Chapter VII: Part 7

Although the fabric has been subjected to a considerable amount of modern improvement, many of the original features still remain. The main body of the church (Fig. 1183) consists, as it has always done, of an oblong main structure, divided by two rows of columns into a central nave, and two side aisles. The nave is 63 feet long, the central division being 27 feet 6 inches wide, and the side aisles 11 feet wide. The central columns carry pointed arches (Fig. 1184), and in the wall above them was originally a small window over each column (not over the arches as usual) with widely splayed jambs and trefoil head. The roof of the aisles, being below the sill of these clerestory windows, was necessarily low. This was found in recent times to be a disadvantage, and the walls of the aisles have been rebuilt and heightened, so as to allow the roof of the central nave to run down over them without a break (Fig. 1185). The old clerestory windows are thus roofed in, and are only visible in the inside

of the nave. The windows of the aisles are all modern. The piers are round and bear simple caps (see Fig. 1184), and these and the clerestory windows are plainly of a very late date, although the cap mouldings (see Fig. 1184) have been copied from old forms.

To the east of the nave was the choir, now converted into a vestry 20 feet 6 inches long by 17 feet wide. The chancel arch springs from two responds, the shafts of which have an ancient appearance, but they have probably been reconstructed in imitation of ancient work. One of the small original windows is preserved in the north wall of the chancel. It is about 18 inches in width, and has a plain pointed arch with chamfer on edge.

There has been an arch at the west end of the church with similar shafts to those of the chancel arch. This arch opened into the tower which rises against the centre of the west wall of the church, and is divided into several floors, and provided with a newell stair leading to them.

The tower (see Fig. 1185) is a picturesque object, though perfectly plain. It rises with square angles, without buttresses or other breaks from the base to the parapet. Its short spire, together with the projection containing the turret stair, form a pleasing group. The whole presents a characteristic specimen of our simple Scottish church steeples.

Although it has been thought that some of the features (above referred to) belong to the first pointed period, it is much more likely that the whole structure, except the recent work, dates from the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the collegiate establishment was instituted, and when the old parish church appears to have been reconstructed. Several similar towers of late date in the locality will be illustrated.

The church has apparently been renovated, internally, after the Reformation, when a good deal of carved oak work has been introduced. This oak work (Fig. 1186) is now employed as a lining of the walls along the south and east sides of the church, and is obscured by a number of pews which abut against it. It is excellent work of the period, and it is

unfortunate that it should be so completely lost to sight. One of the panels contains a shield with a coat of arms, apparently that of Cunningham of Barns, with the initials A. C. and the date 1605. When the church was handed over to the town the rights of Cunningham of Barns were reserved. He had thus some interest in the church or lands. This carved work seems to have been the gift of Alexander Cunningham, who at the above date was Laird of Barns. The arms of his wife, Helen, daughter of Thomas Myrton of Cambo, are seen, with her initials, on the smaller panel to the right. Another shield bears the coat and initials of Katherine Lindsay, wife of Thomas Myrton of Cambo, with the date 1598. Other shields (not shown in the illustration) bear the arms of Learmonth of Balcomie (1594).

ST. MARY’S, WHITEKIRK, HADDINGTONSHIRE.

This charming old building is one of the few rural parish churches of mediæval times still used for divine service. The church seems to have had its origin in a neighbouring holy well. The following extract from documents in the Vatican gives some account of its origin and history:--[116]

“The great number of miracles performed at this well were so
numerous that in 1309 John Abernethy, with the assistance of the
monks of Melrose, procured a shrine to be erected, and dedicated it
to the Holy Mother. In 1413 there were no less than 15,653 pilgrims
of all nations, and the offerings were equal to 1422 merks. In
1430, James I., King of Scotland, being a good man who loved the
Church, built the Abbey of the Holy Cross at Edinburgh, and took
the Chapel of Fairknowe into his protection, added much to it by
the building of houses for the reception of pilgrims, called it
Whitechapel, where he often went and made it a dependant on his own
abbey of the Holy Cross. In 1439, Adam Hepburn of Hailes built a
choir all arched with stone, agreeable to the mode of Peter de
Main, and so it continued in great prosperity as a place of
sanctity until the year 1540, that the cup of vengeance was full,
and heresy covered the North.”

Whitekirk was a dependency of Holyrood, as mentioned in the above extract. It was a great place of pilgrimage, and was visited, amongst others, by Pope Pius II. (Æneas Sylvius), who came to render thanks to the Virgin for his safe landing in Scotland.

In the seventeenth century the east end was used as a church and the west end as a school. In 1760 the Parish of Tynningham was added to Whitekirk, and some of the fittings of the former were brought to the latter. Thus the Haddington gallery in the north transept was adorned with the front of the gallery from Tynningham. During this century some attempts have been made to improve the structure. In 1832 a “pseudo south transept” was built, and the Seacliffe gallery (which resembles a large Dutch cabinet) was introduced.

This church, like many others erected in the fifteenth century, is on

the plan of a cross without aisles (Fig. 1187). The choir is vaulted with a pointed barrel vault, and the outer roof is slated. Over the crossing (Fig. 1188) rises a square tower, finished with a plain parapet. The east

end is square, and there is a fine entrance porch at the south-west angle. The church is built with red freestone, which is toned with age, and the whole building is one of the most picturesque and pleasing of our old parish churches.

