stone above the arch (Fig. 1370). The east window is square lintelled, and is provided with strong iron bars. There are no windows in the north wall.
The masonry of the north chapel is of a better kind than that of the main building. The opening arch is about 7 feet 2 inches wide, and is entirely plain, without even a splay on the edge.
On a hill on the opposite side of the River Annan from the town of Moffat stand the small remains of St. Cuthbert’s Church.
The building is believed to have been originally erected by the Knights Templars, who had considerable possessions in this locality. All that now remains of the structure is a portion of what appears to have been the west wall, containing parts of a pointed window (Fig. 1371), which has been divided into three lights by two mullions, one of which, and one arch and half of another, only remain. The three lights had sharply pointed openings, and the principal arch had two splays on its ingoing. The design might belong to almost any period of Gothic, but the form adopted was common in late work.
The east wall of the church appears to have been made available as part of a farmhouse, and its features are quite obliterated. Considerable foundations of other structures are observable in the grassy mounds scattered around.
The old church of Sanquhar was demolished in 1827, and the present church was built partly on its site, as indicated by the dotted lines shown
on the Plan (Fig. 1372). In 1895 Lord Bute had excavations made, which partly revealed the Plan now submitted.[173]
The position of the east wall was thus determined, as likewise that of the east end of the north wall with one buttress, and considerable portions of the south wall throughout its whole length, with indications of three buttresses and the return of the west wall at the south-west
corner. The dimensions of the building were ascertained to be about 96 feet from east to west by about 30 feet 6 inches from north to south over the walls. The angle buttresses shown at the east end are conjectural, and are based on a tradition that the corners of the existing church were copied from the form of the east end of the old church.
Mr. Schultz states that an old burial list, of which the date is uncertain, but which may be of the seventeenth or early eighteenth century, alludes to certain graves which can still be recognised as so many feet from the “queer pillar” (buttress), i.e., the buttress opposite which the chancel arch is represented. Mr. Schultz assumes from this that the choir or “queer” extended as far as this buttress; and the fact that a splayed base was found all along the choir wall as far as this point, and that no such splay existed farther west, gives a certain sanction to the above view, as does also the circumstance that the nave or western part of the building had no buttresses. It is frequently found that the eastern end was treated in a different manner from the west end. A foundation was found inside the building, at a distance of about 6 feet from the east wall, and it is conjectured that this may represent the seat of an altar. The windows, of which several stones were found, appear to have had single mullions with simple pointed arches.
Although only demolished in this century, there does not appear to be any view of the old church known. It is described by Symson, in his Large Description of Galloway, “as a considerable and large fabrick, consisting of a spacious church and stately quire, where are the tombs of the Lord Crichtons of Sanquhar, wrought in freestone, and before them some Lords of the name of Ross.”[174]
The effigy of an ecclesiastic (Fig. 1373) was taken from Sanquhar to Friars Carse when the old church was demolished, but it has recently been brought back by Lord Bute.
A ruinous structure comprising some fragments of the ancient parish church which was remodelled soon after the Reformation. The church (Fig. 1374) now measures, internally, about 42 feet in length by 17 feet 6 inches in width. The east end contains one narrow, but complete, pointed window, with a simple jamb moulding, and the remains of another similar window, both having wide internal splays. Another narrow
pointed window yet exists in the north wall, but in the south wall the windows have been enlarged. The west wall (Fig. 1375) has been rebuilt or heightened, and a belfry of Renaissance style erected upon it. A round-headed doorway has been inserted in each of the north and south walls, and the round arch of the south door now stands detached. A south porch has also been added (see Fig. 1375) with a stone seat on each side, and having a round-headed entrance with large bead on jambs and arch. Two small windows near the ground at the west end seem to indicate that there has been a gallery above them at that end. The church is now disused, but still stands in the old churchyard, and is greatly covered with ivy.
John Row, the ecclesiastical historian, was minister of this parish from 1592 to 1646. It is situated about three miles west from Dunfermline.
This church has already been illustrated and described at length;[175] but as it is a building of considerable importance, it is introduced here in order to illustrate some points not formerly brought out. The edifice is a long parallelogram, with central avenue and north and south aisles, and is fairly entire along its whole length, except the outer wall of the north aisle. It has a lofty pele-like tower quite entire at the west end of the south aisle (Fig. 1376), which enters from the interior of the church by a doorway about 10 feet above the floor.
