St. Monans is the name of one of the numerous fishing villages on the
Fifeshire coast of the Frith of Forth, and lies about three miles west
from Anstruther. The village derives its name from St. Monan, who, by
tradition, is believed to have been a missionary to the Picts in the
eighth century, and to have suffered martyrdom by the Danes on the Isle
of May. His body is said to have been buried on the mainland; and over
it a small chapel was subsequently erected, which had a reputation for
cures. Dr. Skene, however, thinks that St. Monan was Bishop of Clonfert,
and that his relics were brought from Ireland to Fife about 845, and
deposited in a church erected in his honour.[162] This original chapel
was replaced with a larger edifice by David II. in 1362, in gratitude
for his miraculous escape, through St. Monan’s influence, from the fatal
effects of the barb of an arrow with which he was wounded at Durham. Sir
William Dishington, of the adjoining estate of Ardross, was appointed
master of the works;[163] and between 1362 and 1370 the sum of £613, 7s.
was paid to him in connection with the fabric, besides £6, 13s. 4d. for
the carpenter work. Dishington hired a ship from a burgess of Inverness
to convey timber from there for the building; and there appear to have
been three freights, which cost for transit £20, £10, and £7, 17s. 8d.
In 1364 and 1366, before the church was finished, there are payments to
at least three chaplains celebrating at St. Monans, two of whom had £10
and the other 20 merks yearly.[164]
About a century after the founding of the church, it was bestowed by
James III. on the Dominicans. In 1544 it is said to have suffered a good
deal at the hands of the English. The structure, however, still
survives, and has long been used as the parish church. It is most
picturesquely situated on the rocks, at the junction of a small stream
with the sea; and, although exposed to the violence of the tempests and
the waves for several centuries, it still retains more of its original
architecture than most of our more favourably situated churches.
The building (Fig. 870) consists of a chancel, north and south
transepts, and a tower and spire over the crossing. Although a nave has
evidently been intended, it has never been built. The chancel is 50 feet
long by 23 feet wide internally. It is divided into four bays, marked
externally by buttresses, with traceried windows between them (Fig.
871); and, internally, by groined vaults, springing from wall shafts
between the bays (Fig. 872). The east end (see Fig. 871) has two
traceried windows, with a buttress between, surmounted by a small oblong
light, filled with tracery. The north and south transepts are each 17
feet in length by 18 feet in width. The north transept (Fig. 873) has a
three-light window to the north and a two-light window to the west; and
the ceiling is covered with a groined vault, having numerous ribs. The
south transept (Fig. 874) has two windows to the south and one to the
west. The crossing has large clustered piers supporting the arches (see
Fig. 872), which carry the tower and spire. The western end is built up
with a solid wall (see Fig. 874), without any indication of an arch to
the nave. It contains a tall traceried window of two lights, with a
transom in the centre of the height. A turret stair at the north-west
angle leads to the top of the tower.
[Illustration: FIG. 870.--St. Monans Church. Plan.]
The evidence of the _Exchequer Rolls_ is conclusive as to a church
having been erected here, at considerable outlay, in the fourteenth
century; but,
[Illustration: FIG. 871.--St. Monans Church. View from South-East.]
[Illustration: FIG. 872.--St. Monans Church. Choir, looking East.]
to judge from the architecture alone, it seems scarcely possible to
believe that the church we now see is the one erected in the time of
David II. All
[Illustration: FIG. 873.--St. Monans Church. View from North-East.]
[Illustration: FIG. 874.--St. Monans Church. South Transept.]
the features of the structure point to a date later by about a century.
The church having been bestowed by James III. on the Dominicans, one
would be inclined to ascribe the erection or, perhaps, restoration of
the edifice to his reign. The style of church erected in the fifteenth
century was generally a cross church, without aisles. St. Monans is
designed on
[Illustration: FIG. 875.--St. Monans Church. East End of Choir.]
that plan, and, like many of the other cross churches, remains
incomplete, the nave not having been erected. In almost all its details
it corresponds with the Scottish structures of the fifteenth century.
The windows have all splays running round the jambs and arches, without
caps; and the tracery is of an undoubtedly late Scottish form (see Figs.
871 and 875). The curious small upper window in the east end could
scarcely be of fourteenth century date.
The vaulting (see Fig. 874) is groined, and has main and subsidiary ribs
or tiercerons. This is not usual in the collegiate churches of the
fifteenth century, in which the pointed barrel vault is commonly used;
but we have one prominent example in the Trinity College Kirk of
Edinburgh, built about 1460, in which groined and ribbed vaulting was
fully carried out. The ribs at St. Monans are arranged in a rather
singular manner. There is a well-marked ridge rib, and there are also
transverse ridge ribs; but the latter stop at the point where the
tiercerons meet them; and from that point the transverse ridge ribs
slope down to the apex of the windows, where they are received by a
small corbel (Fig. 875). The tiercerons are also irregularly placed;
they do not spring, like the other ribs, from the cap of the vaulting
shaft, but die away into the wall some way up the wall rib. These
peculiarities have the appearance of late and imperfect workmanship. It
will be observed that the single wall shafts, from the capital of which
the vaulting ribs spring, have no bases.
The sedilia (see Fig. 875) in the south wall of the choir of St. Monans
may be regarded as decorated work. We find similar, and even finer, work
of this description at Crosraguel Abbey in the fifteenth century.
The buttresses are simple, and might belong to almost any period. It
should be stated that the tops of the buttresses were “restored” early
in this century. The want of a parapet at the roof is peculiar, and may
possibly be the effect of restoration. It is evident that a parapet has
been intended at the gable of the south transept, where there is a door
for access to the parapet walk (see Fig. 874). The peculiar character of
this transept is remarkable. The two small round-headed windows, with
their deep recess, and the great expanse of dead wall above them, must
certainly be considered as of late design.
The stunted style of the square tower (see Figs. 871 and 873), which
just rises above the roofs, is quite in keeping with the Scottish towers
of the fifteenth century. The parapet is supported on corbels, which are
different on three of the sides. The tower is surmounted by an octagonal
spire, which is of the usual rather stunted form common in the fifteenth
century. Some of the details, such as the numerous lucarnes, may be even
later.
It will be observed that the sedilia is placed at a considerable height
above the floor. This may arise from the steps leading to the altar
having been removed, and the floor of the whole of the east end lowered
to the general level of the choir; or, perhaps, the floor of the whole
church has been lowered. The bases of the piers at the crossing, which
are of a very unusual height, would rather support the latter view (see
Fig. 872).
It is not clear where the original entrance to the church was situated.
Two doors in the east end now give access to it, but these are clearly
modern innovations. There is a pointed doorway in the north wall of the
choir (see Fig. 872), which now gives access to a vestry, and, from its
position, it seems likely to have originally led to the sacristy.
Whether viewed from the village as one approaches the church from the
opposite high bank of the burn (see Fig. 873), or as seen from the rocky
shore (see Fig. 871), the Church of St. Monans, both from its situation
and the completeness and charm of its ancient architecture, is one of
the most picturesque and interesting structures of its class in
Scotland.
Although, from what is above said, we cannot regard this structure as so
old as 1360, still we consider it worthy of being included amongst the
Scottish examples of decorated work.