The nave and choir measure internally 103 feet in length by about 22 feet in width. The choir is divided by bold buttresses into two bays,

in each of which is a traceried window, the cusping of which is peculiar. The forms of the buttresses and tracery are shown in Fig. 1189. The east end has a small circular quatrefoiled window set high in the wall (Fig. 1190), over which is a panel containing a shield bearing a fessé with a crozier behind it, probably the arms of Abbot Crawford of Holyrood (1460-1483).

The west end (Fig. 1191) and the south transept have been rebuilt.

The south-west porch (Fig. 1192) is one of the most striking features

of the structure. It measures 13 feet wide by 9 feet deep internally, and has a stone bench on each side. The entrance is by an open archway, with clustered shafts, having enriched caps from which spring the bold mouldings of the arch. At each of the outer angles of the porch is a diagonal buttress having a niche on the inner face, and finished on the top with crocketed pinnacles. Over the doorway there is a panel with small buttresses at the jambs, and canopied head with scroll ornament over.

The interior of the porch is roofed with pointed barrel vaulting, having ribs springing from carved corbels. The door to the church is square headed and is surmounted by a niche, which formerly contained a statue of the Blessed Virgin.

The interior of the church (Fig. 1193) is very plain. The tower is supported on arches at the crossing, which spring from attached piers with moulded caps. The space over the crossing is vaulted with groins, having a circular boss in the centre. The tower (see Fig. 1188) is carried up with plain walls to two stories above the roof, and has in the upper

part or belfry a window on each side, with central mullion, now much decayed by the weather. A stair turret (Fig. 1194) is attached to the north-west angle of the tower, and enters from the exterior. The north wall of the nave has been altered at the point adjoining the tower.

At a distance of about 100 yards north from the church stands a plain

building (Fig. 1195), which is believed to have been the tithe barn of the parish. It is situated on the edge of a rocky ridge which slopes steeply

downwards on the north side. In the view (Fig. 1196) taken from the low ground on the north side the top of the church spire is seen. The barn measures about 65 feet 4 inches in length from east to west, by about 20 feet in breadth over the walls. It has been built at two periods. The western portion, measuring on the outside about 21 feet 3 inches by 20

feet, has originally been a pele tower, with walls about 5 feet in thickness, and was altered at a later period, when it was extended into a barn. The present entrance to the keep is in the south wall, which appears to have been rebuilt of the same reduced thickness (2 feet 4 inches) as the barn walls. This doorway leads into a vaulted ground floor, from which a door

to a small lobby gives access to a narrow straight stair leading to the first floor, contained in the thickness of the north wall. The stair is lighted

with narrow slits, and the door at the top leading into what was originally the hall is finished in the way usual in such structures, with well wrought splays round the stone jambs and lintel. On the first floor the east wall of the pele tower has been taken down. The junction of the tower with the barn is plainly visible from the rough face of the masonry in the interior of the north wall, where the east wall of the tower has been cut away. The upper part of the tower being thus thrown into the barn, a few steps, as shown on the Plan, lead up to the latter. There is an upper floor in

the roof of the barn supported on the ties of the roof and reached by a wooden stair. The windows of this floor are shown in the gables. When the barn was built the upper part of the north wall of the keep (Fig. 1197) was lowered sufficiently to allow of the eaves of the roof of the new and narrower building being continued straight along over the wider building of the tower. The barn proper is entered from the south side by a doorway 7 feet 7 inches wide, and is lighted by two windows in the south side and one in the gable. There is also a narrow doorway on the north side, which can only have been for occasional use, the ground being steep on that side, with only a narrow footing along the wall, which is kept back from the line of the tower in order to obtain this footing. At the west

Panel in South Wall of Tithe Barn.]

end of the barn and in the old wall of the keep there is a fireplace 8 feet 6 inches wide, with a stone division. The fireplace, which is 5 feet high, has an oaken lintel with a well wrought relieving arch over it. This fireplace must have been used before the wall above was taken down, and indicated that the tower had probably been first enlarged as a residence and the whole afterwards converted into a barn. In the north wall near the fireplace there is a flat recess with a pointed arch 13 inches deep, the sill being about 3 feet above the floor. There are indications (see Plan) that the barn walls once extended further eastwards.

Near the west corner of the south wall is a panel (Fig. 1198) with an effaced coat of arms.

MID-CALDER CHURCH, MID-LOTHIAN.

The town of Mid-Calder is situated in the western part of the County of Mid-Lothian.

The church was begun in the sixteenth century by Master Peter Sandilands, Rector of Mid-Calder, a younger son of the sixth Knight of Calder. Having raised the walls of the vestry or revestry and laid the foundations of the choir, and being then an old man, he provided the money for the entire completion of the church, including the nave, tower, &c., and paid a sum over to Sir James Sandilands of Calder (his nephew) and his son John, who bound themselves to complete the structure according to a bond engrossed in the public records. This bond is to the following effect:--[117]

After the usual preliminaries and having acknowledged the receipt
of the sum of “xvj hundrethe merkis gude and vsuale money of the
realme,” they undertake “to big and compleit the revestrie of the
paroche kirk of Caldor with ane walter tabill at the heich that it
is now vnder the thak inlikwise with ane wthir walter tabill abone
the thak on the est gauill of the queir weill pendit in half round
to the said queir vnder the said tabill inlikeuise weill thekit
with thak stane And sall rais abone the said tabill in the est
gauill of the queir and abone the turneqres and the tabill thairof
tua lichtis als fair as thai may be had efferand to the heicht of
the queir And abone the walter tabill abone the thak of the
revestre and thre penis thairof to ryse cunteranis of buttreis
vpoune the said eist gauill thre penis thairof And the remanent of
the said queir to be endit of the lenthe and widenes as it is
foundit and in heicht fra the sollis of the said queir duris to the
vuer pairt of the walter tabill vnder the thak thairof xxxij futtis
And the south thre lychtis in the sydevall of the said queir betuix
the foure buttreis to ryse as thai are foundit als heich as thai
may be had in the pend of the said queir efferand to the heich
foirsaid And the saidis buttereis tobe compleit endit as thai ar
now foundit And the north turneqres in the west pairt of the north
sydevall thairof tobe tane avay And the said north vall to ryse xvj
futtis of heicht as it is foundit rouch werk with corbell and
walter tabill on the vther pairt thairof for ane closter and fra
thine vp effeirand to the heicht of the said queir aislar werk And
the said queir tobe compleitlie pendit with croce brace and rinruif
conforme to Sanct Anthonis Yle in Sanct Gelis Kirk And at the west
end of the said queir forgane the south west buttreis to rais ane
substantious wall of rouch werk sevin fut of breid fra ilk sydewall
with ane brace to be raisit tharein als heych as it may be had to
serue the west gavil of the queir with hewin oggeruris And abone
the said brace in the forsaid west gavill sulyeis tobe laid and ane
stepil tobe raisit tharepoun viij futis of breid and lenth or vj
futis braid and xij futis lenth within the sidwallis of the said
stepill quhilk sidwallis salbe of vj futis of heich abone the queir
thak at all partys with lychtis at all partis for the sound of the
bellis in the said stepill to be persit for the orlage hand and
bell in place maist gagand and convenient tharto And in the northe
angell betuix the foresaid wall vnder the grete brace and northe
wall of the kirk syd to rais ane commodious turngreis to serue the
rud loft of the said kirk and stepill foresaid als esaly as it may
be had Item to big ane kirk on the west pair(t) of the said queir
nixt the said brace contenand in lenthe iiijxx of futis and xxviij
futis braid within the wallis respectiue of rouche werk And the
wallis thairof to be foure futis thik and xxvj futis heych fra the
sole of the durris to the vuir part of the watter tabill of syd
wallis with foure buttreis one ilk syd of the said kirk eslar werk
efferand to the queir and four lycht to be biggit in the southsyd
wall of the said kirk of x futis of wydnes and als heych as thai
may be had squair lintalit efferand to the said heicht And in the
southe wall of the said kirk betuix the twa buttreis to be biggit
ane honest dur with ane plain proche with sege stabill on ilk syd
thikyt with thak stane and ane honest dur in the west gavill of the
said kirk with ane lycht abone the samen in myd gavill xij futis of
breid rysand of heich in poyntcast als heich as it may be had
efferand to the heycht of the gavill with sufficient mygallis in
all the lychtis of the said kirk and queir with plane substantious
cornettis of stane or irne quhilk salbe thocht maist gainand in the
lychtis raisit of poyntcast And to put in ilk lycht of the wyndois
grete lokartis of irne for binding of glas thareto And inlikuiss to
put grete crukis in the said kirk durrys as efferis And the said
haill kirk to be pendyt and weill thekyt with thak stane and the
watter tabill of the sidwallis of the said kirk and queir to be
larg of sulye betuix buttreis and buttereis and in ane caisment
hevin for leid to be lad thairin to schout the watter by the
wyndowis of the said kirk and queir to the angellis next the
buttreis And ilk buttere of the foirsaid kirk and queir to haif ane
honeste fiall And the alter of the queir tobe biggit of aislar werk
and the haill queir tobe weill pathit with greis befoir the said
alter and vther wayis as efferis with tua halie wattir fattis weill
hewin to the said kirk and queir And the foirsaidis kirk and queir
to be biggit and completit in maner foirsaid That is to say the
said queir within the space of thre yeris nixt efter the dait herof
And the said kirk within the space of vthair thre yeris nixt and
immediatlie thairefter.” Following on this, John Sandilands,
already mentioned, binds himself to give a “Charter and
infeftment,” securing to the chaplain the sum “of xx merkis money”
annually.

The actual building (Fig. 1199) consists of a choir with tripartite apse having a sacristy or vestry to the east, and it has been carried out, so far as completed, very much in terms of the foregoing bond.

The vestry, which projects from the east end of the choir, seems to have been erected before the bond was executed, and the foundations of the choir seem to have been laid at that time. The remainder of the choir was apparently carried out afterwards, but the nave, which was carefully specified in the bond, was never erected.

