fifty.
In 1249 a dispute arose regarding the consecration of the new choir, but
Honorius IV. decided that a new consecration was not necessary, as the
consecrated walls of the older part (the nave) continued in use. In the
same year Queen Margaret was canonised, and in 1250 her body was
transferred from the old church to the new Lady Chapel, in presence of
all the chief men in the kingdom. “The translation of the saintly
foundress was probably arranged,” says Professor Innes, “to give
solemnity to the opening of the new church.”[157] Soon after this the
abbey is described by Matthew of Westminster, who probably saw it, as of
vast extent, and containing such magnificent palaces that three kings,
with their trains, might be accommodated within its walls.
“This sumptuous pile was destroyed and levelled with the ground by the
soldiers of Edward in 1303, excepting only the church and a few
dwellings for the monks.”[158]
The Exchequer Rolls inform us of the great expense sometimes incurred in
connection with the tombs of the illustrious persons buried in the
abbey.[159]
The monastic buildings were, as we have seen, on a very magnificent
scale; but of the church, and all the splendid structures connected with
the abbey, there now only remain (Fig. 198) the Norman nave, the base of
the Lady Chapel, and part of the refectory and kitchen.
[Illustration: FIG. 200.--Nave Piers and Wall Responds.]
The nave (Fig. 199), which is wonderfully well preserved, measures about
106 feet long inside, by about 55 feet wide between the aisle walls. The
piers are circular, and measure 4 feet 4½ inches in diameter. The plan
of these, with that of the wall responds (Fig. 200), indicates that the
original intention (which was carried out) was to groin the aisles. The
two eastern bays between the eastern pillars are built up with solid
masonry, and only a portion of the arches is seen. The original respond
at the east gable wall, against which these arches rested, has long
since disappeared, in connection with the erection of the later church.
The two western bays, and the triforium arches above them (one on each
side), have also been filled up with solid building in order to
strengthen the western towers. The southern of these arches is shown in
Fig. 201. The pillars which support the west towers are of greater size
than the others, and are of a different section. One of the pillars and
the corresponding arch of the north arcade are of late Gothic work, and
may be part of the repairs ordered by the Privy Council in 1563,[160] or
of the work done in 1594, under the direction of William Schaw, Master
of Works, who at that time built the north-west tower and steeple
[Illustration: FIG. 201.--Dunfermline Abbey. Interior of West End of
Nave.]
[Illustration: FIG. 202.--Dunfermline Abbey. West End.]
[Illustration: FIG. 203.--Dunfermline Abbey. North Porch.]
(Fig. 202), as well as the porch on the north side of the nave (Fig.
203). At the same time, also, certain great buttresses (Fig. 204) were
built against the outer walls, which are now conspicuous features of the
structure.
The great western doorway of the church (Fig. 205) remains unaltered,
and is a good example of Norman work. It consists of five orders, having
round and octagonal shafts alternately, chiefly with cushion caps, but
some are ornamented with scrolls (Fig. 206). The abacus is heavy, and is
carved with sunk diapers. The orders are continued round the arches, and
contain chevron ornaments (much decayed), rosettes, and diapers. The
outer order contains large heads and geometric figures in the alternate
voussoirs, an arrangement similar to that at Dalmeny and Whithorn, where
also the geometric figures resemble those adopted here. The original
north doorway (Fig. 207), which is partly concealed by Schaw’s porch, is
similar in design, with the addition of an arcade above the arch (see
Fig. 203), somewhat resembling, but plainer than that over the doorway
of Dalmeny Church, on the south side of the Forth. The south doorway of
the church on the opposite side from the porch is a late work. There
appears to have been another south doorway at the east end of the nave,
but it is now built up. The whole of the aisle walls are arcaded in the
interior (Fig. 208) up to the height of the window sills, but the arcade
has been partly cut away for monuments.
