As above pointed out, the abbey buildings are of different periods, and
have evidently been subjected to several alterations at different times.
The church appears to be the oldest part of the edifice. It has
originally consisted (see Fig. 737) of a nave, internally 35 feet in
length by 20 feet in width; a central tower, 24 feet long by 22 feet
wide
[Illustration: FIG. 741.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. View from North-East.]
[Illustration: FIG. 742.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. View from North-West.]
[Illustration: FIG. 743.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. North-East Angle of
Cloister.]
externally; and a choir to the east of the tower, of which a fragment
survives, but which was subsequently superseded by a new choir. The
church was lofty as compared with its width, as is apparent from the
high pointed arches (Figs. 741 and 742) in the east and west walls of
the tower. It is not now discoverable how the nave and choir were
roofed, but from the absence of buttresses, and the built water tables
in the tower with steep slope, the roof was most probably of timber.
Over the arch leading from the tower to the choir there is a doorway
(see Fig. 741), which gave access to a chamber in the roof. The church
was entered from the cloister by a high pointed doorway (Fig. 743) in
the south wall of the tower. Adjoining this, in the south wall, a wheel
stair led to the upper stories of the tower. The nave has been much
altered, but still retains along the north side an early trigonal string
course. The south doorway and other details of the tower also indicate a
date early in the thirteenth century (see the details of the doorway in
Fig. 750). The tower (see Figs. 741 and 742) rises to two stories above
the church roof, and contains windows, each having two smaller arches
enclosed within a round arch, and having the spandrils pierced with
simple quatrefoil openings. The parapet is supported by first pointed
corbels (Fig. 744). In each of the north and south walls of the tower
there was originally, at the level of the church, a single pointed
lancet window, the upper part of which has in each case been preserved,
although greatly altered at a later date. The upper part of the south
window is visible in Fig. 743; and a similar portion of the north window
is preserved over the door to the transept. The tower had simple
buttresses at the angles, one of which is still preserved on the south
side (see Fig. 743), where it has been incorporated with the later
cloisteral structures, while the other buttresses have been altered. A
fragment of the original choir also still survives in a portion of the
south wall, which has been incorporated with the later building of the
dormitory to the south. This fragment still retains, though built up,
the plain round arch of a small window, and its large, round sconsion
arch--the former now looking into the dormitory (Fig. 745), and the
latter being visible in the interior of the choir (see Fig. 741). This
window is, doubtless, of the period of the tower and nave. It has formed
part of the exterior south wall of the choir, thus showing that the
space opposite it was open, and that the dormitory, which is on the
first floor, and blocks it up, has been added at a later period.
[Illustration: FIG. 744. The Abbey of Inchcolm. Corbels of Parapet of
Tower.]
What the original form of the cloister buildings may have been it is now
difficult to determine. As has been pointed out above, their arrangement
is very unusual, the cloister walk occupying the whole of the ground
floor, and the domestic buildings being on the first floor. This
arrangement is quite contrary to that generally adopted, the usual plan
being to have a one-story cloister walk round the court, giving access
on the ground floor to the sacristy, chapter house, &c., in the east
range, to the refectory in the south range, and to the cellars, &c., in
the west range. At Inchcolm the ambulatory, or cloister walk--about 15
feet wide--occupies the whole of the ground floor round the east, south,
and west sides of the square, while the church stands on the north side.
This arrangement would be somewhat awkward as regards the principal
entrance to the church through the tower, which would be left in the
open court without any covered way leading to it. An attempt has been
made at a late date to obviate this drawback by continuing a one-story
cloister walk round the north side of the court (see Fig. 737).
[Illustration: FIG. 745.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. Plan of First Floor.]
The ambulatory is lighted by small round-headed windows towards the
court (see Fig. 743), having wide square ingoings with stone seats (Fig.
746); and the sill of the recess is raised about 12 inches above the
level of the cloister walk. Entering from the east walk is the chapter
house, an octagonal building, 24 feet in diameter, of a somewhat later
date than the nave and tower.