The vestry contains two stories, the lower one being a burial vault, which is “pendit” or vaulted, while the upper floor forms the vestry. The

small stair leading to both floors is placed in the north-east angle of the apse. The east wall of the choir (Fig. 1200) is raised above the roof of the vestry, and is provided with a traceried window to the east; but there is no window in the north-east side of the apse, which is occupied by the wheel stair (Fig. 1201). The buttresses are erected as required by the

bond, and the three south windows are introduced between them. The north wall is carried up with rough masonry, and without any windows or openings, and has the water table and corbels prescribed as suitable for the roof of a cloister walk along that side (see Fig. 1201). The choir roof has been intended to be vaulted and the lower courses of the springing are built, but the vault was never completed. The springings show that the vault was intended to be groined. It is specified to have a “cross brace and rinruif,” like a chapel in St. Giles’ Church, but the meaning of these terms is not definite.

At the west end of the choir a very thick wall is built on each side, with a pointed arch between (described as a brace) to support the belfry,

which is minutely specified. The latter, however, was not executed till recently. The lower part, however, above the roof was built, and the modern belfry has been carried up upon it. In the north pier is a “turngreis” or wheel stair described as leading to the rood loft, but in reality it now leads to the family gallery and to the lower part of the belfry (see Fig. 1201). A proposed nave is also minutely described. It was to be 80 feet in length and 28 feet in width, to have four buttresses on each side of ashlar work, and four windows in the south wall, 10 feet

wide, and square lintels. Also an “honest dur,” and a porch on the south side with stone seats and stone roof, and another “honest dur” in the west gable, with a large window over it. The windows were to be glazed and the roof provided with gargoyles.

The altar was to be built with ashlar, and the floor paved and steps placed before the altar. The above instructions have, so far as the structure is executed, been carefully complied with, and the edifice presents a favourable example of the work of the early part of the sixteenth century. Ornament has not been spared, and is specially exhibited in the heraldic carving on the shields, with which the weather mouldings terminate. These shields generally contain the arms of the Sandilands family and their connections the Douglases, of which several examples are given below.

The following is a short notice of the arms on the different parts of the building. On the angles of the projecting sacristy (the lower story of which contained the family burial vault) there are two pinnacles, with very late crocketing, and finials (Fig. 1202). The south pinnacle contains the Sandilands arms and the initials of J. Sandilands, and other lettering,

much decayed. The north pinnacle exhibits the Sandilands arms quartered with Douglas, and having two angels as supporters, the arms surmounted by a helmet, with a lion’s head for crest.

The arms on the label terminations are as follow:--

On the central apse window, north side, Douglas; south side,
Sandilands (a bend).

1st window west from central one.

Dexter side--Lion or Griffin rampant.

Sinister side--Cockburn--The family being allied to the Cockburns
of Ormiston.

2nd window to west.

Dexter side--Lindsay (fesse chequé) (Fig. 1203, D).

Sinister side--Sandilands quartered with Douglas, and initials P.
S. (Fig. 1203, A).

3rd window to west.

Dexter side--Douglas (Fig. 1203, C).

Sinister side--Sandilands and Douglas, with initials J. S. (Fig.
1203, B).

In the interior of the church the same arms occur on corbels as in the one supporting the rood loft, now the family gallery (Fig. 1204).

There in also a remarkable carved panel in oak (Fig. 1205), which combines the above arms _reversed_, with the initials J. S. and J. L., and the date 1595, together with certain Scripture texts.

The Douglas descent is throughout prominently displayed, and the heart and stars sometimes occupy the chief part of the shield. One coat, from centre window (see Fig. 1203, D), exhibits the bearings of a fess chequé of four tracts, with a St. George’s cross in chief, being the arms of the distinguished predecessor of Sir James Sandilands, Lord of Torphichen, and St. John, viz., Sir Walter Lindsay, head of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in Scotland, the cross having reference to the badge of the order.

The tracery in the large windows is well preserved, and is of a kind usual in late work in Scotland, having curved bars without cusping (Figs. 1200 and 1206). The round-headed doorway to the choir is introduced in the central bay under the window, the lower part of which is stepped up to allow of its introduction.

KING’S COLLEGE CHAPEL, ABERDEEN.

The west end of this fine chapel, with its extremely picturesque tower (Fig. 1207), fronts the main street of Old Aberdeen, and forms the north-west corner of the college quadrangle.

The chapel (Fig. 1208) is a long narrow building, with a three-sided apsidal east end, measuring inside the walls about 122 feet 6 inches in length by about 28 feet in width. It is divided into six bays by projecting buttresses, and has a large window filled with mullions and tracery in each bay on the north side, except the second one from the

west, which contains a doorway. Similar large windows are continued round the apse (but the centre one is built up), and there is also one in the east bay of the south side. Over the west doorway there is a large west window (see Fig. 1207) of four lights, with solid built mullions and loop tracery enclosed within a round arch. All the other large windows just referred to have pointed arches (except the second from the east end on the north side), the tracery in those of the apse and in each adjoining window being modern. The other four north windows have, like the large west window, a solid built central mullion going right up to the apex of the arch, and having each half filled with the usual loop tracery. This mode of division of the tracery of a window by a large central built mullion into two distinct portions, each filled with its own tracery, is not uncommon in Scotland, as, for instance, at Seton College, where, however, the mullion divides into two arches and forms two pointed divisions in the arch-head. Besides the north doorway

