string course under the belfry story, with no features but small loops in the wall. The belfry story has a lofty double window on each of its four sides.

Bishop Kennedy’s Arms in Tower.]

These windows are pointed and cusped, and a broad cusped transome divides them in their height. The angles of this story are splayed, and it is finished with a new plain parapet resting on a simple corbel course. The tower is surmounted by an octagonal spire of the stunted kind common at this time, and with a very marked entasis. It is divided by two string courses in the height, and has two tiers of lucarnes.

In the interior of the north wall, close to the apse, stand the remains of the splendid monument erected by Bishop Kennedy (Fig. 1126). It forms in appearance the interior of an apse with five sides, elaborately carved with minute niches and recesses, and is covered with vaulting (now broken). This apse is spanned by a moulded and pointed arch carried on clustered shafts. Beside these, and over the arch, there is a succession of niches and figures, interspersed with tall much subdivided windows. Unfortunately this monument was greatly damaged by the fall of the roof, which occurred last century. According to tradition six splendid silver maces were found within the tomb, one of which is preserved in the college, and the others were distributed amongst the other Scottish universities. But it has been shown by Mr. Alex. J. S. Brooke, F.S.A. Scot., in a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (see _Proceedings_, 1892, in which these and other Scottish maces are fully illustrated), that this tradition is erroneous, and that the maces of Glasgow,

Aberdeen, and Edinburgh Universities are of different dates, and were made expressly for these universities. The three maces belonging to St. Andrews are:--1, The mace of the Faculty of Arts; 2, the mace of the Faculty of Canon Law, now the Theological Faculty; and 3, the mace of St. Salvator’s College--all of St. Andrews. No. 1 has a beautiful knop or head of tabernacle work, in three stages. It probably dates from early in the fifteenth century, and is of French workmanship. No. 2 is of a somewhat similar design, but is probably of Scottish manufacture. No. 3 is the most beautiful of the three St. Andrews maces. It bears the arms and initials of Bishop Kennedy, and the knop is of elaborate tabernacle work, containing allegorical and other figures. The style of workmanship of the mace of St. Leonard’s, which is still preserved at the College, corresponds with that of the tomb. The inscription on the mace states that it was made in Paris, by John Maiel, in the year 1461. It seems not improbable that the tomb was also designed in France. To the right of the monument there is a very effectively designed sacrament house, having the royal arms, and those of Bishop Kennedy above it. The shield of the latter, with his mitre, is also seen to the left of the monument. This sacrament house is somewhat earlier in date than several others given below, and is of superior design. In this case the pyx, supported by two angels, is carved on the corbel beneath. Shafts, with cap and base on each side of the ambry, support a pointed arch above, ornamented with crockets and finial. A crocketed pinnacle encloses the composition on each side. The whole design is good and is well carried out.

THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF DALKEITH, MID-LOTHIAN.

The town of Dalkeith stands between the rivers North and South Esk, about six miles south from Edinburgh. A church dedicated to St. Nicholas existed here from an early period. It was raised into a collegiate church in the fifteenth century, and since the Reformation has been the church of the parish.

This church (Fig. 1127) consults of a nave of three bays with aisles, and a western tower, north and south transepts, and an aisleless choir of three bays, with an eastern apse. The western part of the church and a portion of the choir extending as far as the south doorway (at which point a wall has been erected across the building, as indicated by dotted lines) are used as the Parish Church. About 1854 this church underwent a thorough restoration. Much of the interest attached to it as an ancient building was thus effaced, but the original plan has not been greatly altered. The appearance of the building before the above date is shown by Fig. 1128, which is reproduced from a drawing in the Hutton Collection in the Advocates’ Library.[94] The steeple shown in this view is said to have been built in 1762.[95] It resembles somewhat the old steeple of Glasgow College,[96] and is much more likely to have been built, as the latter was, in the seventeenth century than in the eighteenth. The tower was probably repaired at the latter date, when, as we are informed, the church itself was so treated. The walls of the tower, where they have been left unrestored, and the staircase turret adjoining are undoubtedly older than the eighteenth century.

The eastern portion of the choir (Fig. 1129) has stood for centuries in a roofless and ruinous condition. It has originally been vaulted, probably with a pointed barrel vault supporting a stone roof. As much

of the vault remains (Fig. 1130) as is self-supporting, and has on the surface and in the angles of the apse moulded ribs at intervals springing from corbels. The east end terminates in an apse of three bays, in each of which, and in the bays of the south wall, are windows of three lights, filled with plain looped tracery. The windows of the apse have been partially built up (see Fig. 1129). The apse windows are built at the same level as the other windows, thus leaving a great height of plain wall above them. This height of wall over the windows was

rendered unavoidable by the barrel vault of the interior, which required the arches of the windows to be kept below the springing of the main vault, as may be observed at Ladykirk, Seton Church, and elsewhere. In the churches of Linlithgow and Stirling the central window of the apse is larger than the others, but in those cases the vaulting is different, and allows greater height for the windows. The parapet above the walls of the choir is plain and rests on a string course, which has been carved with foliage. The doorway in the south side (Fig. 1131) is round arched, and in the freedom of the treatment of its details very much resembles what is found in the neighbouring Church of Rosslyn.

The buttresses (Fig. 1132), like those of Rosslyn, are massive, and although they have five or six stages, they do not recede at these stages till the wall head is nearly reached, where they are finished with a gablet beneath which a large gargoyle is projected. The buttresses were crowned with square pinnacles, finished with crockets and finials, only two of which now remain, in a very ruinous state. They have been carefully wrought on the inside, so as to adjust themselves to the sloping flanks of the stone roof, the water from which was conveyed through the buttresses by the projecting gargoyles to the ground. There is a canopied niche on the face of all the buttresses, as well as those on each side of the south doorway.

A monument in the choir (Fig. 1133) contains two recumbent figures, a husband and wife side by side. The effigies (Fig. 1134) are not recessed, as is frequently the case in an arched tomb in the wall, but lie in the open church where shown on the ground Plan, and they appear to be

in their original position. From the heraldic coats on the monument (see Fig. 1133) it is obvious that the knight was a Douglas, and that the lady was of royal descent. On a lozenge at the head of the knight are the

arms of Douglas of Dalkeith, viz., two stars on a chief. And on a similar lozenge at the head of the lady are the same arms impaled with those of Scotland (Fig. 1135). The same arms are also repeated at the sides of

the monument (see Fig. 1133), with what appear like coronets above them, from which Mr. James Drummond[97] gives it as his opinion that the persons represented are James, 4th Lord of Dalkeith, who was created Earl of Morton in 1457, and his wife Johan, third daughter of King James I. The former died about 1498. Mr. Drummond supposes the lady survived her husband, but the Lady Johanna must have died before the year 1490.[98] The facts on which that view is founded are the presence of the royal and Douglas arms impaled, and “the male figure being sculptured with an earl’s coronet, to which none of the previous lords of Dalkeith had a right, although they were allied to royalty.”[99]

The monument is in a very dilapidated condition, the base and lower half of the pedestal being buried in earth and rubbish, the accumulation of centuries. The arms on the pedestal (see Fig. 1133) are the same as those already referred to as carved at the heads of the figures. They are repeated on the opposite side of the pedestal, but in inverse order. The canopied work along the top of the pedestal is similar to what is seen surmounting a fragment of royal arms at Dunfermline (see Fig. 218), which fragment may also have been part of a tomb.

The precise date of the founding of the Chapel of St. Nicholas does not appear to be known, but since 1372, when Robert II. granted a licence to James of Douglas to endow a chaplainry therein, frequent notices of it appear.[100]