Part 3

Before the Reformation the monastery consisted of the church, the cloister, and the conventual buildings. The church (Fig. 953) comprised a long aisleless choir, a nave with aisles, a north transept, a south transept, with St. Mirin’s Chapel attached to the south of it, and a tower and spire over the crossing.

The choir can still be traced, as the walls remain standing to the height of 9 feet, and contain an elegant sedilia and piscina. The choir measures, internally, about 124 feet in length by 22 feet in width. It may be questioned whether the choir was ever finished during the restoration. The walls present rather the appearance of having been abandoned at a certain stage in the progress of their erection than of a building which had fallen into ruin. They stand at a uniform level, marked by a string course all round, and have not the irregular heights generally found in ruins. The building is of fifteenth century work, and doubtless occupies the place of an earlier choir, which had been demolished.

The wall at the east end of the nave, which separates it from the transept, is of a substantial kind, and may have been erected when the structure was restored in the fifteenth century, with the intention of rendering the nave a complete church, until the transept and choir were restored. The latter seems never to have been carried into effect, but to have been in progress when all work was interrupted by the Reformation.

There are no indications at the junction of the choir and transept of the large piers which would naturally be built so as to correspond with those at the west side of the crossing (Fig. 954). The fine sedilia, although greatly mutilated (Fig. 955), is the principal feature in the eastern part of the edifice. It is 11 feet 2 inches long, and contains four seats, contrary to the usual practice, which is to have three seats. The design is elegant, and resembles that of the sedilia at St. Monan’s, Fifeshire. Adjoining the sedilia is the piscina, the basin of which is broken, but the aperture is still visible. The recess, which has an angled head, slopes backwards.

In this respect it resembles one at Auchterarder. On each side are two small recesses, about 12 inches wide, for holding the sacred vessels.

The north transept (see Fig. 954) is in ruins, but the north wall, with the remains of a fine traceried window (Fig. 956), still exists, as well as a traceried window in the west wall. These traceries were restored a few years ago. The mode in which the turrets at the angles above the buttresses are corbelled out recalls similar features at Dunkeld Cathedral. These turrets resemble the roofed bartizans of castellated structures.

The south transept is also in ruins, and the tower and spire have disappeared. The Chapel of St. Mirin, however, is still well preserved, but the openings connecting it with the south transept have been built up.

The nave is the only part of the main divisions of the church which survives as a whole. It measures, internally, 92 feet in length by 60 feet in width, and contains six bays, divided by massive piers, all surmounted by a triforium and clerestory. There is a porch on the north side and two doorways from the cloister on the south side.

The oldest portion of the building is, undoubtedly, the eastern part of the south wall of the south aisle of the nave, where it adjoins the transept. This portion of wall consists of three bays (Fig. 957), containing the south-east doorway from the cloister to the nave, and three pointed windows in the upper part. The doorway is of the transition style, having a round arch-head, with numerous bold mouldings springing from carved and foliaged

caps with square abaci (Fig. 958). The windows above are very simple in style, and are apparently early first pointed work. This part of the building probably dates from the first half of the thirteenth century. The western portion of the south aisle of the nave (Fig. 959) and the whole of the south clerestory (see Figs. 957 and 959) are evidently portions of the restored church of the fifteenth century. The south aisle wall contains the south-west and south-east doors from the nave to the cloister. The windows of the south wall have the sills placed at a high level, so as to admit of the roof of the cloister walk being placed against it. The corbels which supported the roof still exist, and are shown in the sketches.

The west end of the nave (Fig. 960) is also in part amongst the ancient portions of the structure. The western entrance doorway is clearly, from the style of its architecture, a work of the thirteenth century. The doorpiece

projects, and has a nook shaft on the projecting angles. The doorway is a single pointed opening, deeply recessed, with a series of free shafts in the jambs, having rounded and moulded caps, and the arch mouldings are arranged in square orders. The outer order contains a dog-tooth ornament. A sharply pointed arch flanks the doorway on each side, and has similar shafts and mouldings to those of the central opening. The aisle windows of the west front also belong to the first pointed period. The thin nook shafts, with moulded caps having round abaci and central bands, are all in the style of the thirteenth century.