already mentioned, there are two to the quadrangle and one in the west end, all having elliptic arched tops. The mouldings of the west doorway have bases, but no caps. The south side of the chapel (Fig. 1209) forms a complete contrast to the north side. Instead of large windows occupying each bay, small clerestory windows, with flat arch-heads, occur at intervals along the top of the wall, while the lower part of the wall is left plain, being doubtless intended as a provision for a covered cloister walk. This, however, was never carried out, but instead of it Bishop Stewart (1532-1545) erected a building against this side of the chapel, consisting of two floors, and containing a library, a jewel house, vestry, and class-rooms. These were taken down and re-erected on the same site about 1725, and about fifty years afterwards were destroyed by fire, when the south side of the chapel assumed its present appearance, being “cased and buttressed with granite as we now see it.”[118] Dr. Macpherson further tells us that the coats of arms which now adorn this side of the chapel had been nearly all on the walls of the library, and, having escaped the fire, were, along with some others, inserted in the new granite work. These arms, along with many other coats throughout the building and the college, have been minutely described.[119] We need only mention here the arms of the founder of the college, Bishop William Elphinston, which occur at the west end of the south side of the chapel, viz., a chevron between three boars’ heads

erased, surmounted by a mitre between the initials W. E. and “at sides O. B. A. D. MDXIV. Æ.S. LX (XX) IV.” The royal arms occur on the northmost buttress of the west front of the tower, dated 1504, while those of Margaret Tudor, wife of James IV., appear on another shield in the west front. Adjoining the west doorway an inscription informs us that the chapel was begun by James IV. in 1500. It apparently occupied about

six years in building, as the contract for covering it with lead is dated 1506.

The interior is divided by a wooden screen of very rich carved work, the central portion of which (Fig. 1210) is about 9 feet 7 inches wide, with

double folding doors about 5 feet 9 inches wide by 7 feet 3 inches high. The side portions of the screen within the choir form a continuation of the canopied stalls occupying each side of the choir. Owing to the circumstance of the nave having been fitted up as a library, the ancient arrangement of the screen with its rood loft, ambone, and altars on the nave side were destroyed. Dr. Macpherson, in the paper already referred to, has by illustrations and description traced its original construction, and to this the reader is referred.

The tower at the south-west corner (Fig. 1211) is not quite square, measuring over the walls about 29 feet from north to south, and about 4 feet less from east to west. It has massive corner buttresses, with numerous stepped intakes towards the top, similar to the buttresses of the chapel, being a style of buttress of very frequent occurrence in Scottish late churches, as, for example, at Stirling Church. The tower is finished with one of the few crown steeples remaining in Scotland, being, with that of St. Giles’, Edinburgh, and the Tolbooth, Glasgow, the only three surviving of those which we could at one time boast. The general style of the structure is very similar to that of St. Giles’, but in this case there are only four arches thrown from the angles of the tower to the central lantern (Fig. 1213), while in the case of St. Giles’ there are eight, which produce a fuller and richer effect. The tower (see Fig. 1211) is about 63 feet in height to the top of the battlements. From that point to the base of the lantern pillars (Fig. 1212) is about 15 feet 9 inches, from whence to the top of the cross is about 20 feet. The total height is thus about 99 feet.[120]

The upper part of the steeple was blown down in a violent storm on 7th February 1633. Spalding, under that date,[121] says:--“This hideous winds was marked to be such, as the like had never been seen here in these parts, for it would overturn countrymen’s houses to the ground, and some persons suddenly smo’red within, without relief. It also threw down the stately crown bigged of curious eslar work, off the steeple of King’s College of Old Aberdeen, whilk was thereafter re-edified and built up, little inferior to the first.” The part blown down was probably only the lantern on the top of the four arches, the details of this part having a decidedly Renaissance character, and being different from the other parts of the tower. Doubtless the arches themselves would suffer in the crash, and would require repairing and rebuilding in part, which was evidently done, as the date 1634 is carved on the soffit of the crossing. This difference of detail is interesting, as showing how persistently these old designers wrought in the style of their time. Although it is evident that the present lantern is not quite the same as the original one, it must be admitted to be an extremely happy and picturesque composition.

In connection with the rebuilding Spalding mentions two names. First, under the year 1640 he says:--“Dr. Gordon, medicinar, and one of the founded members of the College of Old Aberdeen, and common procurator thereof, departed this life upon the 10th of March, in his own house in Old Aberdeen; a godly, grave, and learned man; singular in publick works about the college, and putting up on the steeple thereof the stately and glorious crown, which you see thereon, which was thrown down by the wind.” Second, under the year 1642 he says:--“Saturday the 10th September, George Thomson, Master Mason, new come frae Strathboggie to Aberdeen, suddenly fell over Thomas Thomson’s stair, and with the fall became speechless and senseless, and departed this life upon the Thursday thereafter. An excellent mason, of singular device; he builded sundry brave buildings; among the rest, he re-edified the steeple of the College Kirk of Old Aberdeen.” It has been supposed[122] that Dr. Gordon was the architect who designed the lantern, but the same claim might be put forward for the then Bishop, for in Gordon’s description of Aberdeen (p. 23) we are told--“Bot the crown was quicklie afterwards restored in a better forme and condition, by the direction of Patrick Forbes of Corse, then Bishop of Aberdeen.” It is quite as likely that Thomson was both the architect and builder, and that the bishop and Dr. Gordon were the men of affairs.