The tower is strong and quite capable of resisting a considerable attack. The main arcade is supported chiefly on round pillars, but at intervals the piers may be described as portions of the wall, as they
extend to five feet and even 9 feet in length, and have rounded ends corresponding to the intermediate pillars. The pillars at the east end are gone, but there were probably seven bays in the whole internal length of 135 feet. The tower occupies one bay at the west end of the surviving bays. Only the bay adjoining the tower on the south
side and the two bays opposite on the north side now remain (see Fig. 1376). The centre pillar on the north side is low, and supports lofty pointed arches. The second piers from the west are the large ones already described. Their caps are, as will be seen, at different levels, being higher on the east side than the west. The arcade to the eastwards may thus have been round arched, at all events the arches were not so acutely pointed as the western ones. The corbels for supporting the rafters of
the roof are visible along the north face of the tower, and those for supporting the roof of the north aisle, with the drip moulding above, will be observed over the two arches at the west end, there being no stone vaulting used in the building. Fig. 1377 shows the east and south sides
of the tower, and the large south porch with its stone covered roof and round arched doorway, over which is the canopied niche (Fig. 1378), and the bracket, ornamented with the pot of lilies, for supporting a statue. The figure was therefore probably one of the Virgin. The windows in the south aisle wall were (some of them at least) square headed.
Fig. 1379 shows the capital of the pillar in the north aisle as far as it can be seen, on account of the modern wall in which it is almost lost. It is formed to the shape of the double splayed arch moulding, and dies off into the round pillar below. The mouldings of the cap indicate very late work. Fig. 1380 is a still simpler cap from the south aisle and from the north-west respond.
A small ruin consisting of three arches of an old church, which stood on the ancient site before the present modern structure was erected in the immediate vicinity. The village of Kilconquhar is situated on a large loch about one mile and a half north-west from Elie.
The name is derived from the ancient Saint Connacher. There is little of the history of the church preserved. It was granted in 1200 by Duncan, Earl of Fife, to the Convent of North Berwick, and in 1266, after a controversy between the Laird of Kilcomath and the prioress of North
Berwick regarding the right of patronage, it was resigned into the hands of the Convent.[176]
The three arches (Fig. 1381) are all that now survive of the old church. They probably formed the arcade between the centre and side aisle, but there is nothing to show how the rest of the building was placed with reference to them. The north wall of the enclosure of a burying-place (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1382) has an ancient look, and may be part of the old church.
The arches have plain splays. The round pillars have caps formed by a single hollow without any necking, and the bases are formed with a splay. Both caps and bases follow the curve of the pillars. They indicate a structure of very late date, probably about the time of the Reformation.
The village and church of Kilrenny stand about one mile inland from the coast at Anstruther. The only record before the Reformation is that in 1268 a pension was given to the vicar, who in 1336 was a certain “John.”[177] The tower of the church (Fig. 1383) is old, and is attached to a modern edifice. It is of the form common in Fife about the time of the Reformation, being carried up (Fig. 1384) without buttresses or ornament,
and having a parapet supported on corbels similar to those used in the castles of the period. There are traces of a large arch in the east wall of the tower, and another in the south wall, as if intended to open into a building, possibly the old church. The mark of the roof over the building on the south side still remains, and also a portion of a thick wall running southwards from the tower. In the internal angles of the tower there are square shafts with rude caps, apparently intended to support a vault, but there are now no traces of any vaulting. There are also the remains of a two-light window in the north wall of the tower. Attached to the west end of the tower is a stately monument erected by the family of Lumsdaine of Innergelly.
In the churchyard of Kilrenny may still be seen the monument of Cardinal Bethune or Beaton. It is an enclosure which stands to the eastward
of the church, built with ashlar and ornamented with Ionic pillars. The frieze and cornice are unfortunately wanting.
The entrance is in the east end, and in the opposite wall is a well-carved representation of the arms of Bethune of Balfour, viz., quarterly, 1st and 4th, azure a fesse between three mascles, or, for Bethune; 2nd and 3rd, argent on a chevron sable an otter’s head erased of the first, for Balfour. Crest, an otter’s head proper; motto, “Debonnaire.”