[Illustration: FIG. 746.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. Cloister Walk, East
Range, looking North.]
At the south-west angle of the cloister court was the staircase which
led to the upper floor (see Plans). The latter (see Fig. 745) has been
very greatly altered, and has been divided by cross walls and
partitions, so as to form a dwelling-house. A square tower has also at a
late period been added on the exterior next the south-west angle (Fig.
747). It would appear, however, that formerly the apartments, although
situated on the
[Illustration: FIG. 747.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. View from South-West.]
first floor, were arranged in the usual manner. The dormitory occupied
the east side, and had direct communication with the choir. The
refectory was in the south range, and the pulpit from which one of the
monks read during meals is yet preserved, with a few steps in the
thickness of the wall leading up to it (see Fig. 745). The pulpit is
also seen projecting on the exterior in Fig. 747. The west side was
probably occupied by the lay brethren. A large fireplace, corbelled out
on the exterior, was built in the east wall of the latter department, as
shown in Fig. 754. There was an exterior door to the garden from the
cloister walk on this side.
The nave, tower, and original choir were, without doubt, the earliest
parts of the edifice. The two-story cloisters did not at first exist, as
is apparent from the exterior window of the south wall of the choir,
above referred to. Probably there was then an ordinary cloister walk
running south from the principal doorway of the church, from which a
one-story building would enter on the east, according to the usual plan,
containing sacristy, chapter house, &c. Remains of a stone seat, which
exist along the east wall of the ambulatory, may indicate the original
position of the chapter house; and there are distinct evidences of
alterations in the east wall, to the south of the existing chapter
house. At first the refectory would probably be on the ground floor of
the south range, and the dormitory may have been on the first floor over
it. The above would be the arrangement of the monastery when built about
the beginning of the thirteenth century, soon after it received the gift
of Wester Aberdour from Allan Mortimer.
Less than a century later a complete remodelling of the edifice took
place. The ground floor was converted into the ambulatory and heightened
into two stories, and the new chapter house was erected to the east,
with a doorway from the new cloister walk. At the same time, the then
existing accommodation having been found too small, the old church was
abandoned as such, and the tower and nave were converted into the
abbot’s house, a new church being erected to the eastward. The evidences
of the conversion of the church into the abbot’s house are quite
distinctly apparent. The large arches in the east and west walls of the
tower (see Fig. 741) were built up with pointed arches introduced in the
inserted building, and the height of the nave and tower divided into two
stories by the insertion of a round barrel vault carrying a floor. An
extra thickness of 15 inches was added to the nave walls, so as to carry
the inserted vault (see Fig. 737). A wing was also added to the tower in
the position of a north transept, in order to provide another room on
the first floor level, the north window of the tower being converted
into a door. The south window was widened and furnished with a stone
seat; but, as above mentioned, the arched head of both these windows is
preserved. The north room is provided with a fireplace and garde-robe.
The ragglet for the roof of the north addition is not built like those
on the east and west sides of the tower, but is cut into the tower wall,
thus showing it to be an
[Illustration: FIG. 748.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. Chapter House, looking
East.]
afterthought. The upper stories of the tower were remodelled, that over
the first floor having a pointed barrel vault inserted, and the story
over being made into a dovecot, with built nest recesses all round. A
wider wheel stair was added at the south-east angle of the tower, to
give access to the abbot’s house. The ground floor of nave and tower
under the new arch became cellars; and a round aperture, 3 feet 8 inches
in diameter, is provided in the floor of the tower for access from the
cellar to the first floor. The upper floor of the nave now became the
hall of the abbot’s house, having a large fireplace with overhanging
hood built in the west wall, of which the remains still exist. Windows
were also cut in the north wall to light the hall. The old door to the
church was built up, and a new door provided from the cloister walk into
the new church.
[Illustration: FIG. 749.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. Details of Chapter
House.]
