received a freer treatment. The divisions may be regarded as composing four orders, of which the inner order and the third order are enriched with chevron ornaments. The hood moulding has also been carved with the chevron, but the ornament has now almost all disappeared.
The wall of the church in which the above doorway stands is undoubtedly of considerable antiquity, the cornice which carried the original parapet being still in situ. (See Fig. 330.)
At the north-east angle of the existing church another Norman doorway, removed from elsewhere in the building, has been re-erected. (Fig. 332.) The round arch consists of three plain square orders, which spring from the enriched caps of two nook shafts and the jamb moulding. Most of the caps have a transition character, and the carving is fairly preserved.
At the south-east angle of the church is erected the burial-house of John, Earl of Stair, born 1672, died 1747. Over the moulded doorway is the inscription, “Virtute decet non id sanguine niti. 1629.”
Kirkliston from an early period belonged to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, who held much land in the locality. The church, as altered, is still used as the parish church of Kirkliston.
ST. MARY’S CHURCH, RATHO, Mid-Lothian.
The village of Ratho lies about one and a quarter mile south from the railway station of the same name, and about eight miles west from Edinburgh.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Mary, and the “Lady’s Well,” in the vicinity, is still in use. Although greatly altered and mostly
rebuilt, the church still retains some indications of its Norman origin. The view (Fig. 333) shows the west end of the church, crowned with its belfry. The buttresses indicate considerable age, but it is scarcely possible to fix their date. The only Norman relic preserved is the doorway in the south-west wall (seen in the sketch). It is built against by the wall of a wing, so that only a portion of the doorway remains visible. This consists (Fig. 334) of one jamb, which had a nook shaft and a cushion cap, carrying a plain round arch with a hood mould, carved with a zigzag or saw-tooth ornament.
Ratho Church was connected with Holyrood Abbey, and was a rectory. In 1444 the tiends and patronage were, with the consent of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, made over to the College Kirk of Corstorphine, which was then established. By this means four prebendal stalls were endowed.
The remains of the Church of St. Peter, Peterhead (Fig. 335), consist of the side walls of the chancel and the entire chancel arch, with a square tower projecting outwards in the centre of the west wall of the nave. No other portion of the nave remains. The tower and west wall are late, but the chancel is of the Norman period. The arch is quite plain, and is supported on square jambs having Norman cushion caps.
There is a supposed reference to the church in the Book of Deer, in 1132, concerning a gift consecrated to St. Peter, Columcille, and Drostan, who “were the tutelar saints of the Churches of Peterhead, St. Colms, and Deer, which were the only churches in the district dedicated to these saints.”[185] Their endowments were then gifted to the great Columban Church of Dunkeld, with which they remained till the founding of the Abbey of Deer, in 1218, when, it is believed, the patronage of the Church
of St. Peter, at Peterhead, was conveyed to that abbey by the charter of foundation, now not known to exist.
Only the merest fragment of this ancient church now remains, consisting of the east wall (Fig. 336), with an eastern tower attached to it. The masonry of the east wall shows it to be of the Norman period. There has been no opening of any kind in this wall. The returns of the chancel walls are only indicated on the east wall by the slightest traces in the jointing, so completely have they been cut away. The eastern tower (Fig. 337) is quite a unique feature in Scotland. It had no connection with the church, although built against it, and is of later erection by probably two or three centuries. The doorway is low and lintelled, and has a simple splay. The upper part of the tower has apparently been rebuilt, and, with the slated roof, dates doubtless from the seventeenth century. The tower is about 10 feet 6 inches square inside, and about 34 feet high to the top of the masonry. It contains no stair.
In Ure’s History of Rutherglen it is stated that there was a nave with side aisles, 62 feet long by 25 feet wide, “exclusive of the additions on the back and front;” that is, exclusive of the side aisles. Assuming these to have been eight or ten feet wide, we should have a church nearly corresponding in size with the present erection, built about a century ago, and occupying the site of the nave, as shown in outline on the plan, on which are also indicated the nave piers. The nave was thus about 62 feet long by 45 feet wide, and the chancel was about 42 feet long by 20 feet wide inside. Ure, by a mistake easily made, gives the dimensions of the chancel as ten feet less in length. He also mentions that there were five pillars on each side of the nave. This may mean four whole pillars and two halves (the responds), as shown in the plan, which, however, merely pretends to approximate to something like what the original was.
