THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ROSSLYN, MID-LOTHIAN.

 

The village of Rosslyn is picturesquely situated on the high north bank of the river North Esk, about seven miles south from Edinburgh; and the ancient castle of the St. Clairs1 stands on an isolated promontory called the College Hill, which, adjoining the village of Rosslyn, juts out

 

 

into the deep valley of the Esk. The celebrated Church of Rosslyn, erected by the proprietors of the castle, stands on the brow of the steep bank of the river above the castle, and commands a splendid view of the valley. The church, so far as erected, is in perfect preservation, and is a charming portion of an incomplete design. It is, in some respects, the most remarkable piece of architecture in Scotland; and had the church been finished in the same spirit as that in which it has been so far carried out, it would have gone far to have realized a poet's dream in stone. When looked at from a strictly architectural point of view, the design may be considered faulty in many respects, much of the detail being extremely rude and debased, while as regards construction many of the principles wrought out during the development of Gothic architecture are ignored. But notwithstanding these faults, the profusion of design so abundantly shown everywhere, and the exuberant fancy of the architect, strike the visitor who sees Rosslyn for the first time with an astonishment which no familiarity ever effaces.

The principal authority regarding the history of the church and the family of the St. Clairs of Rosslyn is Father Richard Augustin Hay, prior of St. Pieremont, whose mother, by a second marriage, became wife of Sir James St. Clair of Rosslyn. About the year 1700, Father Hay made copious extracts from the family documents, which have been since lost, and these extracts, together with his comments, have been published under the title of the Genealogie of the Sainteclaires of Rosslyn, including the chartulary of Rosslyn.

 

The edifice was erected by Sir William St. Clair, third Earl of Orkney, who succeeded to the estates about 1417. About thirty years afterwards he founded the Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Certain letters which occur on shields along the cornice of the north wall have been ingeniously deciphered by Dr. Thomas Dickson, of the Register House, Edinburgh, as the initial letters of the following words,4 viz. :-WILZAME . LORDE . SINCLARE . FUNDIT . YIS . COLLEGE YE . ZEIR . OF GOD. MJJJJL. The structure appears, however, to have been begun a few years earlier, about 1446, as In the year 1447 continuator of the Scotichronicon says, " Dominus Willelmus de Sancto Claro Comes Orcadiae est in fabricando sumptuosam structuram apud Roslyn;" 5 and probably the foregoing inscription refers to some ceremonial event connected with the building. Sir William died in 1484, and he appears to have left the building very much in the condition in which we now find it. In that case its erection would be the labour of about forty years.

 

The church was a collegiate foundation, for a provost, six prebendaries, and two singing boys or choristers, and was dedicated to St. Matthew. It consists (Fig. 1070) of a choir with north and south aisles, connected

 

by an aisle which runs across the east end, and gives access to a series of four chapels beyond it to the east. The dimensions of the building are as follow, viz. :-interior-length of

choir, 48 feet 4 inches ; width of central aisle, 17 feet 104 inches ;width over aisles, 35 feet ; total exterior length, 69 feet 8 inches ; height to the apex of the roof, 41 feet 9 inches. The original intention was to have completed the building as a cross church, with choir, nave, and transepts, but the choir only has been completed.

The transepts have been partly erected, the east wall being carried up to a considerable height, but the nave has not been erected. The length across the transepts, as founded, is about 72 feet. Mr. Thomson, the custodier of the chapel, who saw the west walls of the transept exposed, states that the transepts were intended to be 18 feet wide, as drawn on Plan. The Rev. Mr. Thompson, Rosslyn, in his guide to the chapel, says that the foundations for the entire building had been laid, and that those of the nave, which extended to about 91 feet to the west, were dug up and exposed at the beginning of the present century. This exactly corresponds with the length which the nature of the ground would permit.

