aisle, which in each case has a central pillar in the east arcade, and
in each edifice a series of chapels beyond this aisle forms the east
end. The details are, as is natural, seeing that the buildings are about
two centuries apart in date, entirely different, but it is curious to
observe how in both cases even the minute parts of the design are
remarkably alike. Thus the triple niche over the central pillar of the
east arcade at Glasgow finds a counterpart in the same position at
Rosslyn (see Fig. 1078). The east wall and gable of both choirs occupy
the same relative position, rising above the eastern aisle and chapels.
Churches with an eastern aisle are not unknown in England, such as Abbey
Dore, Herefordshire, and Romsey Abbey, Hampshire; but the former has
three openings in the east end, thus showing an arch in the centre;
while Romsey Church, Glasgow Cathedral, and Rosslyn Church have the
peculiarity of having a pillar in the centre of the east arcade.
Much has been made of the resemblance between the barrel vaults of
Rosslyn and those of the south of France, but there does not appear to
be any connection between them. The pointed barrel vault was the form
commonly practised in Scotland in the fifteenth century, both in
churches and castles. Mr Fergusson says that this kind of vault is
“foreign and unlike the usual form of vaults found in Scotland,” but the
examples given in this book show that he is mistaken. Pointed barrel
vaults are to be found in the churches at Seton, Queensferry, Ladykirk,
Whitekirk, Borthwick, Crichton, Corstorphine, Dunglass, and many others,
and numerous examples might be given from the castles. There can,
therefore, be no doubt that the masons of Scotland were at this period
quite familiar with that system of vaulting, some of which, such as the
vaults of Borthwick Castle, in the same district and built a little
earlier than Rosslyn, are of considerably larger dimensions. The pointed
barrel vaults of castle halls and churches are generally covered with
sloping stone roofs, as at Bothwell, Borthwick, &c., but at Rosslyn the
curved form of the roof has been adhered to, externally as well as
internally. The coping of the east gable has been finished to this curve
(see Fig. 1077), and there is no indication of any straight roof having
been intended. It is possible, however, that it had been originally
contemplated to cover the extrados of the choir vault, which still
remains unprotected, with an outer stone roof, in accordance with the
usual practice; but, owing to the slightness of the clerestory walls,
the outer stone roof was omitted in consequence of its great additional
weight, which, it may have been believed, would be too great for the
side walls to sustain. The roofs of the aisles and east chapels, which
are almost flat, are covered with overlapping flags. Until the building
was restored some thirty years ago, these parts of the building were
covered with a temporary slated roof, which cut off one half of the
clerestory windows. The mark of this roof is still visible in the walls.
When we examine smaller details, we find the same methods adopted by the
Rosslyn builders as were familiar to the other builders of the country,
thus all the lintels or straight arches connecting the main pillars with
the side walls, which are such striking features at Rosslyn, are
composed of small stones, having radiating joints in the same manner as
is frequent in the lintels of the wide fireplaces in the halls of the
castles. It may also be noted that the jambs of these fireplaces often
terminate in curious moulded caps, often very clumsy, and not unlike the
caps of the responds at the east wall of Rosslyn. The plans of the
castles sometimes show a series of small parallel apartments, with
barrel vaults abutting at right angles upon a passage or wider hall,
which may have suggested the parallel barrel vaults of the aisles of
Rosslyn. But, indeed, the form of the main arcade itself suggests such
an arrangement. The carved canopies and corbels placed on the face of
the buttresses and window jambs (see Fig. 1090) are thoroughly
characteristic of the Scottish churches of this period, and when their
general design is considered, these features at Rosslyn will be found
not to differ materially from those of the churches of Melrose,
Linlithgow, Seton, Trinity College, and other buildings. Compare the
disposition of small canopied niches round some central feature, such as
the buttress niche (Fig. 778) at Melrose, and the pinnacles (see Figs.
1075 and 1076) at Rosslyn.
On the sides of each buttress at Rosslyn (see Figs. 1072, 1073, and
1091) there is a splayed moulding, a kind of set-off which runs from the
front of the buttress back to the wall, on the top of the base string
course. A somewhat similar set-off occurs on some of the buttresses of
the chapter house of Glasgow Cathedral, built a few years before
Rosslyn.
A large number of details from Melrose have a very decided resemblance
to those found at Rosslyn. Thus the staircase turret (Fig. 773)
[Illustration: FIG. 1090.--The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Corbels on
Window Jambs and Buttresses.]
at the west side of the south transept of Melrose is in spirit so very
like the work at Rosslyn that, had it been included in the illustrations
of the latter, only those who have local knowledge would have detected
it. The same remark applies to the south doorway from Dalkeith Church,
given further on. A striking resemblance also occurs between the
mouldings of the sacristy doors at Lincluden and Bothwell and the
details of the clerestory windows at Rosslyn. In all these examples the
mouldings consist of an outer and inner shaft, separated by a large
hollow, containing carved work; and the shafts have, in every case, caps
and bases treated in a similar manner.
