[Illustration: FIG. 1192.--St. Mary’s, Whitekirk. South-West Porch.]
building (Fig. 1195), which is believed to have been the tithe barn of
the parish. It is situated on the edge of a rocky ridge which slopes
steeply
[Illustration: FIG. 1193.--St. Mary’s, Whitekirk. Interior, looking
East.]
downwards on the north side. In the view (Fig. 1196) taken from the low
ground on the north side the top of the church spire is seen. The barn
measures about 65 feet 4 inches in length from east to west, by about 20
feet in breadth over the walls. It has been built at two periods. The
western portion, measuring on the outside about 21 feet 3 inches by 20
[Illustration: FIG. 1194.--St. Mary’s, Whitekirk. The Tower, from
North-West.]
feet, has originally been a pele tower, with walls about 5 feet in
thickness, and was altered at a later period, when it was extended into
a barn. The present entrance to the keep is in the south wall, which
appears to have been rebuilt of the same reduced thickness (2 feet 4
inches) as the barn walls. This doorway leads into a vaulted ground
floor, from which a door
[Illustration: FIG. 1195.--St. Mary’s, Whitekirk. Plans of Tithe Barn.]
to a small lobby gives access to a narrow straight stair leading to the
first floor, contained in the thickness of the north wall. The stair is
lighted
[Illustration: FIG. 1196.--St. Mary’s, Whitekirk. Tithe Barn, from
North-East.]
with narrow slits, and the door at the top leading into what was
originally the hall is finished in the way usual in such structures,
with well wrought splays round the stone jambs and lintel. On the first
floor the east wall of the pele tower has been taken down. The junction
of the tower with the barn is plainly visible from the rough face of the
masonry in the interior of the north wall, where the east wall of the
tower has been cut away. The upper part of the tower being thus thrown
into the barn, a few steps, as shown on the Plan, lead up to the latter.
There is an upper floor in
[Illustration: FIG. 1197.--St. Mary’s, Whitekirk. Tithe Barn, from
North-West.]
the roof of the barn supported on the ties of the roof and reached by a
wooden stair. The windows of this floor are shown in the gables. When
the barn was built the upper part of the north wall of the keep (Fig.
1197) was lowered sufficiently to allow of the eaves of the roof of the
new and narrower building being continued straight along over the wider
building of the tower. The barn proper is entered from the south side by
a doorway 7 feet 7 inches wide, and is lighted by two windows in the
south side and one in the gable. There is also a narrow doorway on the
north side, which can only have been for occasional use, the ground
being steep on that side, with only a narrow footing along the wall,
which is kept back from the line of the tower in order to obtain this
footing. At the west
[Illustration: FIG. 1198.--St. Mary’s, Whitekirk.