 

The choir, both internally and externally, is remarkably symmetrical, the bays being all of the same dimensions, with only slight differences in the carving, which do not affect the general design. Thus (Fig. 1071) all the buttresses rise unbroken by set-offs to the wall head of the aisles, where the cornice continues round them, and they have all on the face canopies of the same size and style. Above the cornice on the ten buttresses on the north and south sides of the choir there rise on each two massive pinnacles, connected by a small flying buttress between them (Fig. 1072). The outer pinnacles, which are flush with the face of the buttresses, are square on Plan, and are decorated according to two alternate patterns (Fig. 1073), viz., canopied niches in the one, and large rosettes set in hollows in the other. The inner pinnacles (Pig. 1074), which rest on the thickness of the wall, are all practically alike. They are oblong on Plan, and are so placed as to offer most resistance to the flying buttresses, which are thrown across the aisles and rest upon them.

 

The pinnacles are ornamented with rosettes on the angles, and crockets on the sloping top. The back of these pinnacles and the lower parts, where not seen from below, are left plain, without any ornament. The flying arches abutting against the pinnacles are carved with a revived Norman-like chevron.

The pinnacles (Fig. 1075) on the buttresses of the east chapels are naturally somewhat different, as they have no thrusts from flying buttresses to counteract. There is only one pinnacle on each of these buttresses, and although they are all of different design, their effect corresponds with that of the outer pinnacles of the aisles of the choir. The back of these pinnacles is left unfinished (Fig. 1076), like those at the sides, but the portions visible are very elaborately carved.

 

The windows of the aisles (see Fig. 1072) are all of two lights, and

 

 

 

have the same mouldings and orders of decoration both in the inside and outside of the wall, each jamb having two beaded shafts with carved caps. These beads are continued round the arches, and a large hollow

 

 

 

moulding connects them, which in the arches is always filled with carving. In the jambs there are two different patterns in the alternate windows, the one being a simple niche with canopy and bracket for a figure, and the other the same, but with a moulded block instead of the figure. There is very little variety in the tracery. The windows on each side correspond with those on the opposite side. In the eastern chapels four of the windowshave the engrailed cross of the St. Clairs wrought into the tracery.

 

The clerestory windows (see Fig. 1072) are all after one design, the shafts, mouldings, and arches on the outside being repeated in the interior (Fig. 1078). These are similar to those of the aisle windows just described.

Their decoration consists of large rosettes, occurring at regular intervals in the hollow moulding between the shafts of the jambs. All the clerestory windows are single lights. The tracery of the large window in the east end (Fig. 1077) is modern. Its design is probably founded on ancient remains, but whether or not it accords well with the rest of the building.

 

The north and south doorways, which are opposite each other, are recessed in quasi porches (see Figs. 1072 and 1073), formed by round arches thrown between the buttresses, and the minor differences of the doorways are shown in the sketches. The upper part of a window appears over each, as in the south doorway of Glasgow Cathedral. The aisle roofs being flat, there is no triforium or blind story, and the clerestory windows are carried down to the string course over the main arches (see Fig. 1078).

 

Turning now to the interior, it will be observed that the main piers are composed of a series of round mouldings, separated by slight square fillets, and that the corresponding wall shafts or responds (Fig. 1079) are of trefoil form, with good caps and carved bases, which rest on the side bench. The arch mouldings of the main arcade (see Pig. 1078) are shallow, with regularly recurring orders of decoration, each arch having an enriched hood moulding. The upper part of the wall slightly overhangs on a bold carved and moulded string course. The wall space between the clerestory windows is ornamented with two canopies and massive brackets placed one over the other.

 

The choir roof, which consists of a pointed barrel vault (see Fig. 1080), is divided by strengthening ribs into compartments corresponding with the bays, and each compartment is decorated differently (see Fig. 1078). The dividing ribs are moulded, and have large projecting cusps in the form of fleurs-de-lys, &c., on the soffit. The compartments of the roof are entirely cc powdered with stars " or rosettes, set square or diagonally.

The construction of the aisle roofs is peculiar, although something similar is frequent in castles, as will be afterwards alluded to. A regularly constructed straight arch with proper radiating joints, concealed behind upright joints, spans each aisle (see Fig. 1079) from pillar to wall shaft.

These horizontal arches or lintels have flat relieving arches over them, which in some instances are visible. The aisles are roofed with a series of

 

 

pointed barrel vaults thrown between the above straight arches, and running at right angles to the axis of the building (Fig. 1081). This is

 

 

one of the most unusual features of construction in the edifice. The straight arches or lintels, as they may be called, are all most profusely

 

 

carved with foliage or figure carving (Fig. 1082), the amount of decoration on each being, as usual, of corresponding artistic value.