The old lantern, which had stood for upwards of a century, appears to have been neglected and to have fallen into a state of disrepair, as in 1620 the authorities ordained “that the heid of the gryt stepill sould be mendit in steane leid and tymer as the samen was abefoir;”[123] but evidently nothing was done, and so it yielded to the storm.

Most of the windows on the west front of the tower appear to be modern.

This tower, with its crown and most of the chapel, is built of sandstone.

THE CHURCH OF THE MONASTERY OF THE CARMELITE FRIARS, SOUTH QUEENSFERRY.

Queensferry is a town on the south side of the Frith of Forth, at the point where the water narrows and is spanned by the Forth Bridge.

At the time the drawings of this church were made, about thirty years ago, it was entire, as shown on the Plan (Fig. 1214), the nave only being roofless; but a few years afterwards the nave was ruthlessly cast down, and the materials were entirely destroyed. The transept and

choir, with the stone roof of the latter, were almost entirely hidden from view beneath a dense mass of ivy; while the beautiful east end was quite unapproachable owing to the incongruous surroundings. The

tower, the arches of which originally opened into the church being built up, was used as a stable, while the transept was turned into a potato or coal store and a huckster’s shop. The fortunes of the structure were at the lowest ebb when, at the end of 1889, its renovation as a place of worship was undertaken by the Dean and Chapter of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, under the direction of Mr. J. Kinross, architect.

The church stands at the west end of Queensferry, on the north side of the street, and the description of its situation in the oldest extant charter relating to it, which is of the year 1457, is quite intelligible at this time. James Dundas of Dundas grants “to God and the Virgine Mary, and brethren of the Order of the Virgine Mary of Mount Carmel, and their successors, a piece of ground lying in the town of the Ferry, with the pertinents, with the yard and green adjacent to the church of the Virgine Mary, and whole houses builded in form of a monastrie, as also that other piece of ground lying betwixt the burn which runs near the cross of the said town on the east parts [this burn can still be identified where it comes down by the road immediately to the west of the town house] and the highway [the present main street of Queensferry] and ditch that goes towards Echline [a neighbouring farm, and still known by this name] on the south parts, and the rivolute [still to be seen] running from the town of Echline to the sea on the west,

and the sea on the north parts.” The “houses builded in form of a monastrie” have all disappeared, except a portion of the north wall, seen in shadow in the accompanying view from the north (Fig. 1215).

The monastic buildings were on the north side of the church, between it and the sea. The above wall, which stands on the shore of the Frith of Forth, at the distance of about forty paces northward from the church, determines the width of the monastery from north to south, while its length from east to west can also be fairly well ascertained. The eastern buildings of the monastery occupied the position seen on the left part of

the church in the north view, between the point where the water tabling ends and the small pointed window near the east end; and perhaps also some of the old houses on the east occupy the sites of monastic buildings. In like manner the western buildings in all likelihood occupied the position of the old house seen on the right hand in the same view. A covered cloister ran along the north side of the church, the corbels for carrying its lean-to roof being still visible, as well as the stone tabling for protecting the same.

Carmelite Friars’ Monastery.

Door in Choir.]

The church is an aisleless structure 97 feet long by 30 feet 2 inches in breadth over the

East Window.]

walls (see Fig. 1214). It has a south transept projecting 22 feet 9 inches and 25 feet in width. The crossing is separated from the three limbs of the church by projecting piers (Fig. 1216) carrying round arches, above which rises the central tower. When the masonry which blocked up the archway leading into the choir was lately taken down, it was found that there had been a parapet about 3 feet high separating the crossing from the choir. The responds of the massive parapet coping were discovered wrought on the stones of the piers on either side. The choir and crossing only have stone vaults. These are barrel vaults, as shown in the view of the choir (Fig. 1217), where the vault is pointed, and in the crossing (see Fig. 1216), where it is round and at right angles to that of the choir, from which it is cut off and separated by the tower arch. The springing of the tower arches is kept below that of the vault over the crossing, as is usually done, in similar circumstances, in late structures, so as to avoid the difficulties of groined vaulting. The roof covering of the choir is of large overlapping stones, wrought after the manner so often found in the castles and churches of the fifteenth century. A wide gutter runs along the eaves (Fig. 1218), from which the water escapes by numerous gargoyles.

There was a pointed entrance door in the south wall (Figs. 1219 and 1220) at the west end of the nave, and leading into the choir there is a

Window in Choir.]

West Window of Nave (now destroyed).]

round-arched door (Fig. 1221), which is, however, lintelled in the interior (see Fig. 1217). In the opposite wall a door leading to the cloisters has the reverse arrangement, being round-arched in the inside and lintelled on the exterior, where, on its west jamb, there is a Maltese cross. A similar cross is visible on the west side of the transept near the south end. There was a door into the cloisters from the crossing (see Fig. 1215) and another existed from the nave.