Ure gives a drawing of the interior of the church, with detailed sketches of some of the capitals of the piers. Four of these capitals are preserved in a garden rockery in Rutherglen, and the annexed sketch (Fig. 338) shows them as they are seen lying there half covered up and concealed. The upper one, which shows the bed of the capital, is a respond from one of the end walls, and the diameter of the column, as indicated by the inner circle, is 18 inches, the breadth across the abacus being 2 feet 5 inches. The enrichments of these capitals correspond with those indicated by Ure in his view, and he informs us that the pillars, of which there were five on each side, “are smooth and round, except the middle ones, which are octagonal.” He further says that the arcade “arches are pointed, but the point is hardly discernible,” and with this the view in his book agrees. Above the arcade he shows a small square window, probably measuring about 2 feet each way, and widely splayed inside. Immediately above this was the roof. The walls were “about 20 feet high, including the pillars on which they are supported.” It is satisfactory to find Ure’s description of the church supported by the
remaining fragments. The lower member, shown in Fig. 338, is a carved stone, probably part of the chancel arch. It is enriched with the alternate billet ornaments so frequent in such arches during the Norman period.
The church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and was granted to the Abbey of Paisley by William the Lion before the year 1189, and it continued in their possession down to the period of the Reformation. There were several altars, with endowed chaplains.
The church stands near the west end of the cemetery, on the north side of the main street. The entrance from the street is through a picturesque lych-gate of Renaissance design, dated 1663. (See Fig. 337.) It is surmounted by a sundial, dated 1679.
The cemetery is mentioned in the charters of Paisley (No. 85) in the year 1262, when the widow of John of Perthie grants to Paisley a piece of land lying between the church of the Virgin Mary and the river Clyde.
The Norman doorway of this ancient church is still preserved. The church has been altered and the doorway built up; but, doubtless, some of the old walls still exist.
The church and village were founded by one Lambin, in the twelfth century. The doorway (Fig. 339) is in the north wall of the church. It
is an elaborate example to find in this remote and quiet pastoral district. The arch mouldings and ornaments are well preserved, but, unfortunately, the shafts are wanting. The caps are quite plain. There are three orders of mouldings, all enriched with characteristic Norman ornaments. It will be observed that in that of the outer order the spaces between the rings gradually diminish from the caps to the crown of the arch.
The Church of St. Boswells stands near the right bank of the Tweed, at a point about half-way between the village of Lessudden and Maxton Railway Station. The village of St. Boswells is stated to have formerly stood near the church, but it has gradually and entirely disappeared, and the nearest village to the church is now Lessudden, which is fully a mile off. The situation is very fine, and the views of the Tweed, with its wooded banks, in the vicinity are very beautiful.
The place is of great antiquity, and is supposed to have derived its name from Eadwine of Northumbria. The church, which has been entirely rebuilt, contains a few small relics of the Norman edifice which undoubtedly once stood on the site. These consist of some carved corbels (Fig. 340) and other fragments, which are evidently of Norman date, and which have been preserved by being built into the restored church.
The Church of Lessudden was bestowed on Dryburgh Abbey in the middle of the twelfth century.
As in Berwickshire, so in Roxburghshire, a large number of Norman churches were erected during the Norman period. We have not attempted to compile a list of these, as in most cases almost no trace of them now remains, or so little that it can only be detected by an antiquarian. There is, for example, the Church of Hassendean, of which Cardonell gives a view of the chancel arch, granted by David I. to the Bishop of Glasgow. This, judging from Cardonell’s view, must have been a rich and important structure, with an eastern end similar to what we
find existing at Leuchars and Dalmeny. The Church of Upper Crailing was granted in 1147 to the Abbey of Jedburgh; and at the same time Ganfrid de Percy grants to the same abbey the lands adjacent to the Church of Oxenham; and Ranulph de Sulis at the same time gives to the abbey the Church of Castletown, and a little later in the century the Church of Hownam and Eckford are similarly bestowed. The Church of Smailholm (Fig. 341) is distinctly a Norman structure throughout its entire length. David I. granted the manor of Smailholm to David Olifard, and in the ancient Taxatio (beginning of the thirteenth century) the Church of Smailholm was rated at 45 marks. Walter Olifard, who died in 1242, gave the Church of Smailholm to Coldingham Priory.
Merely the shell of this building is Norman. It was greatly altered in the seventeenth century, when probably the chancel arch was cut out; and in later times it has suffered severely, so that all its original architectural details have been destroyed.
The church consists of a nave, about 46 feet 6 inches long by 17 feet 3 inches wide; a chancel, 25 feet 9 inches long by 14 feet wide—being a total length of about 72 feet 3 inches. The present doorway to the nave is, doubtless, in the position of the original one, and has been enlarged. The chancel doorway is of the seventeenth century, and the windows adjoining are probably enlargements of the originals made at the same time. There were no windows in the north wall, and one in the west wall is quite modern.
There is a sundial on the south-west corner, bearing the date 1622, which date is probably the date of the alterations referred to and of the erection of the belfry.
This church stands about six miles south from Kelso, and one mile and a-half from Morebattle. It occupies part of a sandy mound on which, at one time, there also stood the Castle of Linton. There was a church
here at an early date, records of Linton Church being found as far back as 1127. It was then presented to the Monks of Kelso by Sir Richard Cumin for the salvation of the soul of Prince Henry, eldest son of David I. The lands of Linton soon after passed into the hands of the Somervilles, as the reward granted to William de Somerville for having destroyed a worm or dragon which had long been the terror of the neighbourhood. This exploit is traditionally commemorated in a sculpture in
the tympanum of the doorway of the ancient church (Fig. 342), in which the knight is represented on horseback thrusting his spear into the mouth of the monster. It seems more likely, however, that the sculpture has rather an ecclesiastical connection, and may possibly represent St. George
and the Dragon, being an allegorical representation of religion, or faith overcoming evil. Possibly, the existence of the sculpture may have given rise to the traditional account of it. In 1858, this sculpture was removed from the old doorway and inserted over the entrance to a new porch, then erected. The porch is seen in the sketch of the church. (Fig. 343.) This sculptured tympanum is remarkable as one of the few examples of sculpture in a similar position in Scotland.
There is also a Norman font connected with the church, which was long used in a blacksmith’s shop.
The walls of the church are old, but it has been almost entirely restored and renewed. (Fig. 344.)
Not a stone of this church now remains. The chancel existed till the year 1874 as a burial vault, when the minister of the parish, “under the pretext of improving the churchyard,”[187] had it removed. The greater
part of the church was taken down in 1790, when a new church was built on its site. We are enabled by the kindness of Mr. Ferguson, Duns, to give a copy of an old plan which appears in his work on the Churches of Berwickshire, and to the same source we are indebted for the following historical notes regarding it.
The Rectory of Duns is mentioned in Bayamund’s Roll (1275), and in the ancient Taxatio (end of the twelfth century) the parish is rated at 110 merks; so that it must have been a building of considerable antiquity and importance.
In 1296, the Rector, Henry de Lematon, took the oath of allegiance to Edward I.
From a photograph in Mr. Ferguson’s possession, of what remains of the walls of the chancel the masonry looks very like Norman work. If one might judge from the plan (Fig. 345), it evidently consisted of a long nave and a chancel, with a north and south aisle or wing not opposite each other, and probably built at later periods, such as are common in connection with Scottish churches. The nave was about 72 feet long by about 19 feet wide. The chancel was almost a square of about 17 feet, thus corresponding with the Norman chancels of Ledgerwood and Duddingston.
The two narrow and widely splayed windows seen in the east gable indicate early work, as do also the north and south doors near the west end of the nave; the other numerous openings, especially of doorways, were probably alterations.