It is difficult to determine when these alterations took place, and
possibly they did not all happen at one time. We are informed that a new
choir was erected by Richard, Bishop of Dunkeld, towards the end of the
thirteenth century. It seems not unlikely that the remodelling may have
taken place about that time, and it is well known that almost no
building was carried on in Scotland from that period till the fifteenth
century. Besides, the frequent disturbances caused to the abbey by the
English fleet during the fourteenth century rendered building operations
at that time impossible. The church, however, seems to have been spared,
as it is on record that the lady chapel to the south of the choir was
added to it in the beginning of the fifteenth century.
The general appearance of the cloister ambulatory (see Fig. 746) would
at first sight lead one to suppose it to be of an old date. The small
round-headed windows without caps and with chamfers on edge (see Fig.
743), their wide recesses, with stone seats, and the round vault of the
ambulatory, have an archaic look; but on close inspection, it will be
noticed that the west wall is built against and partly bonded into the
original south-east buttress of the tower (see Fig. 743), thus showing
that this wall is more recent than the tower. This fact also confirms
the view given above that the space opposite the south wall of the choir
(where the old window is) was open, and that at least the upper floor,
where the dormitory now is, was a later addition.
[Illustration: FIG. 750.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. Details of Chapter
House, &c.]
The chapter house (Fig. 748) seems also to have been erected towards the
end of the thirteenth century. It is in the first pointed style, as the
mouldings of the caps, bases, window jambs, &c. (Fig. 749) show. It is
one of the very few octagonal chapter houses in Scotland, that of Elgin
Cathedral being the only other with which we are acquainted. The octagon
is regular and the ribs of the vault, which spring from a round shaft 4½
inches in diameter in each angle, meet in a carved boss in the centre,
having a circular aperture from which a light might be suspended. The
bases of the angle shafts are of first pointed character, and rest on
the stone bench. The ribs of the vault have a hollow in the centre (see
[Illustration: FIG. 751.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. Interior of Chapter
House, from North-East Window.]
[Illustration: FIG. 752.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. Doorway of Chapter
House: Interior.]
Fig. 749), like some of those in Glasgow Cathedral. The building is
lighted by pointed and moulded windows (see Fig. 748) on three sides,
and one window on the north-east side, which is smaller than the others,
and has a plain trefoiled arch head in the interior. The window jambs
have no caps. A small circular window occurs near the top of the arch of
the south-west side of the octagon (Fig. 751). The doorway enters
through the wall of the east ambulatory. It has jambs containing free
shafts and first pointed mouldings (Fig. 752). The caps of the shafts
are first pointed in style, but they have no bases (see Fig. 749). The
jamb mouldings terminate in a rather unusual way on a broad splay. The
arch is semicircular, or nearly so. A stone bench runs round the
interior of the chapter house, and is raised one step above the floor.
In the east end are three arched recesses (see Fig. 748) with good jamb
mouldings, finishing on a splay at bottom, but without caps or bases
(see Fig. 749). These were, doubtless, the seats of the abbot, prior,
and sub-prior. They are raised two steps higher than the other seats.
Externally, the chapter house is provided with buttresses on the angles
(Fig. 753), terminated with gablets, except on the north side, where a
continuous water table, with numerous set-offs, is provided, probably
because this side was concealed by the choir, and there was no room for
buttresses.
Over the east wing of the ambulatory is the dormitory, which is covered
with a lofty pointed barrel vault, and is lighted by small,
square-headed windows (see Fig. 743) looking into the cloister court.
There is also a squinch in the east side, from which the high altar
could probably be seen. From the east side of the dormitory a steep
stair leads to a building which has been erected at a late date over the
chapter house. Tradition states that Walter Bower had this upper story
built as a quiet retreat, where he might carry on his literary labours
undisturbed. It is a rude erection (see Fig. 753), and greatly damages
the external appearance of the chapter house. It has eight sides, and is
clumsily roofed with a pointed barrel vault. There is a large chimney in
the north side, a large double window in the south side, and a small
window in the south-east side.