The soffit cusping so common in the arches at Rosslyn is a decoration of
the most frequent occurrence throughout Scotland; at this period,
indeed, there is hardly an arched tomb recess in the country which is
not so decorated. Carved rosettes set in hollows, which abound
everywhere at Rosslyn, are likewise the common decoration of the
period, both in churches and castles. Similar decorative enrichments are
also very common in Tudor buildings in England, as, for example, in
Henry VII.’s Chapel at Westminster, where also the small figures so
frequent at Rosslyn above the caps and on buttresses, &c., find their
counterpart, thus showing an association of ideas with English rather
than foreign work.
[Illustration: FIG. 1091. The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Base
Mouldings and Lower String Course, with Peculiar Moulding above the
latter.]
The doorways at Rosslyn, with the porches formed in front of them by
arches thrown between the buttresses, are paralleled by the doorways at
Glasgow Cathedral; Trinity College, Edinburgh; and St. Salvator’s, St.
Andrews. The engrailed cross which enters so largely into the decoration
of Rosslyn, being employed all along the arched roof of the aisles and
of the lower chapel, and forming the motive for the tracery of some of
the windows at the east end, is peculiarly local, being the distinctive
feature of the St. Clair arms, while the loop tracery in many of the
windows is of common occurrence in Scotland. A number of details
illustrated in Fig. 1092, being chiefly the corbels of niches, have a
very marked resemblance to the similar carvings at Trinity College,
Edinburgh. Those containing the fox preaching to the geese and the
dromedary are specially interesting. Other examples (such as Fig. 1093)
show that the character of the foliage is the same as that of many of
our Scottish churches. Much of the carving at Rosslyn has considerable
affinity with the late wood work in English churches (see Fig. 1082).
These comparisons are probably enough to prove that Rosslyn Church was
built after the manner and style of its age and country, and only
differs from other Scottish churches of the same period in possessing a
superabundance of rich detail and carving in excess of what is usually
found.[86]
The transepts, which project two bays to the north and south, were
obviously intended to be two stories high, and probably of the same
height as the clerestory walls of the choir. Indeed, a part of the east
wall of the north transept exists of this height. The walls of the
transept are well buttressed, as if to maintain a vault, and there are
no windows in the existing lower part of the transepts, the intention
probably being to light them with large traceried windows at each end,
as in Trinity College.
The portions of the transepts and crossing which have been completed are
too small to enable it to be clearly determined how these parts of the
structure were intended to be carried out and vaulted. The west gable
[Illustration: FIG. 1092.--The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Details of
Corbels.]
of the choir (see Fig. 1084) is built with a curved outline on top,
which seems to indicate the form of an intended barrel vault. The gable
has been left unfinished, and the existing belfry is obviously a late
addition. The above curve, if completed, would comprise the full width
of the chapel, embracing both the centre aisle and the side aisles, and
would rise considerably above the apex of the roof. The space included
between the curves is about 36 feet wide, which is a wider span than
would likely be undertaken at this period. The curved form of the top of
the west wall of the choir may, therefore, be dismissed as an indication
of a probable vault.
Attention has already been drawn to the usual mode of finishing the
barrel vaults of churches at this period (see _ante_, page 3), viz., by
the introduction of four solid walls (with small apertures) at the four
sides of the crossing on which the barrel vaults of the various arms of
the churches were stopped. This system has, so far as the structure is
completed, been adopted at Rosslyn, the wall on the east side of the
crossing
[Illustration: FIG. 1093.--The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Details.]
being built so as to receive the barrel vault of the choir. There seems
to be no reason why the same plan should not have been intended to be
used for the completion of the other sides of the crossing. The edifice
would then be in harmony with the other collegiate churches of the
period, and may have been intended to be completed with a central tower.
The building shown by dotted lines at the west end is a vestry and organ
chamber erected a few years ago.
The sculpture with which the chapel is so profusely adorned generally
represents Scriptural scenes, and has been very minutely described by
the Rev. Mr. Thompson in his _Guide to Rosslyn Chapel_.
One of the most unique examples amongst the remarkable decorations of
the edifice is the ornamentation of the south pillar of the east aisle,
[Illustration: FIG. 1094.--The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Carved Slab
over Entrance to Vault.]
generally known as the “’Prentice Pillar” (see Fig. 1081). It consists
of a series of wreaths twisted round the shaft, each wreath curving from
base to capital round one quarter of the pillar. The ornamentation of
the wreaths corresponds in character with the other carving of the
church; and the grotesque animals on the base find a counterpart in
those of the chapter house pillar at Glasgow Cathedral.
Beneath the choir are the vaults in which many of the St. Clairs are
buried. The entrance is under a slab on which the incised outline of a
knight in armour is carved (Fig. 1094), with a dog at his feet, and a
small shield at his head, bearing a lion rampant contourné.
[Illustration: FIG. 1095.--The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Monument to
George, Fourth Earl of Caithness.]
The monument to George, fourth Earl of Caithness, who died in 1582,
originally stood against the wall of the north aisle. It was removed in
1736, and placed against the wall at the west end of the north aisle
(see Fig. 1079). This monument (Fig. 1095) contains the family motto,
“Commit thy work to God,” and the arms of the St. Clairs.