In the course of some recent operations on this church under the superintendence of Mr. T. S. Robertson, architect, Dundee, it was discovered that it had been a Norman structure. Of the original building not much now remains, except the ashlar walls and a narrow window with a wide internal splay and an outside check for a shutter. This window is situated near the east end of the north wall.
The apse appears to have been taken down, in 1786, during some alterations, and the chancel arch, indicated in the sketch (Fig. 346), was built up. A tomb house was erected on the site of the apse, where it
still remains. The building was of small dimensions, being about 40 feet long by 18 feet 6 inches wide.
The fragment, of which a sketch (Fig. 347) is annexed, was found built in a wall near the church. It appears to have been the top of a sacrament house of late date.
The church, which belonged to the Priory of St. Andrews, was dedicated to St. Lawrence, Martyr. In the early taxations of the Priory it is described as “the Church and Chapel of Lundie.”
The parish of Kirkmaiden has long been incorporated with that of Glasserton. Formerly Kirkmaiden formed the port of Whithorn, and its roofless church still stands close to the burial-ground near the sea-shore.
It consists (Fig. 348) of a nave, 37 feet 6 inches long by 18 feet wide internally, and the walls are 4 feet in thickness. They are little reduced from their original height, and the west gable is also little diminished.
There are only three openings in the walls—viz., a doorway and two windows, all in the south wall. These were, till recently, greatly destroyed, but they have been restored by Mr. Galloway,[188] who has no doubt, judging from what remained, that they were all originally round-headed, and has rebuilt them accordingly.
So far as these indications go, this would appear to have been a Norman church. There is an apparent chancel at the east end, but its dimensions and origin are not distinct. It is now appropriated as the “Monreith Vault” (the mansion of that name being in the vicinity), and contains a good deal of modern work.
One peculiarity of the east chamber is, that the north wall is in line with the north wall of the nave, while the south wall is set back four feet from the line of the south wall of the nave.
There is an arch between the nave and chancel, but it has not the appearance of a genuine chancel arch, being rudely formed with thin slatey stones. A wing, 14 feet long by 12 feet wide, is jutted out at the back or north side of the chancel. The walls are little over 2 feet in thickness. There is a square-headed doorway in the south-west angle, and an ambry or recess in the north wall. A roughly-built archway, similar to that into the nave, but smaller, opened from the nave into the north aisle, but is now built up.
The nave seems to be of Norman date. The choir has evidently been altered at a late period, and the north wing or aisle may have been built in post-Reformation times as a burial vault.
The ground to the north rises rapidly, and was filled in to the height of the walls, till cleared out by Mr. Galloway.
There would appear to have been some kind of extension to the west, but only the lower parts of walls and buttresses now remain. This portion was also filled with earth, and on being cleared out, remains of ten skeletons were discovered. This west wall is at the extremity of a long retaining wall, which encloses the present burying-ground, and runs along close above the shore.
The place is very curious and romantic, lying near the sea at the foot of high cliffs, and densely wooded all round.
This is one of the few minor relics of the Norman period which have descended to our time. It stands in the burial vault of the Sinclairs of Herdmanston, adjoining the mansion house of that name, about five miles west from Haddington.
The font is of yellow freestone, in one piece, and although somewhat worn and battered in part, is still in a good state of preservation. The base is partly damaged, and the surface of the top is somewhat broken away towards the front (Fig. 349), so that it measures a little higher at the back than at the front.
As will be seen from the Plan (Fig. 350), the central part consists of four rounded shafts, having a boldly pronounced base moulding. The basin is in the form of a Norman cushion capital, with four rounds on each face, the abacus having a splayed projection of about a quarter of an inch. The font has evidently been meant to be placed against a wall, as all its parts—base, shaft, and capital—abut against a square haffit perfectly plain on the back, to admit of its standing in such a position. The ends of this haffit are very much broken.