On the arched roofs of the north and south aisles, to the east of the

 

 

 

doorways and of the east aisle, there is carved in each bay an engrailed cross, the one limb running along the crown of each arch, and the other downwards from this on each side. But in the north and south aisles, in the three bays west from the doorways, the engrailed band is only continued along the crown of the arch, the other limb being omitted, which may possibly be meant to distinguish the more sacred part of the edifice.

 

The eastern chapels are the only part of the building in which there is groined vaulting. The compartments are oblong, and have pointed cross arches (Fig. 1083), the diagonals meeting at the apex. Elaborately carved pendants, about 4 feet long, occupy the place of the usual boss ;while at the springing of the arches, against the east wall, great projecting horns, resting on curved corbellings or cones above the caps of the wall shafts, radiate outwards and downwards, one horn to each rib, so that they are in groups of three.

 

 

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FIG.1082.-The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Details of Carving of Straight Arches.

 

 

 

The object of these curved cones, with their projecting horns, may be explained as follows :-It will be seen on referring to the Plan (see Fig. 1070) that the centre line of the east chapels is not in the centre of the space between the two eastmost buttresses, and consequently not in line with the centre of the north and south windows between those buttresses.

In order to make the centre line of the vaulting coincide with the centre of the windows, it was necessary to introduce some kind of support for the foot of the east arches, at a distance of about 2 or 3 feet from the east wall. The above cones and horns were introduced for this purpose, and from them the vaulting on the east side springs. In connection with this arrangement, the late David Roberts, R.A, contended that the "east wall of Rosslyn had been pulled down and set further back, to give 3 feet more room." 2 But this supposition finds no warrant whatever from an examination of the building. A more likely explanation is that the above cones may have been introduced as a kind of imitation of the springing of

 

 

 

image1083

 

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the fan vaulting common in England in the fifteenth century. The heavy pendants were also probably derived from the same source.

Against the east wall of the choir were the remains of four altars, which have been restored (see Fig. 1083), one of them being situated over the stair leading to the lower chapel. Beside it there is a square headed piscina, and on the south side of the other altars there are ogee headed recesses in the wall. On the east side of the south doorway there is a richly carved stoup.

 

In the transepts (Fig. 1084) there are remains of three canopied piscinas, two in the south transept-and one in the north transept. They bear a general resemblance in their details to the sacrament houses in some of the churches in the north, and to the piscinas in Melrose Abbey. Between the two in the south transept there is a recess in the wall, showing where an altar has been intended, and a similar indication in the north transept on the north side of the piscina shows the same intention. Over each of these altars there are three moulded and carved brackets, probably meant for statues. On the south side of the centre opening into the choir there is a recess for another altar, and on the north side there is an arched piscina; both have carved brackets above them. A bracket in a similar position, relative to the altar and piscina, exists at Dunglass Church.

 

A singular feature of the church, which would have been more apparent had it been finished, is that the choir is almost cut off by a solid wall from what would have been the other divisions of the structure. Fig. 1084 shows the wall as seen from the outside. The openings into the side aisles are about 4 feet 3 inches wide and about 11 feet high, and the opening on the ground level into the central aisle is about 7 feet wide.

These three openings are all covered with straight arches. Above the central opening there is a lofty aperture like a window covered with a pointed arch, probably meant to contain the rood. Above the caps of the jambs of the side openings there are two carved figures (Fig. 1085), that on the north being St. Sebastian, and that on the south St, Christopher.

 

Beyond the east end of the church and on a lower level, so as to suit the slope of the ground (Fig. 1086), a chapel has been erected, which is reached from the south aisle by a straight stair of twenty-five steps.

This chapel measures 36 feet in length from east to west by 14 feet wide. It is barrel vaulted (Fig. 1087), and is lighted by one window only, at the east end. The window is a simple pointed one, without tracery.

There are several ambries in the walls, and an eastern altar with a piscina. There are also a fireplace and a small closet about 11 feet

square on the north side. A door leads out on the south to what has been an open court, where there are indications of other buildings having existed or been intended. It would thus appear that in all probability

 

 

 

 

 

###############FIG.1084.-The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. West End of Choir and East Wall of Transepts.

