This small, but valuable, example of Scottish decorated architecture is
pleasantly situated on a quiet level holm at the junction of the water
of Cluden with the river Nith, about one mile north from Dumfries.
Although the surviving portions of the church are fragmentary, they
exhibit many beautiful details of the Scottish decorated style.
Originally the site was occupied by a convent of Black or Benedictine
nuns, which was founded in the twelfth century by Uchtred, son of
Fergus, Lord of Galloway, who endowed the convent with lands.[142] Of
this establishment only trifling remains can be traced. The edifice
whose ruins now exist was founded anew, about the end of the fourteenth
century, by Archibald the Grim, Earl of Douglas and Lord of Galloway. He
is said to have expelled the nuns on account of their “insolence;” but
it is also recorded that he acquired considerable possessions by the
transaction. Be this as it may, the earl showed his devotion by
rebuilding the church and endowing a new establishment. The new
foundation consisted of a collegiate church, with the necessary domestic
structures. It comprised at first a provost and twelve canons, Elise, or
Elias, being appointed the first provost in 1404. The second provost was
named Cairns, and under him the college consisted of eight canons,
twenty-four bedesmen, and a chaplain.[143] The surviving remains of the
domestic buildings for the accommodation of the inmates extend in the
form of a long wing to the north of the church (Fig. 799). These now
consist of a series of vaulted cellars, dimly lighted with one small
loophole in each, and entered by a few steps down from the ground level.
On the floor above the cellars there was probably a large hall; and at
the north end a portion rose into a keep or tower, which probably formed
the residence of the provost (Fig. 800). In Grose’s _Views_, drawn in
1789, the tower is shown much more complete than it now is, a large part
having tumbled down a good many years ago. The staircase turret on the
west side was also much higher at the end of last century, having fallen
so recently as 1851. It bore the royal arms and the arms of Provost
William Stewart. These out-buildings would thus appear to have been
built about the beginning of the sixteenth century. Foundations of other
structures are observable, which probably formed a courtyard to the
west; while, on the eastern side, the outline of a wall which enclosed a
considerable space of ground can be traced in the grass-grown mounds.
There is a high mound adjoining to the south-east, which had a winding
path leading to the summit, and from which an extensive view can be
obtained over the level country around.
It is believed that Lincluden was a frequent residence of the Earls of
Douglas. They were the Wardens of the Western Marches; and a parliament
of the Border chiefs was held here in 1468 by Earl William, in order to
revise the laws of Border warfare.
[Illustration: FIG. 799.--Lincluden College. Plan.]
[Illustration: FIG. 800.--Lincluden College. View from South-East.]
Many of the Provosts of Lincluden were men of distinction. For instance,
John Cameron (who died in 1446), besides holding important offices under
the Crown, was afterwards made Bishop of Glasgow; John Winchester, who
died in 1458, became Bishop of Moray; Andrew Stewart, who died in 1501,
was appointed to the Bishopric of Moray; and William Stewart (1545)
became Bishop of Aberdeen. Robert Douglas, the last Provost, enjoyed the
benefice for forty years after the Reformation. Like other incumbents
about that period, he endeavoured to dispose of the property for his own
benefit, but was opposed by the prebendaries. Some of the latter
continued to occupy the college till 1567;[144] and mass was sung in the
church so late as 1586, under sanction of Lord Maxwell. The reversion of
the provostry fell to William Douglas of Drumlanrig, grand-nephew of the
last Provost. Lincluden was erected into a temporal barony in 1565, and
subsequently passed into the hands of the Earl of Nithsdale, whose
descendant, Captain Maxwell of Terregles, has done much for the repair
and preservation of what remains of this charming old building.
A few traces of the original Norman masonry have been discovered. The
church seems to have occupied the same site as the existing building,
and to have consisted of a nave, 56 feet by 20 feet, and a choir of the
same width. There was a north aisle, 9 feet wide, with cylindrical
pillars and a depressed arcade. A south aisle probably also existed. The
western door (4½ feet wide) can be traced, which had a semicircular arch
of several orders. These facts were all ascertained during recent
excavations.[145]
The Plan (see Fig. 799) shows the arrangements of the church of the
fifteenth century and the other buildings, so far as preserved. The
church consisted of a choir, which is in a fair state of preservation,
except the roof and vaulting, the former of which has disappeared since
Grose’s time. It is separated by a stone screen, with a wide doorway,
from the nave and transept, which are greatly demolished, only the walls
of the south transept and part of that of the south aisle of the nave
now remaining. The choir is without aisles, and consists of three bays.
It is 44 feet in length by 19 feet 6 inches in breadth internally. The
nave and transept measured about 56 feet in length from the choir
screen, and the nave appears to have contained three bays, with a window
in each. It had an aisle on the south side. The responds of the piers
still partly exist at the east and west ends. The nave and transept were
about the same size as the original nave--viz., 56 feet long, the former
being 20 feet and the aisle 12 feet broad.