The dimensions of the font are—base, 7 inches high; shaft, 17 inches; capital, 11 inches; total height, 2 feet 11 inches. Width across shafts, 13¼ inches; capital, 16¾ inches across front, and from back to front,
including haffit, 17¼ inches. The basin, which is rounded (see Plan), is 11¾ inches wide by 5 inches in depth. It is flat in the bottom and has no perforation.
In the thirteenth century, John de Saint Clair erected a chapel at Herdmanston by leave of the Canons of Dryburgh, to whom he granted two acres of land, with a condition that his chapel should not injure the mother church of Salton, which belonged, in the time of David I., to Dryburgh Abbey.[189]
The vault at Herdmanston stands east and west. It is about 31 feet 10 inches long by 14 feet wide, and has a small west window, with a sconsion arch on the inside, and a smaller window in the south wall. The structure, which is barrel vaulted, is of considerable age, but it is not the chapel erected in the thirteenth century; and as the font is a work of
the twelfth century, it is evident that it was not made for the chapel of Herdmanston.
The term “transition” might be applied to any of the periods during which one Gothic style is passing into another, as the buildings erected at such periods partake of a transitional character. But the change from the round arched and elaborately ornamented Norman to the pointed arched and plainer style of the first pointed period being more marked than that between any of the other Gothic periods, it has been generally agreed to reserve the term “transition” for the architecture of the end of the twelfth century, when the Norman style gradually gave place to the first pointed Gothic style.
The chief elements which mark the Transition style are the gradual introduction of the pointed arch and its use along with some of the decorative features of the Norman style. The pointed arch shows the advent of the new style, but the ornaments of the old style continue to linger for a time. The first pointed style was not complete till these old ornaments were abandoned, and the more vigorous enrichments of the new style were introduced. The other constructive features of the Norman style gradually changed at the same time as the arch. The buttresses by degrees assumed the projecting form of the first pointed style, and the pinnacles and spires of the latter style were in course of time introduced.
During the progress of the Transition there was naturally a considerable mixture of architectural elements. The round and the pointed arch were used indiscriminately, and were frequently employed together in the same structure, round arches being sometimes placed above pointed arches. Of this there are examples in the nave of Jedburgh Abbey and the south transept of Elgin Cathedral. In other instances, although the building is chiefly Norman, the pointed style is introduced in certain positions; as, for example, at Kelso Abbey, where to all appearance, contemporarily with the Norman walls, the piers and pointed arches of the crossing are in the first pointed style. At Dundrennan Abbey we find the older Norman work partly converted into first pointed by alteration, and in other examples, such as Coldingham, there is a mixture of the features of the two styles.
In many of the examples of the different periods, given or to be given, some Norman features may be discovered which, it might be thought, entitled the structures to be ranked as transitional. The buildings, however, have been arranged under the various periods to which the most prominent, not the most ancient, portions of their architecture belong.
In England the period of Transition extends from about 1180 to 1200; but, as we shall find, the corresponding period in Scotland extends considerably into the thirteenth century.
The greater part of this very interesting structure has been demolished, but what remains is so fine as to make one regret all the more the hard usage the demolished portions have met with.
The abbey stood in a small, but deep, valley on a few acres of comparatively level ground lying on the west side of a little stream called the Abbey Burn, about a mile and a-half from the sea. The edifice is concealed in this remote and buried situation, and is with difficulty discovered after traversing a hilly road of six or seven miles south-east from Kirkcudbright. But when found, the quiet and secluded site, and the peaceful aspect of the grey ruins, surrounded with ancient trees, are very charming.
The monastery has been of considerable extent (Fig. 351). The church was large, being 209 feet from east to west by 108 feet from north to south of the transept, and comprised a great nave with double aisles, a choir without aisles, north and south transepts with eastern aisles, and a tower and spire 200 feet high over the crossing. The monastic buildings which surrounded the cloister garth were of the usual description, and, to judge from the remains of the chapter house, were of exceptionally fine design.
Of all these extensive structures the great nave and the tower and spire have almost entirely disappeared, and there now survive only portions of the north and south transept and choir, a beautiful fragment of the chapter house, some walls of cellars on the west side of the cloister garth, and other walls containing a few carved caps which show how fine the design of the cloisters must have been.