The upper portion of the west front above the two large windows is undoubtedly of considerably later date. The design of the west front, which contains above the doorpiece two large windows, with pointed niches and small circles inserted between the arch-heads, is probably original, but the upper portion and gable, including the large traceried window, are doubtless part of the restoration of the fifteenth century. The tracery of the two central windows is peculiar, and may possibly be of the fourteenth century, but that of the large upper window is later, probably of the same period as the restoration of the interior of the nave. The tracery of the large upper window is a specimen of the late kind of design employed in Scotland in the fifteenth century. The change of style caused by the restoration of the fifteenth century is well marked in the interior at the west end of the nave. The first or western bay of the main arcade is original (Figs. 961 and 962), including the first arches (one on each side), the first pillars and the arches between them, and the aisle responds. These pillars and arches are of large dimensions and first pointed section (Fig. 963), and appear to have been designed to carry western towers, but a part of their thickness has been cut off next the choir. A portion of the triforium wall, a piece of the string course over the main arcade, and the corbelled vaulting shaft in the angle as high as the top of the triforium, are also parts of the original structure. The later work has been joined to the above old parts in a very awkward manner. The wall over the large pillars has been thinned on the side next the nave, and the different width and sections of the mouldings have not been properly adjusted, the result being that part of the older moulding is left at the springing of the second arch on the north side, and the mouldings of the later section are butted against it (see Fig. 961).

There are signs of further alteration above the west arch. A clumsy new string course is introduced, which slightly changes its section after passing along half a bay. A second vaulting shaft is carried up in the

angle beside the original one as high as the triforium arch and there stops. The first triforium arch, which is pointed (all the others being round), abuts against the wall in an awkward manner (see Fig. 961), the original design being changed.

The cap of the west pier on the north side belongs to the first pointed work, while the corresponding cap on the south side (see Fig. 962) and all the other caps belong to the restoration of the fifteenth century. The above cap and all the later caps in the nave have the upper mouldings run in a straight line without any break, while the lower mouldings break round the section of the piers (Fig. 964).[13] A moulded shaft, considerably off the perpendicular, rises from the top of the above cap to the string course at the junction of the old and the restored wall.

The piers of the nave, except the west piers, are of a clustered form not uncommon in late work in Scotland. The caps and main arches have good mouldings, and might be about the date of the restoration of St. Giles’, Edinburgh (which they resemble), in the early part of the fifteenth century.

The design of the triforium is very remarkable (see Figs. 961 and 962), consisting of large segmental arches the same width as the main arches, springing from short clustered piers introduced between them. Each arch is filled in with two pointed arches resting on a smaller central shaft. These arches and the spandril between them are treated with bold cusping.

The triforium of the nave of Dunkeld Cathedral somewhat resembles that at Paisley Abbey. It contains a series of semicircular openings filled with similar pointed arches and cusping, but the work at Paisley is superior, and would appear to be the earlier of the two. In neither church is there any vaulting shaft to divide the bays.

The clerestory is probably designed in imitation of that of Glasgow Cathedral. It is divided into two pointed arches in each bay. These spring from a series of clustered shafts with round moulded caps, which have an early character, but are evidently late imitations of early work. The exterior views (see Figs. 957 and 959) show that each clerestory window contains a central shaft, with two cusped arches and quatrefoil in the arch-head.

The parapets of the nave and nave aisles are evidently, from the style of the mouldings and ornaments, of late date.

There seems to be no reason to doubt that, as above stated, the upper portions of the nave were carried out about the time of Bishop Tervas, in the middle of the fifteenth century. The earlier part of the restoration, including the main piers and arches, and perhaps the tracery of the two lower windows of the west front, were possibly executed by Bishop

Lithgow, who built the north porch, and the completion of the nave was carried out by Bishop Tervas. A striking peculiarity of the interior of the nave is a series of large corbels (see Figs. 961 and 962), which project from the spandrils of the triforium arcade. The object of these corbels appears to have been to enable a passage, which is formed in the interior of the clerestory windows, but does not run through the wall in a straight line from end to end as is usual, to be carried round the solid piers introduced between the windows. These projections recall, by the small corbels arranged in rows into which they are divided, the corbels generally used for the support of the bartizans of castles. Each of the large corbels springs at its lowest point from the sculptured grotesque figure of a man or animal. Dr. Lees states (p. 209) that these figures “were mostly the work of Thomas Hector, a sculptor who lived at Crossflat, and whom the abbot retained for his skill in his art.” One of the corbels on the south side (near the west end) represents a man wearing the garb of Old Gaul. It may be mentioned that a somewhat similar gallery exists in Rouen Cathedral. It is carried round the piers of the nave on the side next the aisles, and is supported on shafts springing from corbels. This gallery has a light stone parapet resting on it. The design is of the thirteenth century, and is elegantly carried out; but it has, notwithstanding, a rather heavy appearance. It must be admitted that the projecting corbels at Paisley are clumsy, and considerably mar the effect of the interior. There appears to have been a parapet in front of the clerestory passage opposite the windows, and a similar parapet may have been carried round the large corbels, otherwise walking round them would have been dangerous. This would add still more to the heaviness of their appearance. Vaulting shafts are carried up between the windows of the clerestory, but the buttresses being very light, a vaulted roof has apparently not been contemplated. The present plaster vaulting is modern. The north wall of the nave aisle, except the doorway of the north porch, which is of first pointed work, has been rebuilt in the fifteenth century. The ingoing of the window jambs and arches consists, both on the inside and outside of the wall, of a great hollow, with the tracery set in the centre of the wall. The large north porch (shown in Billings’ work) was taken down in 1863, in order to be erected anew, in what was considered a finer style. The porch contains the tomb of Bishop Lithgow, who selected this porch as his burial-place, and was interred there in 1433. Some of the tracery in the aisle windows is good for the period, like that in some of the windows of Dunkeld Cathedral, which building (as above mentioned) has considerable affinity with Paisley Abbey Church.