A ruin situated on the shore of the Frith of Forth about five miles west from North Queensferry and about one mile east of Charleston.
Part of the structure is ancient, but the western portion has been added in post-Reformation times. All that now remains of the building consists
(Fig. 1385) of the east wall and gable, and a considerable part of the north wall. The east end (Fig. 1386) contains two narrow pointed windows with a simple moulding on the outside, which is returned round the sill. The moulding (see Fig. 1386) is rebated on the exterior for a shutter. The ingoings are widely splayed and have pointed rear arches. The ancient part of the north wall is built with ashlar work, the stones being of a cubic form, resembling Norman work, and the mortar is well washed out of the joints. The remainder of the north wall is built with irregular courses, and the wall opening has a straight lintel. There is an ambry in the north wall near the east end, and a recess in the wall near the doorway. The church has been 15 feet wide internally, and probably about 50 feet in length.
Amongst the many remains of religious establishments still visible in this old ecclesiastical centre, the ruins of a small part of the Church of the Blackfriars are prominent from their situation, being an ivy clad fragment of the church which stands detached in the grounds of the Madras College, and forms a conspicuous object close to South Street, one of the leading thoroughfares of the town.
The Dominicans or Friars preachers were introduced into Scotland in 1231 by Bishop Clement of Dunblane, and they were encouraged by Alexander II., who founded eight houses of the order in the principal towns of Scotland. This order was brought to St. Andrews by Bishop William Wishart, well known from the great works carried out by him at the cathedral.
Bishop Elphinstone, the distinguished prelate of Aberdeen and founder of the University in that city, died in 1514, leaving a sum of £10,000, part of which Prior Hepburn of St. Andrews succeeded in obtaining from the executor, Sir Thomas Myrton, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, for the purpose of rebuilding the convent of the Friars preachers in St. Andrews. In connection with this arrangement, the provincial of the order, John Adamson, a great reformer, held a chapter at Stirling in 1519, in which the revenues of the convent at Cupar and part of those of St. Monans were transferred to St. Andrews, while these convents were suppressed.[178]
No record is preserved of the buildings erected at this time, but probably the church was rebuilt and a series of domestic structures erected round a quadrangle on the south side of the church. The monastery was attacked and pillaged by the mob in 1560. The possessions of the convent had been gradually disposed of in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and after the Reformation the monastery was abandoned, and the buildings gradually fell to pieces, the materials being carried off in the usual manner.
The only portion now surviving is an apsidal wing or chapel (Fig. 1387) which projected from the north side of the church. It is 26 feet long by 21 feet in width internally. The three-sided form of the north end is not uncommon in the sixteenth century in Scotland, but it is not usually adopted in side chapels or transepts, being generally reserved for the east end of the chancel. At Ladykirk, Berwickshire, however, we have an example of the three-sided apse introduced in the chancel, and also
in the north and south transepts. There is a window in each of the three sides of the apse (Fig. 1388), the central one containing four lights and the diagonal windows three lights. A large window in the west wall has also four lights. The tracery in the windows has been renewed in modern times in a somewhat imperfect manner. The buttresses on the exterior angles have been almost entirely carried away. The altar probably stood on the east side, where there is an ambry, with the arch-head carved with a debased form of tracery. There seems to have been a doorway in the east wall, now built up.
The vaulting of the chapel (see Fig. 1388) is partly preserved. That over the square portion is a pointed barrel vault with ribs, arranged in sexpartite form. The ribs spring from corbels and small shafts. One of the corbels is carved with the Hepburn arms. The central boss of the vault bears the heart surrounded with two hands and feet,
emblems of the Passion. The vault of the apse is broken away, but it has been divided into three panels by ribs rising to a point at the apex. The vaulting of the main part of the chapel is of plain barrel form, and the cross ribs are introduced as ornaments on the surface, a common arrangement in late work. The ribs of the apse spring from two vaulting shafts rising from corbels, the caps of which have shields bearing the Hepburn arms (on a chevron a rose between two lions rampant). The chevron is still distinguishable. From the threefold repetition of these arms, it is supposed that this chapel was erected by Prior Hepburn, as a memorial and, perhaps, a burial chapel. The responds at the entrance, with their caps and other details, are of the third pointed period, and correspond with the date when the chapel was erected. A row of plain corbels, visible over the main arch, doubtless supported the roof of the principal nave of the church.