The transept was without aisles, and was 14 feet in width, and projected
12 feet 6 inches beyond the nave aisle. There are foundations traceable
on the north side of the nave, but it is not clear to what buildings
these belonged. It is not improbable, however, that there may have
[Illustration: FIG. 801.--Lincluden College. Door to Sacristy, and
Monument to Margaret, Countess of Douglas.]
been a north aisle. The sacristy is entered from the north side of the
choir. The door is very ornate, and contained, on two shields, the arms
of Archibald the Grim and his lady (Fig. 801). The sacristy was covered
with groined vaulting, and had an entrance from the court of the
domestic apartments.
[Illustration: FIG. 802.--Lincluden College. Choir.]
The details of the architecture of the choir are of great beauty (Fig.
802). It has often been remarked that they are unusually large and
massive, as if intended for a larger structure, which gives them great
picturesqueness of effect. The corbels which carry the vaulting shafts
are carved in the form of angels, some playing musical instruments. The
caps of the shafts are richly ornamented with foliage and armorial
bearings; and as these are well preserved in the durable red stone of
the district, the heraldic decorations tell the story of the intimate
connection of the Douglas family with the structure (Fig. 803).
[Illustration: FIG. 803.--Lincluden College. Caps of Shafts.]
Large pointed windows, originally filled with fine geometric tracery
(Figs. 800 and 804), are inserted in all the bays of the south side of
the nave and choir and in the gable walls of the choir and transept. The
design of the tracery may be easily restored from the surviving
fragments (see Billings). The windows of the north wall of the choir are
placed high in the wall and are of small dimensions, owing to the large
monument in that wall, and also because part of the wall was covered by
the roof of the sacristy. The mullions and tracery are all very massive
and of purer geometric form than is generally met with in Scotland. The
somewhat debased tracery common in later Scottish structures is here
entirely absent.
The exterior of the structure (see Fig. 800) is simple, but chaste, in
design, and accords well with that of the interior. The base mouldings
and the beautifully-carved cornice are decorated in character.
The splendid monument in the north wall of the choir (see Fig. 801) was
erected in memory of Margaret, daughter of Robert III. and wife of
Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas, son of Archibald the Grim. He went to
France in 1423, with a large retinue, to the aid of Charles VII., by
whom he was created Duke of Touraine. He was killed at the battle of
Verneuil, in 1424. The countess survived till about 1440. She made
grants to the college in 1429, which were confirmed by her brother,
James I. She also founded a chapel, and increased the number of inmates
from thirteen to thirty-four. The monument is evidently part of the
original design. The choir would, therefore, appear to have been in
[Illustration: FIG. 804.--Lincluden College. Chancel Arch, Rood Screen,
and Nave.]
progress during the countess’s lifetime, and may thus not have been
completed till the first half of the fifteenth century was well
advanced. In confirmation of this, we find that the arms of Provost
Haliburton (see Fig. 803) are carved on the south wall, and he was
superior of the college about 1430. The architecture of the church
corresponds in style with the decorated work usual in Scotland in the
first half of the fifteenth century, of which it forms an important
example.
The monument to the Countess of Douglas is amongst the finest specimens
of that kind of structure in Scotland. It is, like the other features of
the church, of large size for the small building in which it is erected.
The principal arch is semicircular in form, a peculiarity of common
occurrence at all periods in this country. It is very richly ornamented
with running foliage and small shafts and mouldings, and the inner arch
is enriched with a large traceried border, elaborately foiled and
cusped, while the outer label is decorated with carved crockets, and is
carried up with an ogee curve to a large foliaged finial on top. The
sides are bounded by buttresses of light and simple form, finished with
crocketed finials, and a bold cornice, enriched with leaf ornaments,
runs along the top. The base which enclosed the sarcophagus displays an
arcade of nine trefoiled arches, each containing a shield, on which the
arms of the family were formerly blazoned, but they are now much decayed
by the weather.
“The Lordship of Annandale is represented by its saltier and chief; a
lion rampant, the cognisance of the M‘Dowalls, typifies Galloway; three
stars show the Moray arms, which the founder of Lincluden acquired by
marriage; three stars of the first, with a man’s heart below, indicate
the escutcheon of the Douglases when rising nearer the political zenith.
* * * One of the shields displays a fess chequé, surmounted by a band
ingrailed; another, the same emblem, without the band, these telling, in
heraldic language, of the Royal Stewarts’ connection with the Douglases,
the chequered fess illustrating the old tally method by which stewards
kept their accounts.”[146]
[Illustration: FIG. 805.--Lincluden College. Cups or Chalices over Main
Arch.]
Within the triangle formed by the label over the main arch there occurs
a very remarkable design, consisting of three cups or chalices (Fig.