 

 

 

 

 

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there was a residence here, and the chapel may have served both as sacristy and private chapel.

 

This chapel or sacristy is supposed to have been built in the lifetime of Sir William St. Clair7s first wife, Lady Elizabeth or Margaret Douglas, daughter of Archibald, fourth Earl of Douglass, and first Duke of Touraine, from the circumstance that her arms (Fig. 1088) are sculptured on the east wall. The shield has two coats impaled : Dexter, a coat quarterly, dimidiated, viz.-First a galley within a double tressure, flory counter

 

 

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FIG.1085.-The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Caps of Openings to Choir.

 

 

 

 

flory, for Orkney; 3rd a cross engrailed for St. Clair, being the 1st and 3rd quarters of the arms of the Earl of Orkney; Sinister, in base a heart, and on a chief three mullets, for Douglas, the shield being surmounted of a fess charged with three fleurs-de-lys (2 and 1) for Touraine. Lady Elizabeth died in 1452.

 

The barrel vault of the sacristy (see Fig. 1087) is semicircular, and supports a flat roof formed with overlapping stones. The vault is strengthened with transverse ribs carved with the engrailed cross, which spring from corbels sculptured with figures of angels and saints (Fig. 1089).

 

In considering the history of Rosslyn Church many of the statements of Father Hay regarding the St. Clairs and Rosslyn require to be

received with considerable caution. He was a hero worshipper, and Sir William was his hero. The latter is represented by the Father as living in more than royal magnificence at Rosslyn, with many of the nobles of Scotland waiting upon him as servants. That is a very incredible statement, as is also the assertion that under the fostering care of Sir William, Rosslyn became the "chiefest town in all Lothian, except

 

 

 

 

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FIG.1086.-The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Section through East End of Church and Lower Chapel.

 

 

 

 

Edinburgh and Haddington." but few who visit this chapel will be inclined seriously to quarrel with the Father on account of his enthusiasm for the Rosslyn family. To the purest in Gothic architecture Rosslyn may seem barbarous and debased, but it must be allowed to be splendid barbarism, meted out with the most liberal hand. Sir William is further represented by Father Hay as bringing artificers from foreign lands, and setting them to work on Rosslyn College, and on this unsupported statementmany writers have found the prototype of this building abroad, some in France and some in Spain, and even Rome is hinted at in the well known story of the 'Prentice Pillar. The unusual richness of the ornamentation of the edifice, so different from most of the structures

 

 

 

 

 

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Fig. 1087

 

-The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Lower Chapel or Sacristy, looking West.

 

 

 

 

 

erected in this country at the time, has doubtless led to these attempts to attribute the design to a foreign architect or a foreign country, where richly decorated structures exist.

 

But this amount of decoration, being so exceptional in Scottish edifices, seems to have proved misleading. No parallel to 8osslyn has, so far as we know, been discovered abroad, and it is unnecessary to go so far afield in search of a model. The leading principles of

the design are really Scottish, and it will be found, on careful analysis, that Rosslyn Church presents a rich and finished epitome, both as regards constructive and decorative elements, of the Scottish ecclesiastical architecture of the

 

 

 

 

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FIG.1088. The arms

of Sir W. Sinclair's First Wife.

 

 

 

 

 

third or late pointed period. The plan of the east end of Rosslyn Church so closely resembles that of the choir of Glasgow Cathedral, that there is hardly room to doubt that the latter was the model after which the former was designed. The disposition of the pillars in the two buildings agrees exactly, the side aisles in both being connected by an eastern 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

 

 

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FIG.1089.

-The Collegiate Church of Rosslyn. Corbels in Lower Chapel

 

 

 

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)

 

 

 

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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.

 

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 FIG.1091. other Scottish churches of the same period in possessing a superabundance of rich detail and carving

excess of what is usually found.3

 

he 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.

 

 

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The west gable 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

 

 

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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,

 

 

 

###############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 contourne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice post Meg...thanks for all the detailed images.

Absolutely stunning - another place I must visit this summer; shall post pics when I return.

Thats what I was to do .... put the rest of the images in order!