The general design of the nave recalls that of Durham Cathedral, at the
founding of which King Malcolm Canmore was present. The same circular
piers, with zig-zag ornaments and massive cushion caps, and also
clustered piers, occur in each (Fig. 209), and the small circular bases,
resting on great square plinths, are common to both (see also p. 37,
Fig. 18). The arches between the main piers (Fig. 210) consist of bold
mouldings, with the label ornament running round the outer moulding. The
triforium at Dunfermline is extremely simple (Fig. 211), consisting of a
single opening with plain jambs and round arch, with a large roll and
fillet in the centre of the thickness of the wall, supported on single
attached shafts with cushion caps. The clerestory is also very simple.
It contains one window in each bay, with plain recessed arch, supported
on single shafts with cushion caps. The aisles (Fig. 212) are vaulted
and groined. The transverse arches are flat, with a roll on each side,
and the diagonal groins spring from the detached shafts of the responds
(see Fig. 208). The windows of the aisles (see Fig. 209) are single
round-headed lights, having plain sconsions with one recessed shaft on
each side, and the arch enriched with chevron mouldings. Externally
(Fig. 213) they are of similar design.
Fig. 208 shows the wall shafting and springing of the ribs in the
aisles, and the mouldings of the nave arcade, with the arcading beneath
the
[Illustration: FIG. 204.--Dunfermline Abbey. Part of North Side.]
[Illustration: FIG. 205.--Dunfermline Abbey. Western Doorway.]
windows. It also shows the original aisle windows on the inside, while
Fig. 213 shows their appearance on the exterior. It will be observed in
the latter that there is the same sunk or label ornament on the
drip-stone as there is over the arches of the main arcade. Above the
aisle window (see the same Fig.) are the lights of the triforium
gallery. These have triangular heads, formed by two stones. They appear
to have been rounded or moulded on the edge, and spring from sunk shafts
having carved capitals. They are now very much decayed, and have all
been restored except two on the north side.
Judging from the existence of the large west end pillars already
referred to, it was evidently intended from the beginning to have two
western towers. The northern one
[Illustration: FIG. 206.--Dunfermline Abbey. From North Side of Western
Doorway.]
was destroyed to a considerable extent at the Reformation,[161] along
with the upper part of the adjoining gable. In its present state it was
designed and built by William Schaw, and is a very effective example of
the architecture of his time (see Figs. 202 and 204). The bold
corbelling at the top of the tower recalls the somewhat similar
treatment of the towers of St. Machar’s, Aberdeen, and other examples
derived from domestic architecture. The south-west tower appears to have
escaped the fury of the Reformers, and to have remained intact, although
in a ruinous state, till 1807, when it fell, having been struck by
lightning. Three years later the present top was put on the old walls.
The Lady Chapel at the east end, built to receive Queen Margaret’s
shrine, is now reduced to a small fragment (see Plan), consisting of
part of the south and east walls, which remain to the height of about 2
or 3 feet. It has been a small structure of about 26 feet 9 inches by 22
feet, of delicate and refined first pointed work, as is apparent from
the bases of the wall arcading and the edge of the surrounding seat,
enriched with nail-head ornaments, which still exist (Fig. 214). The
Lady Chapel appears from an old view[162] to have been a low structure,
reaching only to the sill of the great east window of the choir, and it
was evidently vaulted in two compartments.
Of the choir of the thirteenth century (shown on the Ground Plan, see
Fig. 198) not a single stone exists, having been removed to make room
for a modern church; but before the latter was built (begun in 1818),
considerable remains of the choir and apparently the whole of the
foundations were standing. These ruins were measured and drawn by Mr.
J. Baine, C.E., Edinburgh, in 1790, and by the Rev. Mr. Syme in 1805.
From their
[Illustration: FIG. 207.--Dunfermline Abbey. Northern Doorway.]
labours the author of the _Annals_ (Mr. E. Henderson) made a complete
plan of the church in 1827, and from it the ground plan of the choir now
[Illustration: FIG. 208.--Dunfermline Abbey. Aisle.]
given has been filled in.[163] The choir was a prolongation of the
present nave, having transepts, and also a great aisle on the north
side, the walls of which latter remained till this century. There was a
lofty central tower
[Illustration: FIG. 209.--Dunfermline Abbey. View of Nave looking
West.]
of two stories, with three windows in each story facing the four sides.
