windows here and in the clerestory of the east wall of the transept are
quite perpendicular in character, and are apparently of the same date as
the presbytery. The clerestory windows of the choir and transept (see
Figs. 775 and 771) have on the exterior arches distinct from those of
the windows on the inside of the wall, which are likewise of late
character. A change in the form of the caps of the piers is observable
in the transept (see Fig. 790), which points to their being late; while
some of the windows in the lower parts of the walls of the choir and
transept contain curvilinear tracery, thus indicating an earlier date
for the lower part than the clerestory. There seems to have been a good
deal of restoration and patching in this part of the structure.
[Illustration: FIG. 790.--Melrose Abbey. Cap of Pier and Vaulting Shaft
in North Transept.]
The design of the west wall of the north transept (see Fig. 782) is
different from that of the other parts of the building. Owing to the
position of the cloister and to there being no aisle on this side, the
place of the main piers and arches is occupied by a blank wall. The
clerestory windows, however, are of the same design as the rest of the
older church. The wall ribs of the vaulting include two windows in each;
and the space between the windows is occupied by two niches, each
carried up from a shaft, with late canopies, containing statues of St.
Peter and St. Paul--the former having the keys and the latter holding
his sword. These are the best preserved statues in the church, but they
are not of very remarkable workmanship.
The building or restoration of the eastern part of the edifice seems,
from its style, to have been carried out towards the middle of the
fifteenth century. The vaulting of the south transept appears to have
been erected by Abbot Hunter about the same time. On one of the
keystones of the vault of the south transept are carved the Hunter
arms--viz., three hunting horns, with a crosier, and the letters A. H.
This fixes the date of that part of the vaulting about 1450-60, and
probably more of the vaulting in the eastern part of the nave may have
been carried out at that epoch. It will be observed that the vaults all
contain, besides the main and ridge ribs, subsidiary ribs, or
tiercerons, indicating a similarity to English examples.
[Illustration: FIG. 791.--Melrose Abbey. Abbot Hunter’s Arms on Buttress
in Transept.]
The vaulting of the presbytery (see Fig. 775) is peculiar, and points to
a somewhat later time. It consists of a series of ribs spread over the
surface of a pointed barrel vault, so as to form a definite pattern.
These ribs produce a very rich effect, but they are a departure from the
principles of true groined vaulting. This system was introduced in
England at a late period, and led gradually to fan tracery. In the
method of vaulting, adopted in late English work, the ribs are no longer
relied on, as in genuine Gothic, as the strengthening nerves or centres
which sustain the panels of the vault. They become mere ornaments on the
surface of plain barrel or intersecting vaults, such as those used in
Roman architecture. The vaults of late architecture in England (although
ornamented with ribs) are thus constructed on the same principles as
those of the pointed barrel vaults of late Scottish churches (of which
numerous examples will be given hereafter), the only difference being
that the latter are generally left plain, although occasionally enriched
with ornamental surface ribs. Very fine examples of vaulting similar to
that of the presbytery of Melrose may be seen at Winchester
Cathedral[134] and other English examples of the fifteenth century.
The south chapels to the west of the fifth buttress west from the
transept, on which buttress another specimen of Abbot Hunter’s arms
(Fig. 791) is engraved, are of comparatively late date. This buttress
belongs to the earlier part of the nave, and the chapel seems to have
been repaired when the additional chapels to the west were erected.
Besides the three hunting horns in the shield of Abbot Hunter in the
examples above mentioned, the arms engraved on the fifth buttress
contain two crosiers saltierwise, and the initials A. H. on the right
and left; also, in chief a rose, and in base a mason’s mell, for
Melrose. The work in the chapels to the west is inferior to that of
those to the eastward, although copied from them. The chapels each
contain an enriched piscina (Fig. 792); and these are so inferior in
style of workmanship as to lead to the belief that they were inserted
after the chapels were built. One of them contains the initials of Abbot
William Turnbull, whose date is the beginning of the sixteenth century.
A late piscina (Fig. 793) has also been inserted in the south transept.
[Illustration: FIG. 792.--Melrose Abbey.