The abbey was founded by David I. about 1142, and was colonised by Cistercians from Rieval in Yorkshire. Its history is little known. Robert I. and David II. both conferred lands upon it. In 1568, after her flight from Langside, Queen Mary was welcomed at Dundrennan by Abbot Edward Maxwell, brother of Lord Maxwell. The abbey was then entire, and contained all its inmates. The queen embarked for England from Port Mary, at the mouth of the Abbey Burn.
In 1587 James VI. annexed Dundrennan to the Royal Chapel of Stirling, and the Maxwells became the heritable bailies of the lands.[190] The ruins now belong to the Maitlands of Dundrennan. It is not known how the structure was reduced to its present dilapidated condition. By some it is stated to have been destroyed by fire, while others attribute its condition to neglect. It has undoubtedly met with the usual fate of
our old abbeys, and was used as a quarry till 1842, when it was put in repair by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, and it is now in fair preservation.
The nave of the church (see Fig. 351.) was 134 feet long within the walls, and comprised eight bays. The central division was 31 feet wide,
and each aisle 16 feet wide, giving a total width of 63 feet internally. Of this part of the church only portions of the west end and south wall remain. The west wall contains the original western doorway, which is of simple Transition design. The doorway had three nook shafts besides the jambs, and the arches are in four orders of plain mouldings (Fig. 352). The caps, which have square abaci, are peculiar from the large quantity of very small nail head ornaments with which they are decorated (Fig. 353). The inner mouldings were renewed by the Government in 1842. The west wall retains the responds of the main piers of the nave, and a portion of one of the piers, being the westmost of the south arcade of the nave, also exists, both showing a
bold early pointed section (see A on Plan). There were seven piers on each side of the nave, besides the west responds and the piers of the crossing. A good deal of early pointed work is also carried into
the transept, but it is clear, from the architecture of the building, that the transepts have been originally erected in an earlier style, and that the first pointed work is the result of alteration. This is especially apparent in the north transept, the external walls of which, on the west and north, are distinctly Norman, in character (Fig. 354). The round arched windows (with square recesses or nooks for shafts on the outside), the broad buttresses with small projections, and the form of the caps are quite characteristic of that style. The same remarks apply to the south transept so far as the outer walls survive. In the choir also the Norman character of the early work is distinctly seen. Only portions of the side walls of the choir remain, the east end having been entirely demolished. In the upper or clerestory windows of the side walls are found very characteristic examples of late Norman work. The large plain round openings of the clerestory and the triple shafts with Norman caps and corbels (Fig. 355) are unmistakable features. The choir and transept were apparently at first completed in this style late in the twelfth century, and sometime in the thirteenth century it has been desired to build the nave on a larger scale. It has then been also resolved to rebuild the interior of the transept, including the piers at the crossing, in the same style as
the nave, so as to bring the transept as far as possible into harmony with the new design. The pointed work is evidently of an early character (see Fig. 354.). The squat round-headed windows of the clerestory, with their broad internal splay occurring above the pointed windows of the triforium, indicate a period of Transition. The use of the square abacus is also general throughout the work. The very acute form of the main arches of the transepts has probably arisen from the three bays having to be fitted into the space between the old north and south end walls, and at the same time requiring to be carried up as high as the main arches of the new nave. The piers of the transept are 13 feet from column to column, while those of the nave were about 16 feet from column to column. The outer walls of the east aisles of the transepts, which were part of the original Norman structure, were not renewed at the time of the above alteration, but they have now been demolished, only fragments being left, from which, however, the form of the vaults can be inferred.
The smaller details of the eastern part of the building are greatly destroyed. The sedilia and what seems to have been a fine monument in the choir are broken in pieces. A door has been formed in the north and south side walls of the choir leading into the east aisle of the transepts. There are evident additions made, probably during this century, when the
piers of the tower were rebuilt. The doorway into the south transept aisle (Fig. 356) is distinguished by a large trefoiled head, enriched with small nail head ornaments similar to those in the west doorway, but there