Part 23

This church stands about six miles south from Kelso, and one mile and a-half from Morebattle. It occupies part of a sandy mound on which, at one time, there also stood the Castle of Linton. There was a church

here at an early date, records of Linton Church being found as far back as 1127. It was then presented to the Monks of Kelso by Sir Richard Cumin for the salvation of the soul of Prince Henry, eldest son of David I. The lands of Linton soon after passed into the hands of the Somervilles, as the reward granted to William de Somerville for having destroyed a worm or dragon which had long been the terror of the neighbourhood. This exploit is traditionally commemorated in a sculpture in

the tympanum of the doorway of the ancient church (Fig. 342), in which the knight is represented on horseback thrusting his spear into the mouth of the monster. It seems more likely, however, that the sculpture has rather an ecclesiastical connection, and may possibly represent St. George

and the Dragon, being an allegorical representation of religion, or faith overcoming evil. Possibly, the existence of the sculpture may have given rise to the traditional account of it. In 1858, this sculpture was removed from the old doorway and inserted over the entrance to a new porch, then erected. The porch is seen in the sketch of the church. (Fig. 343.) This sculptured tympanum is remarkable as one of the few examples of sculpture in a similar position in Scotland.

There is also a Norman font connected with the church, which was long used in a blacksmith’s shop.

The walls of the church are old, but it has been almost entirely restored and renewed. (Fig. 344.)

DUNS CHURCH, BERWICKSHIRE.

Not a stone of this church now remains. The chancel existed till the year 1874 as a burial vault, when the minister of the parish, “under the pretext of improving the churchyard,”[187] had it removed. The greater

part of the church was taken down in 1790, when a new church was built on its site. We are enabled by the kindness of Mr. Ferguson, Duns, to give a copy of an old plan which appears in his work on the Churches of Berwickshire, and to the same source we are indebted for the following historical notes regarding it.

The Rectory of Duns is mentioned in Bayamund’s Roll (1275), and in the ancient _Taxatio_ (end of the twelfth century) the parish is rated at 110 merks; so that it must have been a building of considerable antiquity and importance.

In 1296, the Rector, Henry de Lematon, took the oath of allegiance to Edward I.

From a photograph in Mr. Ferguson’s possession, of what remains of the walls of the chancel the masonry looks very like Norman work. If one might judge from the plan (Fig. 345), it evidently consisted of a long nave and a chancel, with a north and south aisle or wing not opposite each other, and probably built at later periods, such as are common in connection with Scottish churches. The nave was about 72 feet long by about 19 feet wide. The chancel was almost a square of about 17 feet, thus corresponding with the Norman chancels of Ledgerwood and Duddingston.

The two narrow and widely splayed windows seen in the east gable indicate early work, as do also the north and south doors near the west end of the nave; the other numerous openings, especially of doorways, were probably alterations.

ST. LAWRENCE CHURCH, LUNDIE, FORFARSHIRE.

In the course of some recent operations on this church under the superintendence of Mr. T. S. Robertson, architect, Dundee, it was discovered that it had been a Norman structure. Of the original building not much now remains, except the ashlar walls and a narrow window with a wide internal splay and an outside check for a shutter. This window is situated near the east end of the north wall.

The apse appears to have been taken down, in 1786, during some alterations, and the chancel arch, indicated in the sketch (Fig. 346), was built up. A tomb house was erected on the site of the apse, where it

still remains. The building was of small dimensions, being about 40 feet long by 18 feet 6 inches wide.

The fragment, of which a sketch (Fig. 347) is annexed, was found built in a wall near the church. It appears to have been the top of a sacrament house of late date.

The church, which belonged to the Priory of St. Andrews, was dedicated to St. Lawrence, Martyr. In the early taxations of the Priory it is described as “the Church and Chapel of Lundie.”

KIRKMAIDEN CHURCH, WIGTONSHIRE.

