About half a mile westwards from the town of Rothesay, and approached by
an avenue of fine old trees, there stands in the ancient burial-ground
the choir of the Abbey Church of St. Mary. The west end has been built
up with a wall containing a wide gateway, but otherwise the chancel
remains in fair preservation, although roofless. A modern church has
been erected beside it, but with an interval of a few inches between the
new and old structures.
The ancient chancel (Fig. 1355) now measures 27 feet in length by 18
feet in width internally. The east wall, with its gable (Fig. 1356),
still survives, and contains a large three-light window, of which the
tracery has been of the simple intersecting kind. The east ends of the
side walls had each a single pointed light with pointed rear arches.
Near the west end of the north wall is a plain pointed doorway, and a
small window with square lintel. The west end of the south wall
contained a doorway, now built up.
Opposite one another, in the centre of the north and south walls, are
erected two more than usually interesting monuments. Both are recessed
in the wall, and are covered with an arched canopy, and in each the
effigy of the person commemorated is preserved. The monument in the
south wall (Fig. 1357) is the larger and finer of the two. It measures
nearly 11 feet over the side buttresses. The ogee arch in which it is
enclosed contains bold, but late, mouldings. The arch has been
ornamented with large crockets, but they are now much wasted away. The
monument has doubtless been erected in memory of one of the Stewarts of
Bute, who buried here, but its heraldry is peculiar. At the apex there
is a shield, which appears to contain the royal arms, but has two lions
for supporters, instead of the usual unicorns. There is also on the
base or pedestal of the monument a coat of arms, containing quarterly
first and fourth the Stewart arms, and second and third the royal arms.
The shield is supported by two angels. In a paper by Mr. John
Mackinlay,[165] written in 1825, these arms are fully described and
illustrated. They were then doubtless better preserved than they now
are, but the arms can still be deciphered. Mr. Mackinlay tries to
explain the remarkable circumstance of the Stewart arms having
precedence in the lower shield over the royal arms, by supposing that
they are placed on the tomb of the chief of the
[Illustration: FIG. 1355.--St. Mary’s Abbey, Rothesay. Plan.]
Clan. But the name of the person whose monument this is has not been
discovered.[166] As the bearings in quartered shields are often reversed
by mistake, the same may have happened here.
The effigy is that of a knight in complete plate armour. The head rests
on a tilting helmet, with a dog’s head for crest, which is attached to a
cap put on over the helmet. The round hollow visible to the spectator
represents the inside of the helmet. The feet rest upon a lion. The
figure is considerably worn, but the plate armour and the gauntlets are
still distinctly seen. The bottom of the shirt of mail worn under the
cuirass and the jewelled sword belt and hilt of the sword are also
clearly visible. A coat of arms, similar to that on the pedestal, is
carved on the breast, being intended to represent the arms wrought in
embroidery on the surcoat.
The lower part of the monument has been divided into panels, each
containing a quatrefoil, and between the panels there were at one time
small
[Illustration: FIG. 1356.--St. Mary’s Abbey, Rothesay. View from
South-East.]
figures of armed knights, each holding a spear. When Mr. Mackinlay
wrote, one of these figures survived; now they are all gone, together
with parts of the quatrefoils, and an irregular empty space is left
where they once stood. Mr. Mackinlay mentions that some excavation was
made, and an arched recess was found under the monument in which the
coffins had been placed, and three skulls were discovered therein. In
the upper part of the monument over the arch are two recesses, which
probably at one time contained coats of arms.
[Illustration: FIG. 1357.--St. Mary’s Abbey, Rothesay. Monument in South
Wall.]
The other monument (Fig. 1358) in the north wall of the chancel has been
erected in memory of a lady and child, whose effigies it contains. The
[Illustration: FIG. 1358.--St. Mary’s Abbey, Rothesay. Monument in North
Wall.]
figures of the lady and child are cut in a thin slab of stone, and have
not the bold effect of the knight in armour. There are no arms or
inscription on this monument, and the name of the person commemorated
is unknown. The arch over the figures is of the same description as that
of the opposite monument, but it is lower and not so effective. The
mouldings are also similar, and there have been crockets over the arch,
which are now greatly decayed. The width of the monument over all is
fully 8 feet.