St. Mirin’s Aisle (Fig. 965), as already pointed out, occupies the south end of the south transept, and was erected in 1499. It is a chapel 48 feet 3 inches long by 23 feet wide, having a vaulted roof about 32 feet 6 inches high. The main vault, like that of so many structures of the latter part of the fifteenth century, consists of a pointed barrel vault, the curve of which is drawn from a point lower than the springing of the arch, and thus forms an angle at the junction with the side walls. The surface of the vault is strengthened with a series of ribs, most of which spring from corbels in the side walls. The ribs are arranged so as to cross one another at the ridge, as if the roof were

groined; but they are almost entirely ornamental. The mouldings of the corbels are well designed, and show an imitation of first pointed work. The corbels being at a lower level than the top of the wall, the ribs project considerably in passing that point. The ridge has a bold rib enriched with carved bosses, and one of the transverse ribs is divided into two branches, so as to avoid descending on the top of the large arch in the north wall. There is a large pointed window in the east end, having jambs with single shafts (like the clerestory of the church). It has mullions dividing it into four lights, and the arch-head is filled with good simple tracery. Beneath this window runs a frieze 1 foot 8 inches broad, partly carved, with groups of figures showing, as discovered by Dr. Lees,[14] events in the life of St. Mirin. The east end of the chapel, where the altar stood, is raised four steps above the western part. The west wall contains an outer doorway from the cloister court, and there is a window with simple tracery above it; a curious large ambry adjoins the door in the outer wall. The chapel was connected with the south transept by two wide archways, now built up. There is a piscina near the east end (Fig. 966), with three-sided head, like that in the choir.

Above the vaulting of St. Mirin’s Chapel, and in the angle formed by the sloping roof, there is introduced a chamber, with a pointed barrel vault, about 12 feet wide and nearly 10 feet high, to the apex of its sharply pointed vault. The three sides of this chamber thus nearly form an equilateral triangle. Like the chapel below, it is 48 feet in length. It is lighted by trefoil headed windows in the gables. Access to this chamber, which may have been occupied by one or more priests, is obtained from the adjoining buildings. It is to be regretted that the south and south-east sides of St. Mirin’s Chapel are concealed from view by buildings of a poor description. It will be observed that the construction of the roof of St. Mirin’s bears considerable analogy with that of Lincluden Abbey, although later in its features. There is a similar double vault over both these buildings, with a small chamber between them. At Lincluden the lower vault was (if it ever was completed) of a genuine groined construction, while at St. Mirin’s the ribs were only imitative. The roof of St. Mirin’s Chapel was clearly intended to be formed of stone slabs, resting on the pointed arch, but has never been carried out, the present roof being slated.

On the floor of this chapel there now stands an ornamental altar tomb (see Fig. 965), which was found lying in fragments near the abbey by Dr. Boog, one of the ministers of the parish, who, in 1817, had it brought here and put together again. It supports a recumbent female figure, believed to be the effigy of Margery, daughter of King Robert I., and mother of Robert II. The head of the figure is surmounted by a large cusped canopy, placed in n horizontal position, on the end of which is carved a crucifixion. The pedestal is covered with a series of Gothic compartments, in each of which there is carved a shield, enriched with heraldic blazons and figures of ecclesiastics. The panels at the west end (Fig. 967) contain--the first the fess chequé of the Stewarts between three roses; the third the fess chequé, surmounted of a lion rampant, and the central one, two keys saltierwise, between two crosiers in pale.

