This edifice stands on the south side of the valley where the river Tyne
takes its rise, about four miles from Tynehead Railway Station. It is
seen from the railway, together with Crichton Castle, from which it is
only about a quarter of a mile distant.
The building is still in use as the parish church. It consists (Fig.
1165) of a chancel, measuring internally about 44 feet from east to west
by about 24 feet 10 inches in width, a central tower about 24 feet
square,
[Illustration: FIG. 1165.--The Collegiate Church of Crichton. Plan.]
and north and south transepts, the total length of which, from north to
south, is about 70 feet. The north wall of the nave is erected for a
length of about 16 feet, but of the south wall only a few feet have been
built.
To adapt the edifice to the Presbyterian system of worship, probably the
very worst plan which could have been devised has been adopted, and is
shown on the Plan by clear lines. The original fabric may be said to
remain, but it is greatly deformed. As the tower opened into the unbuilt
nave it had necessarily to be walled up, and has an entrance doorway
left in the centre. This doorway, which is round arched, seems to be
old,
[Illustration: FIG. 1166.--The Collegiate Church of Crichton. View from
South-East.]
and was probably brought from a building which appears to have formerly
stood on the north side of the church. Across the interior of the tower
a stone wall has been built to enclose the modern church. The portion of
the tower outside this wall thus forms a vestibule, from which a stair
[Illustration: FIG. 1167.--The Collegiate Church of Crichton. Window on
North Side.]
leads to a west gallery fitted up in the enclosed portion of the tower.
Another door has been slapped through the east wall to the outside, and
an outer stair at the east end leads to an inserted gallery running
across that end. One window and a sacristy or similar building on the
north side have been done away with, to allow the erection of a passage
for reaching another gallery, which runs along the north side of the
chancel. The north transept has, perhaps, been worst used of all. A wall
has been built between the moulded responds to a height of about 5 feet,
and the whole area of the transept at this level is roofed over to form
a burial vault. The south transept is not utilised in any way except as
a sort of lumber place.
Instead of this unsuitable and costly arrangement, the area of the
church as it stood would suffice to give more accommodation than is thus
obtained, and that without sacrificing the dignity of the building, as
has been done by the arrangements just described.
It would appear from a letter by the Rev. John Gourlay, the parish
minister, to General Hutton, dated Crichton, 4th April 1789, that the
[Illustration: FIG. 1168.--The Collegiate Church of Crichton. Sedilia.]
tower, with probably the transepts, then sufficed for the congregation.
He says, “There is a high building upon the one end where the bell
hangs, and where divine service was lately performed, but since
considerable reparations were given, it is now again altered to what is
called the quire.”
The original entrance to the church was on the south side of the chancel
(see Fig. 1165). It has been partly destroyed and is now built up, but
portions of its moulded jambs can still be seen. The mouldings are of a
common kind, consisting of two beads separated by a hollow. The doorway
has been 3 feet 10 inches wide. Above the doorway a window has been
roughly hacked through the wall, and on the inside of the sill there are
rudely carved the initials P. L., with the date 1729. These are probably
the initials of the worthy who contrived certain of the alterations
above described. At the same time two small windows have been knocked
through the side walls beneath the original windows on the north and
south sides nearest the east end. One of these is shown in the view Fig.
1166, and the other on the north side is shown on the Plan. These
windows have been referred to by Mr. Muir and in the Architectural
Publication Societies Dictionary as examples of lychnoscope or offertory
windows; but undoubtedly they were inserted to give light beneath the
east gallery, and are of no older date than last century. Only one of
the original windows, that on the north side, retains the original
tracery (Fig. 1167). Indications of the tracery of the transept windows
also still remain. The choir has been divided into three bays by
buttresses, which have the numerous set-offs of the period, and are
finished with the ordinary late pinnacles. The high blank wall over the
windows, which generally
[Illustration: FIG. 1169.
The Collegiate Church of Crichton.