The plain cross vaulting of the side aisles of the lower church
corresponds with the piers of the subdivided bays, and on the exterior,
opposite each intermediate pillar (see Fig. 568), there is a buttress of
lesser dimensions than the main buttresses opposite the main piers.
[Illustration: FIG. 585.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. South Doorway to Lower
Church.]
The lower church was formerly well lighted with numerous lancet windows,
but, unfortunately, these have been filled, within the last thirty
years, with dark-coloured glass, so that, without the aid of lamps, this
almost unrivalled specimen of mediæval architecture is obscured from
view. Only those whose memory goes back to before the above time can
form a proper idea of the beauty and purity of its details.
[Illustration: FIG. 586.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Eastern Aisle and
Chapels, looking North.]
There is a well about 18 feet deep, built with ashlar, at the east end
of the south wall, and near it an altar tomb to one of the family of the
Colquhouns of Luss, whose arms it bears. The well may have contributed
to the weakness of this part of the edifice; but although the upper part
of the building is as much as 18 inches off the plumb, there is no
appearance of any settlement at the base. The wall seems to have
suffered from a thrust outwards while in course of erection, as the
upper story is set back from the lower portion, which is off the plumb.
The south doorway of the lower church (Fig. 585) is a very simple and
beautiful design, and forms a porch projecting as far as the buttresses.
It has a groined ceiling covered with a sloping stone roof. Immediately
opposite the south doorway there is a north entrance to the lower
church, which has a moulded pointed arch head, but no porch.
[Illustration: FIG. 587.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Section of Piers.]
The interior of the choir is a noble specimen of first pointed design. A
striking and unusual feature of the plan is the ambulatory aisle which
runs round the east end (see Fig. 570), having four chapels beyond it to
the east, as above mentioned. These chapels are not divided, like those
in the lower church, by walls, but are quite open, and the pillars stand
free. The view (Fig. 586) shows that the pillars are slender and
clustered, with dog-tooth mouldings in the hollows. Their section is
shown in Fig. 587. The caps are rounded and moulded, while those of the
wall shafts are carved with foliage. Fig. 588 shows the south-east bay
of the east end. The piscina seen in the south-east angle has the drain
carried direct to the outside, and is not carried down to the ground, as
usual. The vaulting here is of later date than the rest of the work, as
is apparent from the
[Illustration: FIG. 588.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. South Chapel at East
End.]
[Illustration: FIG. 589.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. North-East Angle of
Choir.]
sections of the ribs. As the vaulting was, doubtless, much dislocated by
the disturbance which has taken place at the south-east corner, it may
have been rebuilt; or, as Mr. Watson points out, it may have been
delayed till after the vaulting of the lower church was completed.
[Illustration: FIG. 590.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. South Doorway of Nave.]
The main arcade is carried round the east end of the choir (Fig. 589).
[Illustration: FIG. 591.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Transverse Section
through Choir and Lower Church, looking East.]
To accomplish this, with arches of about the same width as those of the
side aisles, the wall had to be divided into two bays having a central
pillar, which is not a pleasing feature. Above the main arcade rises the
east wall of the cathedral, pierced with four graceful lancets (see Fig.
591).[65] This arrangement of a central mullion in the large upper
window was almost rendered necessary in order to carry up the design of
the single pillar in the centre of the main arcade, otherwise a central
light, as at Salisbury, would doubtless have been preferable.
Churches with an eastern ambulatory are occasionally to be met with in
England, a fine example being the church of the Abbey of Dore, in
Hertfordshire. This ambulatory aisle is the British equivalent for the
aisle which is generally carried round foreign apses, and from which the
apsidal chapels open.
A similar plan to that of the eastern end of Glasgow Cathedral was
reproduced at Rosslyn Collegiate Church two hundred years later,
although with very different details and on a greatly reduced scale.
Each bay of the choir (see Fig. 589) rises from clustered pillars having
numerous attached shafts and mouldings (see Fig. 587), and caps
elaborately carved with first pointed foliage. The triforium gallery
contains two pointed openings, each embracing two smaller arches, and
having trefoil and quatrefoil apertures in the spandrils. The clerestory
consists of a double wall, with passage between. It has three pointed
lights of equal height in the outer wall, and three corresponding
openings in the interior, with boldly moulded shafts and arches. A small
sharply pointed arch is introduced at each side of the main vaulting
shafts. The caps on each floor are all of rounded form.
The south doorway of the nave (Fig. 591) (now forming the principal
entrance to the church) is, like that of the lower church, inserted
between two buttresses; but it has no projecting porch, and finishes
with a flat roof, above which the top of an ordinary traceried window is
seen in the plane of the wall. To give importance to this entrance the
flanking buttresses are finished at the top with niches for statues, and
in connection with the corbels under these occur the only pieces of
foliaged carving to be seen in the whole nave.
The western doorway (see Fig. 569) contains two openings with a solid
mullion between. This part of the structure has evidently been greatly
repaired and altered when the western adjuncts above referred to were
removed.
The whole of the cathedral is vaulted except the central alleys of the
nave and choir. Vaulting shafts are carried up in the nave (Fig. 592)
from the string course above the main arcade, and in the choir (see Fig.
589) from the caps of the main piers to the wall head, as if the idea of
vaulting the central area had been contemplated; but it is quite
[Illustration: FIG. 592.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. North Side of Nave.]
evident from the smallness of the buttresses of the clerestory (Fig.
593) that the walls were not calculated to resist the strain which such
a vault
[Illustration: FIG. 593.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. View of South Side,
looking West.]
would have brought against them. The present vaulting beneath the
central tower is modern, as also are the plaster ceilings of nave and
choir. The vault of the north aisle of the choir has ribs of an early
form, while those of the south aisle are of a later design (Fig. 594).
On the panels of the latter vault there are a number of figures,
comprising the symbols of the evangelists, &c.
The bays of the nave are divided by clustered piers of smaller size and
later shape than those of the choir (see Fig. 587), and the moulded caps
(which follow the outline of the shafts and hollows of the piers) are
also of later character. Each bay of the triforium and clerestory (Fig.
592) is divided into two openings, and has shafts running up through the
whole height, which unite the two stories into one, a design which
produces a striking effect. The triforium openings of the nave, although
not without great vigour, are perhaps the most rudely executed features
in the whole building. The jamb and arch mouldings accommodate
themselves to each other in an awkward manner, and the fitting in of the
uncouth trefoil tracery is quite a contrast to the fine finishing of the
clerestory above. It is not easy to account for the careless work in the
triforium, as the upper part of the nave appears to have been all
executed about one period. The coarse workmanship is much more striking
in the building than can be shown by drawings on a small scale.
[Illustration: FIG. 594.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral.