Length (external measurement from east to west, not including
buttresses), 293 feet.
Breadth (external measurement from north to south, not including
buttresses), 74 feet.
Length of transept (external measurement from north to south, not
including buttresses), 147 feet.
Width of transept over walls (external measurement from east to
west, not including buttresses), 54 feet.
Considerable portions of these different divisions of the edifice still
remain, but the greater part of the north side of the choir, the north
transept and nave, and almost all the piers and pillars have been swept
[Illustration: FIG. 461.--Arbroath Abbey. Plan.]
[Illustration: FIG. 462.--Arbroath Abbey. Interior of East End.]
away. Beginning at the east end, the eastern wall (Fig. 462) is entire
for nearly half its height, having an arcade below, and three lancet
windows above, with the lower portions of an upper row of similar
windows. Somewhat less of the return wall of the south side of the
presbytery, which comprises two bays, remains, and adjoining it is the
sacristy (Fig. 463), a late building in a fair state of preservation.
The end wall of the south transept is almost complete, together with a
considerable portion of the west wall of the transept (Fig. 464.) This,
being the best preserved portion of the structure, gives a good idea of
the grandeur of the church. The whole of the south wall of the nave
remains, showing a row of windows and indications of the groining of the
aisle (Fig. 465). The main or centre aisle was not vaulted, but covered
with a wooden roof. Most of the bases of the pillars of the nave
[Illustration: FIG. 463.--Arbroath Abbey. View from South-East. (From a
Drawing by the late Mr. Michie, artist.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 464.--Arbroath Abbey. South Transept and Sacristy.]
are in position, as are also the foundations of the north transept. The
fragment of the west end with the two towers left standing (Fig. 466) is
very striking, and impresses one with the sense of bold, vigorous work
rather than of refinement of detail, although there is also a mixture of
both, of which the west doorway (Fig. 467) is an example. It is round
arched, and its outer order, if it may be so called, extends inwards for
about five feet, unadorned as a bold and plain tunnel arch, having a
[Illustration: FIG. 465.--Arbroath Abbey. Interior of Nave and South
Transept.]
pointed arch in each ingoing. It then becomes shafted and richly
moulded, after the transition manner. This arrangement, while it gives a
fine shadow under the arch, has a feeling of rudeness, which, to a
considerable extent, characterises the whole west front. There is a
remarkable resemblance in the decoration of this doorway to that of the
doorway in the porch of Lerida Cathedral, Spain, supposing the tunnel
arch of Arbroath away, and the moulded part brought forward to the face
of the wall (Fig. 468), as is the case at Lerida (Fig. 469.) In both
instances the outer enrichment of the zig-zag ornament is separated by a
few mouldings from a large bead enriched at regular intervals by a ring
[Illustration: FIG. 466.--Arbroath Abbey. West End of Church and
North-West Tower.]
round the bead. The inner mouldings at Lerida are further enriched,
while at Arbroath the orders are simply moulded; but the sequence of the
first two orders of enrichment is interesting from its occurring in two
buildings probably erected at about the same time and at such a great
distance apart. A similar ring ornament, on a large scale, is also to be
seen in a doorway at Lamington, Lanarkshire,[26] where it is likewise
used along with the zig-zag, but there the ringed order is the outer
enrichment.
[Illustration: FIG. 467.--Arbroath Abbey. West Doorway and Gallery
over.]
The rude appearance of the west front, to which we have referred, is
increased by the removal of the outer part of a gallery which existed
over this doorway. The inner part of this gallery still remains, and a
[Illustration: FIG. 468.--Arbroath Abbey.