805), each accompanied with a star following one another round the
triangle. As Grose suggests, these probably represent the insignia of
the earl’s office as “panitarius” or cupbearer to the king. Some letters
are engraved at the angles, but they are difficult to decipher. At the
back of the monument are carved the following inscriptions, “A l’aide
de Dieu,” and, lower down, “Hic jacet Dña Margareta Regis Scotiæ filia
quondam Comitessa de Douglas Dña Gallovidiæ et Vallis Annandiæ.”
The tomb has been rifled, and is now empty, and the effigy of the
countess, which still reposed on the monument in Pennant’s time (1772),
has now disappeared.[147]
On the opposite side of the choir are the triple sedilia and piscina
(see Fig. 802), both fine works, but sadly mutilated. They are of the
usual style of the period, and are adorned with much carving of a
similar description to that of the tomb.
Behind the place of the high altar, three large plain corbels are
inserted in the wall (see Fig. 802). These seem to have carried a
reredos of carved stone, and some fragments of a sculptured stone, such
as would have suited for this purpose, still survive (Fig. 806).
[Illustration: FIG. 806.--Lincluden College. Fragments of Sculptured
Stone.]
As in other churches, the choir was reserved for the ecclesiastics,
being separated from the nave by a stone screen (see Fig. 804), in
which, however, there is a large doorway, six feet wide, which was
furnished with an iron grating, through which the interior could be seen
from the nave. The upper part of this screen formed a loft, approached
by a turnpike stair. The loft, no doubt, carried the rood. It is wider
than the screen wall, and is supported by three corbelled courses,
decorated with carved work of a large and massive character. The two
upper rows represent angels, with wings, and having their hands crossed
in front of the breast. The lower row shows a number of groups of
figures, much damaged, but apparently representing scenes from the life
of Christ. The large arch over the screen formed the western termination
of the choir.[148]
It will be observed that the springing of the groined vaulting of the
choir (which is now demolished, or, possibly, was never completed) is
still visible, rising from the caps of the vaulting shafts (see Fig.
802). The groining, like the other features of the structure, was of a
complete character, corresponding to the perfected style of the
architecture. It comprised the usual transverse, diagonal, and wall
ribs, and had also, as is common in English examples, intermediate ribs,
or tiercerons and ridge ribs. These can all be traced in the remaining
fragments. But what is more remarkable is that the remains of another
and independent tier of vaulting can be observed above the groined roof.
This is evident from the Sketch (see Fig. 802), which shows the
springing of an upper plain pointed barrel vault, strengthened at
intervals with transverse ribs. Grose compares this with the vaulting of
King’s College Chapel, Cambridge; but he has mistaken the purpose of the
different vaults. That of Cambridge was introduced in order to carry the
pendants of the fan-vaulting below, whereas that of Lincluden has
evidently been built to support a stone roof above. Plain pointed barrel
vaults are very common in Scottish churches, and are invariably
introduced for the purpose of supporting a roof of overlapping stone
slabs. Numerous examples occur in this work, and roofs of that
description were also very usual in the castles--as at Borthwick, &c.
Generally, the barrel vault is visible from the interior; but in the
present instance, the building being a decorated one, a roof of groined
vaulting has been intended under the plain vault.
Grose speaks of a third roof of timber over the barrel vault, and both
his drawing and Pennant’s indicate a turf or straw covering. But that
could hardly be original. The building was, in their time, almost as
ruinous as now, and it is very likely that the stone slabs of the roof
had been removed, and a temporary wooden roof substituted, or a covering
of turf laid over the barrel vault, which, perhaps, at that time still
remained.
The space between the two vaults would form a chamber, which may have
been used as a sleeping apartment. The window in the gable is still
visible. A similar apartment, with a window, seems to have existed over
the vaulting of the south transept, and both appear to have entered from
the turret stair in the wall between the nave and choir.
A similar roof to the above occurs at St. Mirren’s Aisle, Paisley Abbey,
where the two vaults, with a small chamber between them, still exist.
The ornamental work of the nave (see Fig. 804) is similar to that of the
choir, and of the same date. The vaulting shafts are carried on brackets
carved with the figures of angels, and the caps are of similar massive
design to those of the choir. The tracery of the windows was of the same
geometric or decorated style as that of the choir. The foundations of
the west end of the church are quite distinct, but the foundations on
the north side of the nave seem to have belonged to later buildings, as
they do not harmonise with the design of the church.
The domestic wing has already been noticed. The cellars of the basement
enter from the courtyard. Some of these have ambries in the walls. An
octagonal turret, about the centre, contained the entrance doorway and a
wheel stair to the upper floor. It was also provided with the shotholes
usual in the sixteenth century.
Another turret, in the angle next the sacristy, contained a private door
to the latter, and, probably, another stair to the upper floor. The
provost’s tower has evidently, from Pennant’s view, contained at least
four stories; but it is now much decayed and demolished. These buildings
present very much the appearance of a secular dwelling or castle of the
sixteenth century.
The whole edifice being now surrounded with an iron railing, and
properly looked after, it is hoped that this interesting specimen of
Scottish ecclesiastical architecture will be long preserved from further
ruin.