The ruins of this priory are situated on a small island of about four
acres in extent in the beautiful lake of Menteith. Its retired and
peaceful position is well indicated in the name of Inchmahome, which
means the Isle of Rest. This secluded situation has to some extent saved
the buildings from demolition and the grounds from alteration; so that
this venerable priory, surrounded as it is with ancient and gigantic
walnut trees, and the remains of the gardens of the monks, has a
peaceful and impressive beauty and interest of its own.
But although the church is fairly well preserved, the monastic buildings
have not escaped the ordinary causes of destruction so entirely as their
situation would have led one to expect.
The adjacent island of Talla is almost entirely covered with the ruins
of the castle of the Earls of Menteith,[45] which seems to date mostly
from the seventeenth century, and in the construction of which the
materials of the suppressed priory, lying so conveniently at hand, were
no doubt largely employed. The Earl must also have found the gardens on
the island of the abbey convenient, and appropriated them as a pleasure
ground.
[Illustration: FIG. 533.--Inchmahome Priory. Plan.]
[Illustration: FIG. 534.--Inchmahome Priory. View from South-East.]
The instrument authorising the establishment of the priory of Inchmahome
still exists. It is given in the name of the Pope by the Bishops of
Glasgow and Dunkeld in the year 1238, and authorises a monastery to be
built for the religious men already settled in the island. The priory
was founded and endowed by Walter Comyn, fourth Earl of Menteith, for
monks of the Augustinian order. From the style of its architecture the
church evidently belongs to the middle of the thirteenth century. Its
details, such as the lofty lancet windows, the nave piers and arches,
the western doorway, &c., bear a striking resemblance, on a small scale,
to those of the neighbouring cathedral of Dunblane.
[Illustration: FIG. 535.--Inchmahome Priory. Sedilia.]
The Plan (Fig. 533) shows a choir 66 feet long by 23 feet 8 inches wide
internally, without aisles, and with plain lancet windows, without
tracery (Fig. 534), those of the east end forming five lights (now built
up). The mullions are preserved, but the arched heads are gone.
There is a good sedilia (Fig. 535) and two ambries in the south wall,
and on the north side of the choir are the ruins of what seems to have
been a sacristy built as a north aisle, with only a door from the
church, in the fashion of the north aisle of Dunblane. From the base
mouldings being carried round this aisle, it is evidently an original
part of the design, and the corbels for the wall plate show that it had
a lean-to roof like an ordinary aisle.
[Illustration: FIG. 536.--Inchmahome Priory. North-West Angle of Nave.]
The nave is 75 feet in length, and its width varies, being 23 feet 8
inches at the east and 27 feet 2 inches at the west end. This difference
seems to have arisen from the south wall having been rebuilt. The nave
has a north aisle connected with it by four arches, two of the piers and
arches of which are still standing (Fig. 536). The caps, bases, and
sections of piers and arch mouldings (Fig. 537) are all good first
pointed work. The west doorway is also very fine, and is pretty well
preserved (Fig. 538). It comprises a central pointed doorway with deep
ingoing, having numerous shafts with moulded caps and bases, and a deep
series of first pointed mouldings in the arch head (Fig. 539). On each
side of the central doorway are two pointed wall arches with similar
caps and mouldings, but with only a shallow recess. The spandrils
between the arches contain trefoil and quatrefoil recesses.
There are the remains of a tower at the north-west angle of the nave
(Fig. 540), but this has been a later addition. There seems, from the
original base course, to have been a tower of some kind here from the
first, but it has evidently been rebuilt, and divided into stories, as
if for habitation. In this operation the arches of the nave and aisle
adjoining, which were originally open, were built up with rubble, but
that has now been cleared out again.
On the south side of the choir is situated the chapter house (see Fig.
533), 24 feet in length by 15 feet in width internally. It is vaulted
with a semicircular tunnel vault, over which there is a room in the roof
(see Fig. 534). The chapter house has a good east window, and there is
the usual stone seat all round. An outside staircase led to the upper
apartment. The cloisters and cloister garth have been situated to the
south of the nave; the corbels for the cloister roof still remain. There
is no south aisle, and there are no south windows or buttresses to the
nave along what was the cloister walk. To the south of these structures
are several remains of the monastic buildings, but much destroyed.
The kitchen and offices at the south end (see Plan) are the best
preserved portions, having the fireplace, windows, water drain, &c., and
the kitchen is still covered with a plain round tunnel vault, over which
there was an upper floor. The refectory probably ran along the south
side of the cloister. A staircase near the kitchen led to the dormitory,
of which it would form the day access.
[Illustration: Pier.
Arch Mouldings.
Cap and Base.