Altogether this church must have been a magnificent structure, and was
adorned with many altars and shrines. It was to that part of the church
specially that the zeal of the Reforming party was directed, when upon
the 28th March 1560, “the wholl lordis and barnis that were on thys syde
of Forth, passed to Stirling, and be the way kest doun the Abbey of
Dunfermling.”--(Lindsay, _Chronicle of Scotland_, Vol. II. p. 555.)
The interior length of the whole church from the west doorway to the
Lady Chapel at the east end is 268 feet 6 inches, and the length of the
exterior is 280 feet.
[Illustration: FIG. 210.--Dunfermline Abbey. Details.]
The edifice occupies a lofty and commanding situation, from which the
ground falls away on the west and south sides. The monastic buildings
stood on the south side of the nave at a considerably lower level than
the church. Of these structures, as is shown by the dark walls on the
Plan, considerable remains still exist. The ground between the dark
walls and the church has, in recent years, been levelled up, the outer
portions of the monastic buildings serving as retaining walls. With the
exception of these outer walls, the site of the monastery is thus
buried. The refectory stood on the south side of the cloister, and the
whole length and height of its south and west walls still exist. There
is also a small portion of the return of its north wall, adjoining the
west gable wall. Indications of its east wall also exist, thus enabling
its dimensions to be fixed at 103 feet in length by 34 feet in width.
The south wall (Fig. 215) was divided into seven bays, and in six of
these there are lofty two-light windows (Fig. 216). The eastern bay is
occupied by the pulpit or reading-place, from which one of the brethren
read aloud during meals. This place, which occupies the whole of one
bay, is about 15 feet long, and is corbelled outwards on a cusped arch
(see Fig. 215) about 4 feet 6 inches wide. It is lighted from the
outside by two windows, which have mullions and tracery, still entire,
flush with the face of the wall. On the side next the hall there are two
lofty openings.
Adjoining the refectory on the south-west is a large tower, beneath
which runs a public road, called St. Catherine’s Wynd, through a “pend”
or archway, whence the building is called the “Pend Tower.” The outside
of the refectory and “Pend Tower” (see Fig. 216) is very
[Illustration: FIG. 211.--Dunfermline Abbey. Triforium and Clerestory.]
imposing, with the simple row of lofty buttresses and windows along the
top. The west gable wall of the refectory (Fig. 217) is still entire,
and has a large window of seven lights. The tracery of this
[Illustration: FIG. 212.--Dunfermline Abbey. North Aisle.]
window is in good preservation (Fig. 218), and is one of the most
favourable examples of a kind of tracery developed in Scotland during
the fifteenth century. At the north-west corner of the refectory is the
staircase tower (see Fig. 217), which leads down to the offices below,
and upwards to the refectory roof, over which access was obtained to the
upper
[Illustration: FIG. 213.--Dunfermline Abbey. Exterior of Aisle and
Clerestory Windows.]
story of the “Pend Tower.” In the north wall of the refectory, near the
west end, are the remains of a flue, which may have belonged to a
fireplace. The “Pend Tower” is still entire, wanting only the cape house
and roof. It served as a connecting passage between the abbey buildings
and the royal palace beyond. A door led from the refectory (see Plan,
Fig. 219) by a passage into a groined chamber, and from thence into a
room in the palace situated over the kitchen. The kitchen is a lofty
room, now roofless, having remains of large fireplaces and some curious
recesses. Below the kitchen, but entering from another part of the
palace, there is a large vaulted apartment with central pillars. (Fig.
220.) These pillars were continued up through the kitchen, and probably
to the room, now gone, which stood over the kitchen. Another arched
passage led from this apartment through below St. Catherine’s Wynd and
up to the monastery. The building known as the palace was, doubtless,
intimately connected with the monastery, and the kitchen shown on the
plan may have been used in connection with both.