The parish of Kirkmaiden has long been incorporated with that of Glasserton. Formerly Kirkmaiden formed the port of Whithorn, and its roofless church still stands close to the burial-ground near the sea-shore.

It consists (Fig. 348) of a nave, 37 feet 6 inches long by 18 feet wide internally, and the walls are 4 feet in thickness. They are little reduced from their original height, and the west gable is also little diminished.

There are only three openings in the walls--viz., a doorway and two windows, all in the south wall. These were, till recently, greatly destroyed, but they have been restored by Mr. Galloway,[188] who has no doubt, judging from what remained, that they were all originally round-headed, and has rebuilt them accordingly.

So far as these indications go, this would appear to have been a Norman church. There is an apparent chancel at the east end, but its dimensions and origin are not distinct. It is now appropriated as the “Monreith Vault” (the mansion of that name being in the vicinity), and contains a good deal of modern work.

One peculiarity of the east chamber is, that the north wall is in line with the north wall of the nave, while the south wall is set back four feet from the line of the south wall of the nave.

There is an arch between the nave and chancel, but it has not the appearance of a genuine chancel arch, being rudely formed with thin slatey stones. A wing, 14 feet long by 12 feet wide, is jutted out at the back or north side of the chancel. The walls are little over 2 feet in thickness. There is a square-headed doorway in the south-west angle, and an ambry or recess in the north wall. A roughly-built archway, similar to that into the nave, but smaller, opened from the nave into the north aisle, but is now built up.

The nave seems to be of Norman date. The choir has evidently been altered at a late period, and the north wing or aisle may have been built in post-Reformation times as a burial vault.

The ground to the north rises rapidly, and was filled in to the height of the walls, till cleared out by Mr. Galloway.

There would appear to have been some kind of extension to the west, but only the lower parts of walls and buttresses now remain. This portion was also filled with earth, and on being cleared out, remains of ten skeletons were discovered. This west wall is at the extremity of a long retaining wall, which encloses the present burying-ground, and runs along close above the shore.

The place is very curious and romantic, lying near the sea at the foot of high cliffs, and densely wooded all round.

HERDMANSTON FONT, HADDINGTONSHIRE.

This is one of the few minor relics of the Norman period which have descended to our time. It stands in the burial vault of the Sinclairs of Herdmanston, adjoining the mansion house of that name, about five miles west from Haddington.

The font is of yellow freestone, in one piece, and although somewhat worn and battered in part, is still in a good state of preservation. The base is partly damaged, and the surface of the top is somewhat broken away towards the front (Fig. 349), so that it measures a little higher at the back than at the front.

As will be seen from the Plan (Fig. 350), the central part consists of four rounded shafts, having a boldly pronounced base moulding. The basin is in the form of a Norman cushion capital, with four rounds on each face, the abacus having a splayed projection of about a quarter of an inch. The font has evidently been meant to be placed against a wall, as all its parts--base, shaft, and capital--abut against a square haffit perfectly plain on the back, to admit of its standing in such a position. The ends of this haffit are very much broken.

The dimensions of the font are--base, 7 inches high; shaft, 17 inches; capital, 11 inches; total height, 2 feet 11 inches. Width across shafts, 13¼ inches; capital, 16¾ inches across front, and from back to front,

including haffit, 17¼ inches. The basin, which is rounded (see Plan), is 11¾ inches wide by 5 inches in depth. It is flat in the bottom and has no perforation.

In the thirteenth century, John de Saint Clair erected a chapel at Herdmanston by leave of the Canons of Dryburgh, to whom he granted two acres of land, with a condition that his chapel should not injure the mother church of Salton, which belonged, in the time of David I., to Dryburgh Abbey.[189]

The vault at Herdmanston stands east and west. It is about 31 feet 10 inches long by 14 feet wide, and has a small west window, with a sconsion arch on the inside, and a smaller window in the south wall. The structure, which is barrel vaulted, is of considerable age, but it is not the chapel erected in the thirteenth century; and as the font is a work of

the twelfth century, it is evident that it was not made for the chapel of Herdmanston.