The new choir or church erected to the east of the tower has been a
structure of considerable size, having been probably about 100 feet in
length by about 20 feet in internal width; but this building has now
been almost entirely removed, the stones having been used, as we are
informed, for the erection of a mansion on the mainland opposite. Only
the fragment at the south-west angle, which is incorporated with the
dormitory, and in which the ancient window already mentioned exists, now
survives. At the east end of the south wall one moulded jamb of the
sedilia can be traced (see Fig. 750), from which it is apparent that the
choir must have extended some feet further eastwards.
Near the sedilia is the entrance to the lady chapel, a structure about
28 feet long by 22 feet wide internally. It is placed at right angles to
the choir, and has been covered with a barrel vault, a portion of which
[Illustration: FIG. 753.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. Exterior of South and
South-East Sides of Chapter House, &c.]
[Illustration: FIG. 754.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. West Side of
Cloister.]
still overhangs on the west side (see Fig. 741). In the east wall is a
destroyed piscina, which no doubt adjoined the altar. The entrance
archway has had on the jambs a half-round shaft and two splays on each
side (see Fig. 750). A few feet of it remain, together with the base
(see Fig. 750), which is of late design, and might correspond with the
date of Richard of Aberdeen, by whom the lady chapel is said to have
been built.
It has been mentioned that the cloister walk was continued across the
north side of the square by a one-story structure. This is now
demolished; but, from the foundations which remain (see Fig. 737), it
has evidently consisted of a thin parapet wall, strengthened with five
buttresses. The passage was about 11 feet wide, and had a wide arch in
the solid wall at each end opening into it (Fig. 754). The roof was
probably entirely of wood, and there is a ragglet cut in the stone work
at each end, which shows that the slope of the roof was flat. These
ragglets are rudely cut into the masonry, and that at the west end
passes across the corbel of a projecting chimney. This passage would
thus appear to have been a late addition.
The cellars, stores, &c., which are frequently in the west range of the
cloister buildings, have in this instance been erected in a wing to the
south-east. This wing (Fig. 755) is two stories in height. On the
basement floor (see Fig. 737) it contains towards the east end a vaulted
cellar, about 50 feet in length by 13 feet in width, lighted by loops in
the south wall. At the east end a large oven is built out towards the
north side, and had a room over it. On the upper floor (see Fig. 745)
there has been a series of five or six offices, two containing large
fireplaces, and one an oven in the angle. At the west end (see Fig. 747)
the building has been carried up a story higher, and had a wheel stair
in the re-entering angle. An entrance passage to the interior of the
monastery passed through two archways under the north-west portion, and
led to the entrance tower near the south-west corner of the cloister.
The south or exterior wall of the above range of offices has been
strengthened with buttresses, but, being close to the sea, the south
wall has been considerably damaged, and only the basement now survives.
As above mentioned, the south-west tower of the cloister (see Fig. 747)
appears to be an addition of probably the fifteenth or sixteenth
century, when, indeed, the most of the upper floor of the south and west
walls would appear to have been erected. The corbels at the parapet of
the tower have the character of those of the castles of the period. A
window in the south-west gable (see Fig. 747) is round headed, and has a
hood moulding with carved terminals, which look like sixteenth century
work. The pulpit is projected on two buttresses, the space between which
forms a recess for a seat on the ground floor. The projection for the
pulpit has the appearance of being an addition. The large, square-headed
upper
[Illustration: FIG. 755.--The Abbey of Inchcolm. General View, from
South-East.]
windows in the south wall have a moulding on the jambs, and appear to be
of late date.
A good view of the whole monastery is obtained from the eastern eminence
of the island (see Fig. 755). On the summit of this height there is a
flat piece of ground, which has been made available as a fortress, and
is enclosed with an embrasured wall, one part being of extra strength
and height, and, doubtless, formed the citadel. These fortifications
were erected about a century ago, during the war with France.
[Illustration: Holyrood Abbey.