Returning to the vaulted chamber in the “Pend Tower,” a long narrow
vaulted passage leads from it along the refectory wall for the length of
two bays. It is vaulted across from side to side for the length of the
first bay, and then in the second bay one half-arch springs at right
[Illustration: FIG. 214.--Dunfermline Abbey. The Lady Chapel.]
angles to the first arch from the end of the passage to meet the cross
vault. This probably indicates that steps lead down in the passage to
the level of the rooms below the refectory. But the place cannot be
properly seen, being chocked full with the grass and rubbish thrown in
from the churchyard. This passage is a very effective feature, as seen
from the outside. It is supported on arches thrown from buttress to
buttress, and is covered with a stone roof above (see Fig. 216).
Within the “Pend Tower,” on the first floor, there is a five-sided room
with a fireplace, which appears to have been a sort of guard room. It is
vaulted, and has ribs irregularly placed, as shown on plan. This part of
the ruins is now a receptacle for rubbish, and is almost blocked up.
Over this, and entering from the circular stair adjoining, is the room
shown in Fig. 221. It is groin vaulted, and had a fireplace of good
design. To save this “Pend Tower,” with its fine vaulted apartments,
[Illustration: FIG. 215.--Dunfermline Abbey. South Wall of Refectory.]
a proper roof ought to be placed over it. Beneath the tower is the
“Pend” or archway uniting St. Catherine’s Wynd and Monastery Street.
[Illustration: FIG. 216.--Dunfermline Abbey. The “Pend Tower” and part
of Refectory.]
The above passage and staircase are additions made, without doubt, at
the time when the tower was built. This is clearly seen in Fig. 216.
From this drawing it is obvious that the arches were thrown between the
already existing buttresses of the refectory, and in the second bay the
arch is at a low level to permit of the descending stair already
referred to. The builders have just managed to save a very beautiful
doorway
[Illustration: FIG. 217.--Dunfermline Abbey. West End of Refectory.]
belonging to the earlier building, now hardly seen in the shadow of the
overhanging addition.
To the east of the refectory there is a narrow chamber with the remains
of a two-light window in the south wall, and projecting southwards from
this is the lower part of the wall of the fratery reaching as high as
the floor of the refectory. On the east side of the fratery extends
[Illustration: FIG. 218.--Dunfermline Abbey. Interior of West Window of
Refectory.]
the south wall of a building called, on the plan, the Bailery Prison.
These fragmentary structures exhaust the remains of the monastic
[Illustration: FIG. 219.--Dunfermline Abbey. Plan of “Pend Tower,” &c.]
buildings. The chapterhouse, and the buildings on the east side of the
cloister (shown in outline on the plan), are taken from the old plan
already referred to, but their accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
As already mentioned, the monastery was burned by Edward I. in 1303-4;
but, according to Tytler,[164] the church escaped. Froissart, however,
narrates that in 1385 Richard II. burned the abbey and town. It is
impossible to say to what extent these devastations were carried, but we
doubt if any of the existing monastic buildings belong to an earlier
date than that last mentioned. Perhaps the south wall may be older, and
has been restored. The tracery of the refectory west window belongs to
the end of the fifteenth century. The “Pend Tower” was built after the
refectory was finished, as it abuts against the westmost buttress (as
seen in Fig. 216) in a way it would not have done had the whole been of
one construction; also, the corner buttress has been cut away, as may be
seen at the right-hand side of Fig. 221.
William Schaw, Master of Works, besides the buildings already referred
to, erected, in 1594, certain of the immense buttresses which form such
conspicuous features in all the views of the abbey. He likewise built,
and doubtless designed, the Queen’s House, and the Bailie and
Constabulary House, shown in the plan. In connection with the latter
houses, there are considerable remains of buildings still existing (as
shown on Plan) to the north-west of the abbey, and there seems every
probability that they formed part of the structures of the abbey and of
the Queen’s House. They are extremely picturesque as seen from the low
ground to the west. (Fig. 222.) The lofty house on the right hand dates
probably
[Illustration: FIG. 220.--Dunfermline Abbey. Room below Kitchen.]
from the end of the seventeenth century, and is a fine example of its
period. The adjoining buildings are considerably earlier, and in the
lower parts, where they are buttressed, they are probably of
pre-Reformation times. The upper portions are somewhat later, and are
very likely part of the work of Schaw. The porch to the latter buildings
is on the other side, and is quaint and well known from being seen from
the church. William Schaw died in 1602, and was buried in the nave,
where the monument to his memory (Fig. 223) was erected by order of
Queen Anne.