THE TRANSITION STYLE

The term “transition” might be applied to any of the periods during which one Gothic style is passing into another, as the buildings erected at such periods partake of a transitional character. But the change from the round arched and elaborately ornamented Norman to the pointed arched and plainer style of the first pointed period being more marked than that between any of the other Gothic periods, it has been generally agreed to reserve the term “transition” for the architecture of the end of the twelfth century, when the Norman style gradually gave place to the first pointed Gothic style.

The chief elements which mark the Transition style are the gradual introduction of the pointed arch and its use along with some of the decorative features of the Norman style. The pointed arch shows the advent of the new style, but the ornaments of the old style continue to linger for a time. The first pointed style was not complete till these old ornaments were abandoned, and the more vigorous enrichments of the new style were introduced. The other constructive features of the Norman style gradually changed at the same time as the arch. The buttresses by degrees assumed the projecting form of the first pointed style, and the pinnacles and spires of the latter style were in course of time introduced.

During the progress of the Transition there was naturally a considerable mixture of architectural elements. The round and the pointed arch were used indiscriminately, and were frequently employed together in the same structure, round arches being sometimes placed above pointed arches. Of this there are examples in the nave of Jedburgh Abbey and the south transept of Elgin Cathedral. In other instances, although the building is chiefly Norman, the pointed style is introduced in certain positions; as, for example, at Kelso Abbey, where to all appearance, contemporarily with the Norman walls, the piers and pointed arches of the crossing are in the first pointed style. At Dundrennan Abbey we find the older Norman work partly converted into first pointed by alteration, and in other examples, such as Coldingham, there is a mixture of the features of the two styles.

In many of the examples of the different periods, given or to be given, some Norman features may be discovered which, it might be thought, entitled the structures to be ranked as transitional. The buildings, however, have been arranged under the various periods to which the most prominent, not the most ancient, portions of their architecture belong.

In England the period of Transition extends from about 1180 to 1200; but, as we shall find, the corresponding period in Scotland extends considerably into the thirteenth century.

DUNDRENNAN ABBEY, KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE.

The greater part of this very interesting structure has been demolished, but what remains is so fine as to make one regret all the more the hard usage the demolished portions have met with.

The abbey stood in a small, but deep, valley on a few acres of comparatively level ground lying on the west side of a little stream called the Abbey Burn, about a mile and a-half from the sea. The edifice is concealed in this remote and buried situation, and is with difficulty discovered after traversing a hilly road of six or seven miles south-east from Kirkcudbright. But when found, the quiet and secluded site, and the peaceful aspect of the grey ruins, surrounded with ancient trees, are very charming.

The monastery has been of considerable extent (Fig. 351). The church was large, being 209 feet from east to west by 108 feet from north to south of the transept, and comprised a great nave with double aisles, a choir without aisles, north and south transepts with eastern aisles, and a tower and spire 200 feet high over the crossing. The monastic buildings which surrounded the cloister garth were of the usual description, and, to judge from the remains of the chapter house, were of exceptionally fine design.

Of all these extensive structures the great nave and the tower and spire have almost entirely disappeared, and there now survive only portions of the north and south transept and choir, a beautiful fragment of the chapter house, some walls of cellars on the west side of the cloister garth, and other walls containing a few carved caps which show how fine the design of the cloisters must have been.

The abbey was founded by David I. about 1142, and was colonised by Cistercians from Rieval in Yorkshire. Its history is little known. Robert I. and David II. both conferred lands upon it. In 1568, after her flight from Langside, Queen Mary was welcomed at Dundrennan by Abbot Edward Maxwell, brother of Lord Maxwell. The abbey was then entire, and contained all its inmates. The queen embarked for England from Port Mary, at the mouth of the Abbey Burn.