Mr. Semple[15] is of opinion that the monument is made up of fragments from various quarters. On each side there are nine full compartments of

an oblong or oval form, and one half compartment at each end. At the foot the compartments are empty. On the right side the 1st compartment contains a bishop with crosier; the 4th, a bishop at prayer, and, on a scroll, the name Robert Wyshart (Bishop of Glasgow). On the left, the 1st compartment contains a bishop celebrating, with the name Johes D. Lychtgow (Abbot of Paisley); the 4th, an abbot at prayer, with the name of Abbot Lythgow repeated. Several compartments contain monks at prayer, and others are blank. Mr. Semple thinks that the left side may be part of Abbot Lithgow’s monument, and the right side part of that of Bishop Wishart.

Of the cloisters and conventual buildings few traces remain; but the outline of the cloister court is preserved. It is surrounded (see Fig. 953) with post-Reformation structures, occupying the site of the chapter house, refectory, &c. These were converted into the “place of Paisley,” as the residence of the Abercorn family, which has been already fully described.[16] These buildings probably contain portions of the walls of the refectory and other conventual structures erected by Abbot Shaw at the end of the fifteenth century. The western side of the cloister buildings was removed about twenty years ago, in order to widen the adjoining street. The wall, gatehouse, &c., erected by Abbot Shaw, have now almost entirely disappeared.

The cloistral buildings were much altered and added to in 1675 by the Earl of Dundonald, and fitted up as a mansion house, and they still bear traces of considerable splendour in panelled walls, with stone fireplaces and ornamental ceilings. One of the latter on the upper floor is a fine example of the plaster and painted decoration of the period.

Turning to the ground Plan, it seems highly probable that the walls are, in part at least, of pre-Reformation date, and that we have here

part of the work of Abbot Shaw, who erected a refectory and other buildings at the end of the fifteenth century. It will be observed that the main wall of the south range, running east and west, is very thick (4 feet to 5 feet), while the outside wall, forming the south side of the cloister, is only about 2 feet thick. The latter was probably erected when the place became a mansion house, in order to form a passage, and thus obviate the necessity of passing through the rooms, while the thick wall was the original outside wall of the refectory or of cellars below it. The south wall of this building also probably consists in part of the south wall of the refectory, but the large windows in it are, doubtless, insertions.

The building marked as chapter house on the Plan occupies the position in which that chamber would likely be. It is now divided into two, and has lost all traces of its ecclesiastical purpose--one side being used as a bottling store and the other as a stable. There is a large fireplace in the north wall, of distinctly Gothic design. That is not a usual feature in a chapter house; but in the sacristy over the chapter house of Glasgow Cathedral there is a large fireplace. At Paisley, the arrangement may have been reversed. The vestry may have been on the ground floor and the chapter house above. This building is at present some five stories in height, the upper floors being reached by the wheel stair shown on the Plan. It is from this high building that the chamber over St. Mirin’s is reached, which is a fair indication that this chapter house tower, as it may be called, is as old as St. Mirin’s. The same stair also accommodates the refectory range of buildings on the south side of the cloister, which are three stories in height, and have another stair at the west end.

It is thought by some that the first central tower erected over the crossing was of inferior workmanship and gave way. Another central tower is believed to have been erected by Abbot Tervas. This tower probably fell during the siege by Lennox and Glencairn, no doubt destroying much of the choir and transept in its fall. It has been mentioned above that western towers appear to have been contemplated. Possibly it may be one of these to which Martine, when speaking of John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, refers when he says, “At which church [Paisley] he built a prettie handsome steeple, which fell before it was well finished.”[17]

It is thought that the body of Archbishop Hamilton was buried in the abbey, and a tablet in the church looks as if it marked his grave. It contains his arms and initials, J. H., and “the motto he assumed, which contrasts strangely with his troubled life, ‘Misericordia et pax.’”

Several monuments with inscriptions of sixteenth century date exist in the building. On the west buttress of the north transept, at 21 feet in height, is the shield of the Stewarts, with a pastoral staff and the word “Stewart.”

One of the south piers of the nave is called the Cathcart pillar, having carved upon it a shield with the Cathcart arms (see Fig. 964). This is believed to be a memorial of Sir Allan Cathcart, one of the knights who sailed for the Holy Land with Bruce’s heart. The heart was brought back by Sir Allan, and buried at Melrose.

DUNKELD CATHEDRAL, PERTHSHIRE.