[Illustration: FIG. 515.--Dunblane Cathedral. Plan of Clerestory
Window.]
We now come to the most beautiful part of the structure, viz., the nave.
It measures internally 129 feet in length by 57 feet in width (including
the aisles), and is divided into eight bays. The four eastmost bays and
the westmost bay are 10 feet in width between the piers, while the three
bays next the westmost bay are 12 feet between the piers. A similar
difference is observable in the upper part of the structure, which
consists of the clerestory, there being no triforium (Fig. 516). The
clerestory is constructed with an outer and an inner wall (Fig. 515),
having a passage between them in the centre. In the outer wall are the
windows, which have two lights formed by a central mullion, with plain
splays on the jambs and pointed arch (Fig. 517). The arch head is filled
with a form of tracery consisting of a quatrefoil cut in a plain
circular panel, being thus an intermediate example between the
perforated panel of early first pointed work and the bar tracery of the
[Illustration: FIG. 516.--Dunblane Cathedral. Elevation of Bay of
Nave.]
[Illustration: FIG. 517.--Dunblane Cathedral. West End from South-West.]
decorated period. On the inner side of the clerestory gallery an arcade
(see Fig. 515) is more elaborately carried out. Each bay contains two
arches forming a continuous arcade, resting on clustered shafts with
rounded caps and bases of first pointed style. The arch mouldings are
[Illustration: FIG. 518.--Dunblane Cathedral. Interior of North-West
Angle of Nave.]
also of fine bold first pointed form. Of this arcade, four and a-half
bays on the north side and four bays on the south side next the east end
have the arcade, without central shaft or tracery. The remainder of the
clerestory arches on both sides have the opening divided by a central
shaft carrying two pointed arches, and the arch head is filled with a
quatrefoil cut out of a circular shield like those above described. The
western bay (Fig. 518) is exceptional, having one arch with and one
without tracery on each side of the nave, the openings without tracery
being the east one on the south side and the west one on the north side.
It may also be pointed out that the four east bays have ashlar work in
the spandrils of the main arches, while the spandrils of the four west
bays are filled in with rubble work.
The main piers and arches are all of nearly the same design (Fig. 519).
They are set diagonally to the nave, and have four half shafts at the
cardinal angles and one intermediate shaft and two square projections
between on each side. In the south piers the square angle is cut off
these projections, otherwise the plan of the piers is the same. They
have all rounded first pointed caps, composed of mouldings over a bell,
and the bases are of usual first pointed forms (see Fig. 516).
[Illustration: FIG. 519.--Dunblane Cathedral. Half-Plan of Nave Piers.]
The west end (Fig. 520) is one of the finest parts of the cathedral. On
the ground floor it contains the western doorway (Fig. 521), deeply
recessed with a series of shafts and arch mouldings of line first
pointed design, flanked by an acutely pointed blind arch on each side
with trefoiled head within it. This ground story is surmounted by three
lofty pointed windows (see Fig. 520), all of equal height, and each
divided into two lights by a central mullion, and having the arch head
filled in the central window with a cinquefoil, and in the side windows
with a quatrefoil. The windows are all enclosed with a label moulding,
having carved terminals. The jambs and arches have plain triple splays
(Fig. 522), and the openings in the arch heads are cut out of plain
circular shields like the windows of the clerestory. A passage like that
of the clerestory runs round in the west wall, and has an inner arcade
of clustered shafts, with arch mouldings and tracery similar to those of
the clerestory. In the interior arcade the three arch heads are all
filled with cinquefoils cut through what is almost a plain shield (Fig.
523). The gable is filled with an elegant vesica piscis (Fig. 524), to
which Ruskin draws attention in his _Edinburgh Lectures_.
[Illustration: FIG. 520.--Dunblane Cathedral. West End.]
The edifice has not been intended to be vaulted. The buttresses of the
nave are light (see Fig. 517), and they are finished with plain
[Illustration: FIG. 521.--Dunblane Cathedral. West Doorway.]
gablets. The cornice is supported on a corbel table of pure first
pointed design. There is no transept, but an attempt has been made to
supply its place by the insertion of large traceried windows in the
first bay of the nave next the choir (see Fig. 508). The east window of
the south aisle of the nave (see Fig. 511) has the shield over the
central mullion carved with a quatrefoil sinking on the inside, but it
is not pierced through to the outside, which is left quite plain. The
aisles are of very plain design, the windows being somewhat similar to
those of the lady chapel, and the buttresses being very plain. Two
windows at the west end of the north aisle (Fig. 525) are of peculiar
form, having a flat segmental arch and being divided by two mullions.
These appear to be a comparatively late alteration. There has been a
north porch (see Fig. 525) to the nave, of which only the ruined
doorway, with first pointed shafts and arch mouldings, now remains.
There is also a plain south doorway in the nave aisle (see Fig. 511).
[Illustration: FIG. 522.--Dunblane Cathedral. Plan of West Window.]
The north buttress of the west end has been made large so as to contain
a wheel stair to the upper galleries (see Plan) of the edifice (see Fig.
517), and in the buttress on the south side of the west doorway a small
vaulted chamber has been formed, in which some interesting relics of
Celtic times have been preserved, amongst others a stone carved with a
Celtic cross, ornamented with a figure like a Greek fret.
As already mentioned, the greater part of the structure is of first
pointed date. The lady chapel may be the oldest part (after the tower),
and next to it is the east portion of the nave. The western half of the
nave seems to have followed soon after the eastern portion, and is
carried out nearly after the same design. The transition tracery in the
arcade of the clerestory and west end is very interesting, as showing
bar tracery in the act of being formed. This could scarcely have
occurred in Scotland before the end of the thirteenth century.
The style of the choir is further advanced than the nave, and exhibits
some transitional features between first pointed and decorated work. The
great east window and the large side windows of the choir probably
contained tracery more advanced than that of the west end, and may
probably date from the fourteenth century. The pinnacles and parapet
are, as already pointed out, of about 1500.
[Illustration: FIG. 523.--Dunblane Cathedral. Interior of West Window.]
By great good fortune six of the stalls of Dunblane Cathedral with their
canopies, and several others without canopies, have escaped the
destruction which has overtaken almost all the carved woodwork of our
ancient Scottish churches. Those preserved here (Fig. 526) show some
excellent carving.
[Illustration: FIG. 524.--Dunblane Cathedral.