The windows of the choir (Figs. 1222 and 1223) are all pointed, and filled with the simplest tracery. Those of the nave and transept (Figs. 1224 and 1225) have square heads formed of straight arches, as shown in the detailed drawings. These windows have cusped tracery, which, in the nave, remained entire to the last, while that of the transept window (Fig. 1226) was destroyed, the tracery having been cleared out to make a cart entrance; but sufficient indications existed to permit of its restoration. There are various small cusped windows throughout the church, including the small one already referred to in the north wall of the choir, that window and a high straight headed one in the tower being the only church windows in the north side. The two upper windows in the east

wall (Fig. 1227) serve, from their high position, to light the roof, and, as seen from the interior (see Fig. 1217), they recall similar features often found in the halls of castles, notably at Borthwick. On the outside of the east end between these two smaller windows over the large one there is a niche, which probably held a statue of the Virgin. It is surrounded with various shields, the charges of which are effaced. Above this, on the apex of the gable, there remains the corbelled base of a belfry. The window in the tower above referred to is peculiar, as will be seen from an enlarged sketch (Fig. 1228). It has a deeply-splayed sill and lintel, with moulded jambs butting against them at top and bottom. The piscina is shown in Fig. 1229, and the ambry and sedilia are seen in the view of the choir (see Fig. 1217) and in the enlarged drawings (Figs. 1230 and 1231). On either side of the choir there is a row of large splayed corbels at the springing of the arched roof, which seems to indicate that there was an upper room over the choir.

Over the tower vault at the crossing there is an upper vault containing two floors, the exposed ruinous arch of which is seen in the view from the

south (see Fig. 1226). These floors are reached by the wheel stair shown on Plan. The intermediate floor, having been of timber, was supported on stone corbels. In each room there is a fireplace in the south wall; the one in the lower room is about 6 feet wide, and is suggestive of having been used for a kitchen; and there can be no doubt (as will be seen from the terms of a charter to be quoted) but that these rooms formed a residence. From the lower room there is a square window (now built up) looking into the choir. It is immediately under the vault, and measures about 3 feet wide by 4 feet high, and had probably some kind of closing shutter. The windows of these rooms are all square-headed, and overlooked the monastery.

The upper part of the tower is gone, but it was doubtless finished with a cape-house and parapet walk, after the manner of termination so

North Window in Tower.]

frequent in Scotland in the castles of the fifteenth century, which were contemporaneous with the monastery. The similar tower at Torphichen Church, about eight miles distant, that of Dysart on the opposite shore, and various other examples throughout the country are finished in the same way. In the rocks on the shore adjoining there has been cut out a haven for small boats, which is traditionally believed to have been the work of the friars.

This monastery and church were founded and endowed by the family of Dundas of Dundas, it is believed, about the year 1330. The earliest notice of it is about a century later, in a charter of confirmation dated 1st October 1457, granted by Lord Seton, Baron of Winchburgh, of a charter granted by James Dundas of Dundas, dated 6th March 1440, the terms of which have already been quoted. The

Piscina.]

monastery existed for about two hundred and fifty years, and in 1585 James VI. disponed to Sir Walter Dundas the whole revenue of the establishment, “together with the kirk of the said place, and whole bounds, with the steeple and houses above the same.” The place has ever since remained in the possession of the same family.

The present structure is evidently, from its style, of a late date. The construction of the vaulting, with its low arches at the crossing, and pointed vault covered with stone roof over the choir; the plain outline of the tower and walls, without buttress or break of any kind; and the square lintelled windows, are all indications of a date about the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century.

Ambry.]

Sedilia in Choir.]

ST. BOTHAN’S COLLEGIATE CHURCH, YESTER, HADDINGTONSHIRE.

A structure partly old and partly new, which stands beside the mansion house of Yester, the seat of the Marquis of Tweeddale. Its position is very fine, situated as it is by the side of a clear flowing stream, and surrounded by splendidly wooded braes.

The construction of the old part of the building, as seen in the interior, is very massive and, considering its small dimensions, imposing, and it remains in a good state of preservation.

The edifice (Fig. 1232) consists of a choir and transepts. Of the nave hardly anything exists, and there is nothing to indicate that it ever was built. The present west wall is modern, probably of this century. The choir measures, internally, 13 feet from east to west by 18 feet 6 inches wide. The total length across the transepts is about 53 feet 6 inches from north to south by 13 feet in width, all inside dimensions. It will be observed that the nave and choir are not quite in the same line.

The crossing (Fig. 1233) is covered with a pointed barrel vault in continuation of that of the choir, and is supported at the springing by very massive low round arches, which span the entrance to each transept. The choir vault is separated from the crossing by a late arch, supported on pillasters of a Renaissance form, and it has been emphasised by having ribs on the surface of the vault, as shown on the Plan by dotted lines, but these do not now exist. The transepts are also vaulted with plain pointed vaults carried to a considerable height, but cut off from the crossing, as at Ladykirk and Queensferry, by the arches introduced to carry the central vault of the crossing. As the church was without buttresses, the walls are of considerable thickness (not less than 4 feet) in order to resist the pressure of the arches. In the north wall of the south transept, near the apex of the roof (see Fig. 1233), there is a small door, now built up, which probably gave access to a small chamber in the haunch of the vault over the crossing.