[Illustration: FIG. 221.--Dunfermline Abbey.]
The palace, which was intimately connected with the abbey, has been
described elsewhere.[165]
[Illustration: FIG. 222.--Dunfermline Abbey. Old Buildings to North-West
of Church.]
[Illustration: FIG. 223.--Dunfermline Abbey. Monument to William
Schaw.]
ST. MAGNUS’ CATHEDRAL, KIRKWALL, ORKNEY.
In approaching Kirkwall from the sea, the chief object which meets the
view is the great mass of the cathedral. The town gradually comes into
sight, with its harbour and quays; but attention is irresistibly fixed
on the huge church, which overtops everything else.
When the quaint old streets, with the gables of the houses facing the
narrow roadway, are traversed, and the open space round the cathedral is
reached, the visitor’s admiration of the structure is by no means
diminished. He enters by one of three splendid doorways in the west end,
which recall the portals of the cathedrals of France rather than those
of England.
The first view of the interior is striking and impressive. (Fig. 224.)
The long perspective of the great round pillars and arches on each side
of the nave, surmounted by the round arched triforium and clerestory,
and the lofty roof covered with simple vaulting, give an impression of
size and height which is larger than is borne out by after measurement.
This appearance of great size has often been remarked of St. Magnus’,
and, no doubt, arises from the height and length of the edifice as
compared with its width, which between the piers is only 17 feet, while
the length of the nave is 111 feet, and the height to the apex of the
vault is about 50 feet. The cathedral is found to be complete in all its
great divisions. (Fig. 225, Plan.)[166] The nave has side aisles, which
are vaulted, and the side walls are arcaded with interlacing Norman
arches. The choir is, unfortunately, excluded by a glass screen from the
general view of the cathedral, owing to the east end being still used as
the parish church. The choir is of considerable length, being 85 feet 6
inches long by 47 feet 6 inches wide, and has main piers, triforium, and
clerestory, of about the same height as the nave. It is also vaulted,
and has vaulted side aisles. The longitudinal section (Fig. 226) shows
the comparative heights of the nave and choir.
The transept is 90 feet long by 17 feet wide, and has a great appearance
of height, but is not vaulted. It has no aisles, but has a vaulted
chapel projected to the east from each division of the transept. Fig.
227 is a section through the transept from north to south.
The choir contains six bays, and the nave eight bays.
When the exterior is examined, it is found to present at a glance a
general history of the structure, and the changes which have taken place
in it. The layers and masses of the different coloured stones which have
been used in the edifice at different times tell their own tale. Fig.
228
[Illustration: FIG. 224.--Kirkwall Cathedral. The Nave, looking West.]
[Illustration: FIG. 225.--Kirkwall Cathedral. Ground Plan.]
shows the north elevation of the whole cathedral.[167] The oldest work
(which, however, comprises several periods) is constructed with dark
slaty stone, having red freestone dressings. This masonry comprises the
whole of the outer walls of the choir, the transept, and the greater
part of the nave. It is evident, however, that this style of masonry
includes not only much Norman work, with its round arches and flat
buttresses, but also some later work, which has pointed windows and
boldly-projected buttresses. The Norman work (Figs. 228 and 229) may be
observed in the transept, and several bays of the nave and choir nearest
the transept, while the pointed work is specially noticeable in the
eastern half of the choir.
In the clerestory walls of the choir (Fig. 230) great changes are
observable. The lower part of the wall, which contains the windows, is
built with dark red freestone, while the upper part is of whitish
freestone, clearly showing that the clerestory has been raised, together
with the parapet. The old line of the eaves is further apparent from the
row of Norman corbels which marks the original level before the wall was
raised. These corbels are specially visible on the north side of the
choir clerestory, but a few also remain on the south side. The new
corbel table under the parapet consists of corbels of well-known first
pointed form.