In the middle of the thirteenth century the Hospitium or Guest Hall of St. Leonard’s was founded by Prior John White, for the reception of pilgrims and visitors to St. Andrews. Some remains of the Guest Hall
have recently been excavated in the ground eastward from St. Leonard’s Church, from which it appears that it was a hall with central nave and two side aisles. The building was afterwards converted into a nunnery. In 1512 it was appropriated for a college.
This college was founded by John Hepburn, Prior of St. Andrews, in conjunction with Archbishop Alexander Stewart. It remained under the authority of the prior and chapter, and was designed for the education of twenty-four poor students. The college, however, soon became famed for its learning, and was attended by sons of the nobility. The students were specially instructed in music, and helped to spread a knowledge of sacred music throughout the country. George Buchanan, the well-known scholar, was at one time Principal.
The chapel (Fig. 1389) is a simple oblong chamber, being, internally, about 80 feet in length by 20 feet 6 inches in width, and has no division between chancel and nave. The design of the windows and buttresses (Fig. 1390) accords well with the date of erection in the sixteenth century, being in the perpendicular style, such as is common in the colleges in England. The windows are all square-headed, and the three-light ones have the heads of the lights cusped like quatrefoils. The church appears, from the marks in the walls, to have been extended 24 feet at the east end, probably at the time when it was converted into the college.
On the north side of the church is a room with a round barrel vault, probably the sacristy. From the door of the sacristy a narrow passage runs along the east end of the church in the thickness of the wall, and from it there are two loops into the church. Above this passage, and also in the thickness of the wall, another narrow passage is constructed in the east wall, which is continued round in the north wall as far as the vault of the sacristy extends. There is a shallow piscina in the east window sill. The west end has a door in the centre, and three remarkable niches above it. They have the appearance of having been placed there in recent times, when the west end was rebuilt. The arms of Prior Hepburn are inserted in this wall, and they are also carved on one of the south buttresses.
There are no windows in the north wall, but the interior contains several good Renaissance monuments. In the floor is the flat tombstone of John Wynram, Superintendent of Fife, who died in 1582; and against the north wall is the monument of Robert Stewart, Earl of March, who was commendator of the priory after the Regent Moray’s death.
The church was for long used for public worship, but after the College of St. Leonards was united to that of St. Salvator in 1747, the former was abandoned in 1759.
A long range of buildings on the south side of the church was occupied as the students’ lodgings, but these were also abandoned, and have now been converted into private residences.
Several alterations were likewise made on the church within recent times, the steeple being taken down, and the west end “set back,” so as to give more room for access to one of the private houses.
This church, usually called the Town Church, is of ancient foundation, but was almost entirely rebuilt at the end of last century. The church which was then demolished is believed to have been erected in 1412. The north-west tower (Fig. 1391) is the only part of the old structure which survives. Like the north-west tower at Cupar it rises from the north and west walls of the north aisle, without buttresses to mark its outline or break the upright form of the walls. The square outline, however, is partly relieved by a square projection at the north-west angle, which contains the staircase. The east and south walls are carried by arches, which formerly allowed the lower story of the tower to be included within the church, and the round pier at the south-east angle is made of extra thickness, so as to bear the weight of the tower. The tower is carried up square to the parapet with only a string course beneath the windows of the belfry story. In the latter trefoil-headed double windows are introduced, except on the north side, where a mullioned window is inserted between the stair turret and the east angle. The parapet is plain and rests on simple corbels. Above this rises an octagonal spire, with lucarnes. The spire is rather short and stunted, like most of the late Scottish examples.
Over the staircase a small turret with pointed roof is carried up within the parapet, and groups picturesquely with the main spire. The tower resembles that at Wester Crail, and, like it, is of fifteenth century date.
Two relics of the ancient church of St. Medan (demolished 1783) have been preserved, one being a mutilated figure of St. John the Baptist (Fig. 1392) built into the west gable of the existing church, and the other a sacrament house (Fig. 1393) inserted in the wall under
the stair to the gallery. The sacrament house is of rude design and workmanship, and is evidently of very late date. The ambry has an opening 10½ inches in width, and its size over all is 2 feet 5 inches in height by 21 inches in width. It has, as usual in such features, a broad base surmounted by the recess to contain the consecrated host. The opening is finished with an ogee arch-head having a cable-moulding on the jambs and arch, and a fleur-de-lys on top. As usual the ambry is
Fig. 1393.—Airlie Church. Sacrament House.