The lower part of the monument on which the effigies rest is divided
into eight panels by shafts, and each panel contains a sculptured
figure. Mr. Mackinlay says that they represent saints, and that amongst
them is the Virgin and Child. In their decayed condition the latter is
not now recognisable. The figures seem rather to resemble persons in the
dress of the fifteenth century, and some of them appear to be kneeling.
At the east end of the chancel there is a pointed piscina in the south
wall (see Fig. 1357) and an ambry in the east wall.
The style of the structure and of the monuments is undoubtedly late,
probably sixteenth century.
THE PARISH CHURCH AND THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. MARY, DUMBARTON,
DUMBARTONSHIRE.
The town of Dumbarton is situated on the left bank of the river Leven,
near its junction with the Clyde, and not far from the detached rock on
which stands the Castle of Dumbarton. A church existed here from a very
early time, and the parish church appears to have been rebuilt at least
three times, and is now a modern edifice of 1811. Previously the parish
church was represented by the quaint structure shown in Fig. 1359, which
has entirely disappeared, along with the hospital or bead-house
adjacent, which was erected in 1636 by Buchanan of Auchmore, and endowed
by him with £1021. This view is copied from a pencil sketch made by Paul
Sandby in 1747, which forms part of a valuable collection of sketches
relating to Scotland, preserved in the Library of the Royal Scottish
Academy, to the Council of which we are indebted for permission to
reproduce it.
The parish church (see Fig. 1359) was probably intended to consist of a
choir and nave with a central tower, but only the choir and tower would
seem to have been built. As frequently happened, a north aisle or
transept appears from the view to have existed. This contained what was
known in later times as Mr. Campbell of Stonefield’s gallery and the
town council gallery, and it was entered by an outside stair. From the
description of the interior in Glen’s _History of Dumbarton_, p. 74, the
church was evidently a typical specimen of those picturesque, though
plain, interiors which have now almost disappeared. The pulpit stood on
the south side, and there were various galleries for the trades and for
the
[Illustration: FIG. 1359.--Dumbarton Church and Hospital. (From a
Drawing by Paul Sandby, 1747.)]
garrison, while an upper end gallery called the hen-bauk was occupied by
single ladies. In 1622 Dame Jean Hamiltone, Lady of Luss, having no
convenient seat, was granted liberty by the kirk-session “to build ane
seat for hirsel, upon ye top of the east gavil.” The spire was of wood,
and was presumably covered with lead. Shortly after this sketch was made
the spire appears, from the Burgh Records, to have been ruinous, so that
its leaning appearance may be quite correct. The tower was of the low
squat form, with plain parapet, common at the time.
The hospital appears, from the view, to have been of considerable
extent. It was evidently two stories in height, and was lighted by
round-headed windows. This bead-house and the small chapel attached to
it
[Illustration: FIG. 1360.--Portion of Tower of Collegiate Church,
Dumbarton.]
were ultimately dismantled and lay in a ruinous state till, in the year
1758, they were entirely demolished by the magistrates, and the stones
used to build the East Bridge and for other purposes. The church appears
to have been used as the parish church till about 1810, when it was
taken down and a new church built on the site.
The Collegiate Church and Hospital of St. Mary were founded in 1450 by
Lady Isabella, Duchess of Albany and Countess of Lennox. She was the
widow of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, who was beheaded at Stirling in 1425.
About the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Earl of Lennox gifted
the church, with the temporality, to the Abbey of Kilwinning. The
chapter consisted of a provost and six canons, and was endowed with the
parish churches of Bonhill, Fintry, and Strathblane, and also held
considerable lands in the neighbourhood of Dumbarton, which yielded to
Kilwinning at the Reformation an annual revenue of £66, 13s. 4d.
sterling.
The founder erected the college for the repose of the souls of “her
dearest husband, her father, and her sons,” who had been slain by their
relative James I. of Scotland, under the belief that they had been to
blame in connection with his long imprisonment in England.
After the Reformation the college was allowed to fall into ruin, and its
materials were gradually carried off. In 1858, in order to make room for
the railway station, the last remnants of the edifice, one of the pier
arches and its piers (Fig. 1360) were removed from their position on a
grassy knoll, from which a fine view of the Leven was visible, and
re-erected as the gateway of a house.[167]