In the east wall of the north transept there is a piscina (Fig. 1234), enriched with carved crockets round the ogee arch. The basin is, as usual, broken away. On one side of the arch is a shield, having a smaller shield on the dexter side, bearing three inescutcheons, and on the sinister side three cinquefoils, being the arms of Hay of Tweeddale.

The piscina is 22½ inches wide, measuring over the enrichments, by 26 inches high, and 3 feet 3 inches from the floor up to the level of the basin.

There is an end window in each of the three limbs of the cross, and none in the side walls. The windows in the transepts (Figs. 1235 and 1236), although not entirely alike in their details, have a general resemblance to each other. They are flat arched, and have mullions with a plain space above, occupying the centre of the thickness of the wall. The windows are of three lights, with circular tops fitted with cusping. The space above the lights, usually occupied

by tracery, is filled with solid masonry. The window in the east end (Fig. 1237) is pointed, and is filled with tracery which has been renewed, and is dated over the centre arch 1635. In the south transept there is a simple monument of Renaissance character (see Fig. 1236), which contains a fine shield with the Hay and Cockburn arms impaled--the first a mullet between three inescutcheons and the initials W. H., and the second a crescent between three cocks with the initials H. C. This shield contains traces of colour, and on the frieze there are five pateræ also in colour.

An earlier church than that just described existed here, and was dedicated to St. Bothan, after whom also the parish was named, until, on the erection of the present mansion house, the baronial name of the extensive domains of Yester superseded the old parochial name.

In the ancient _Taxatio_ (1176) the Ecclesia de Bothani was rated at 30 marks, and it is again referred to in Bagimont’s Roll (1275) as the

Præpositura de Bothans, and is rated at £40. The territory of Yester was from the twelfth century in the possession of the family of Gifford, and in 1418 it passed, by marriage, into the possession of Sir William Hay of Locherwart, with whose descendants it still remains.[124]

In 1421 Sir William founded the Collegiate Church of St. Bothan for a provost, six prebendaries, and two singing boys. And he and his successors endowed it with sufficient revenues. After the Reformation it continued to be the parish church till 1708, when a new church was built in the neighbouring village of Gifford.

PARISH CHURCH, STIRLING.[125]

This is one of the best preserved of the old churches of Scotland, and although it has suffered severely by various renovations and restorations, it is still a building of very considerable interest. The church occupies a high situation on the Castle Hill, and as approached up the steep streets, the lofty east end which first appears to view, with its prominent buttresses and tall windows, has a most imposing and picturesque effect.[126] The edifice consists of two divisions, the nave and choir, which were built at two different periods. The nave, which is the oldest part, is undoubtedly the church referred to in the Chamberlain’s Accounts for the year from July 1413 to June 1414, in which he “discharges himself of the issues of ayre held at Stirling, because it was granted to the work of the parish church which had been burnt.” Of the earlier church which had been burnt nothing now remains. The date of the east end or choir is known to be between 1507 and 1520.

The building (Fig. 1238) consists, from end to end, of a central nave with north and south aisles (the aisles being vaulted in stone), an eastern apse, and a western tower. The nave has five bays, the choir three bays, and they are separated by a wide bay, which may be termed the crossing. The crossing now serves as an entrance hall to the two churches which are located in the edifice, walls being built across each side of the crossing so as to enclose the choir as one church and the nave as the other. The total internal length of the building, exclusive of the apse and tower, is about 160 feet by about 55 feet in width; including apse and tower the internal length is about 200 feet.

The original entrance to the church was through the western tower, and as the ground rises considerably towards the west, there must have been steps down to the floor of the nave. The western doorway was destroyed in 1818, when the sill of the window above was lowered into the space occupied by the door arch, but the bases and lower part of the door jambs still remain (Fig. 1239). The tower, which is vaulted, opens into the nave (as at Linlithgow) through a lofty pointed arch, springing from moulded responds (Fig. 1240).

Stirling Parish Church.

Responds of Tower Arch.]

The piers of the nave (with the exception of two) are round and massive cylinders, and the east and west responds (Fig. 1241) are semi-cylinders. The piers and responds have circular and delicately carved and moulded capitals (see Fig. 1241), with but slight projection or undercutting. The moulded bases, where not destroyed, are also round and of slight projection, those of the responds terminating on semi-octagonal plinths. The general appearance of these pillars illustrates what is so often found in Scotland (both

West Respond of Nave Arcade.]

in ecclesiastic and domestic work) during the fifteenth century and onwards, viz., a tendency to imitate Norman and early pointed details. This tendency is also seen in the nave piers of Dunkeld Cathedral, in the piers and arches of the naves of Aberdour Church and Dysart Church, in the imitation of first pointed work in the late cloisters of Melrose, and many other examples which might be cited. But the later counterfeit is never perfect, there being always some touch of contemporary design which reveals the imitation. The two exceptional piers, above referred to as not being cylindrical, are the fourth piers (Fig. 1242) from the west end (Fig. 1243). These piers are composed of clustered shafts with moulded capitals, the upper members of which do not follow the contour of the piers, but sweep unbroken across the cap in the same manner as in the caps in

Piers in Nave in Fourth Bay from West End.]