(From Sketch kindly supplied by Mr. Archibald M‘Pherson, architect.)
flanked by small buttresses. In the panels at the spandrils there are carved on one side a cross with a crown of thorns, and on the other the heart, with hands and feet showing the five wounds of the Passion.
The back of the ambry is formed with a stone containing the initials W. F., and the arms of the Fentons of Baikie, which are turned upside down, probably by mistake, when rebuilt in the present position.
The belfry of the church (Fig. 1394) is a good example of a structure of that description of the date it bears (1783).
A simple oblong ruin situated about three miles west from Dundee. The site is associated with the Celtic Church, and is one of the churches believed to have been founded by St. Boniface, in Angus, about the
beginning of the seventh century, Restennet being another.[179] Several fine sculptured stones of an early period are still preserved in the building.
Between 1153 and 1165 the Church of St. Peter, Invergowrie, was given to Scone by Malcolm IV.; but of this early structure nothing whatever remains, and the existing building is probably not earlier than the first half of the sixteenth century. The walls of the structure (Fig. 1395) are entire, although the west gable hangs in a very tottering manner. The building measures inside about 46 feet in length by 15 feet 9 inches in width. There are two doorways in the south wall (Fig. 1396), the one towards the west end being round-arched, but not built on the arch principle, being cut out of two large stones. The other doorway is lintelled. There are two windows also in the south wall, the one being round-arched and cusped (Fig. 1397) and having the
arch cut out of a single stone. The other window is lintelled and had a central mullion. There is a high window in the west gable, and a west doorway, which probably dates from Presbyterian times. A stoup adjoins the western doorway in the interior of the south wall, and a locker recess occurs in the east gable. Lying inside the church there is the curious cross-like object (Fig. 1398). It is pierced in the centre, and appears to have had a shaft, which is broken, as shown.
This fragment of a church is situated in the centre of its churchyard, on the margin of a romantic glen, on the opposite side of which stands the ruined Castle of Mains, in the region of Strath Dichty, about three miles north from Dundee. The remains consist of a small building which projected from the south side of the church, and which Mr. Muir[180] calls “the sacristy of the demolished church of Mains.” The view (Fig. 1399) shows three lancet windows in the south gable, which are of very simple design, having merely a splay on their outer edge. The place is locked up, but Mr. Muir says that the windows have separate rear-arches.
Over the window there is a very beautiful sculptured fragment representing the Annunciation. It is sadly wasted, the head of the Virgin, and what may have been the descending dove, being an indistinct mass. The lower part of the figure, however, is well preserved, and is extremely graceful. The figure of the angel, although wasted, is in good preservation, while the scroll and pot of lilies are fairly distinct. Beneath the pot there is a shield on which are visible two piles issuing from a chief, with the remains of what may be mullets or annulets on the piles. There were probably three piles at first.
The Church of Mains belonged to the Abbey of Arbroath.
There is a sundial, of more recent date than the building, carved on the south-west corner, similar to the sundials on the porch of Linlithgow Church and on the south transept of Melrose.
Maryton Church is situated about two miles south-west of Montrose.
The fine grave slab (Fig. 1400) was found by Mr. Robertson lying broken and uncared for; and at his suggestion the minister, Mr. Fraser,
had it removed and placed in the church vestry. The upper part is occupied with a finely incised figure of a knight in sixteenth century costume, and the lower portion is occupied with the arms, supporters, helmet, and mantling. The arms are, an oak tree growing out of a mount (for Wood of Bonyton), between two cross crosslets (for Tulloch of Bonyton). Walter or William Wood married Dorothy Tulloch, one of the co-heiresses of Bonyton, sometime before 4th January 1493, in which year they got a confirmation of a charter by James IV. An inscription can still be partly traced round the slab, and it is believed to date from 1530.
An old church situated on the North Esk about midway between Montrose and Edzell. The building (Fig. 1401) is in a state of ruin and covered with ivy. It measures in the inside about 43 feet from east to west by about 18 feet in width.