In 1587 James VI. annexed Dundrennan to the Royal Chapel of Stirling, and the Maxwells became the heritable bailies of the lands.[190] The ruins now belong to the Maitlands of Dundrennan. It is not known how the structure was reduced to its present dilapidated condition. By some it is stated to have been destroyed by fire, while others attribute its condition to neglect. It has undoubtedly met with the usual fate of

our old abbeys, and was used as a quarry till 1842, when it was put in repair by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, and it is now in fair preservation.

The nave of the church (see Fig. 351) was 134 feet long within the walls, and comprised eight bays. The central division was 31 feet wide,

and each aisle 16 feet wide, giving a total width of 63 feet internally. Of this part of the church only portions of the west end and south wall remain. The west wall contains the original western doorway, which is of simple Transition design. The doorway had three nook shafts besides the jambs, and the arches are in four orders of plain mouldings (Fig. 352). The caps, which have square abaci, are peculiar from the large quantity of very small nail head ornaments with which they are decorated (Fig. 353). The inner mouldings were renewed by the Government in 1842. The west wall retains the responds of the main piers of the nave, and a portion of one of the piers, being the westmost of the south arcade of the nave, also exists, both showing a

bold early pointed section (see A on Plan). There were seven piers on each side of the nave, besides the west responds and the piers of the crossing. A good deal of early pointed work is also carried into

the transept, but it is clear, from the architecture of the building, that the transepts have been originally erected in an earlier style, and that the first pointed work is the result of alteration. This is especially apparent in the north transept, the external walls of which, on the west and north, are distinctly Norman, in character (Fig. 354). The round arched windows (with square recesses or nooks for shafts on the outside), the broad buttresses with small projections, and the form of the caps are quite characteristic of that style. The same remarks apply to the south transept so far as the outer walls survive. In the choir also the Norman character of the early work is distinctly seen. Only portions of the side walls of the choir remain, the east end having been entirely demolished. In the upper or clerestory windows of the side walls are found very characteristic examples of late Norman work. The large plain round openings of the clerestory and the triple shafts with Norman caps and corbels (Fig. 355) are unmistakable features. The choir and transept were apparently at first completed in this style late in the twelfth century, and sometime in the thirteenth century it has been desired to build the nave on a larger scale. It has then been also resolved to rebuild the interior of the transept, including the piers at the crossing, in the same style as

the nave, so as to bring the transept as far as possible into harmony with the new design. The pointed work is evidently of an early character (see Fig. 354). The squat round-headed windows of the clerestory, with their broad internal splay occurring above the pointed windows of the triforium, indicate a period of Transition. The use of the square abacus is also general throughout the work. The very acute form of the main arches of the transepts has probably arisen from the three bays having to be fitted into the space between the old north and south end walls, and at the same time requiring to be carried up as high as the main arches of the new nave. The piers of the transept are 13 feet from column to column, while those of the nave were about 16 feet from column to column. The outer walls of the east aisles of the transepts, which were part of the original Norman structure, were not renewed at the time of the above alteration, but they have now been demolished, only fragments being left, from which, however, the form of the vaults can be inferred.

The smaller details of the eastern part of the building are greatly destroyed. The sedilia and what seems to have been a fine monument in the choir are broken in pieces. A door has been formed in the north and south side walls of the choir leading into the east aisle of the transepts. There are evident additions made, probably during this century, when the

piers of the tower were rebuilt. The doorway into the south transept aisle (Fig. 356) is distinguished by a large trefoiled head, enriched with small nail head ornaments similar to those in the west doorway, but there

is some doubt whether this is not a restoration. It will be observed that the section of the piers of the nave and transept, and also the piers of the crossing (see Fig. 351), bear a close resemblance to those of Sweetheart Abbey. But the forms here are earlier, the fillet on the outer angle being absent at Dundrennan, though present at Sweetheart.

In the north wall of the aisle of the north transept, and in a round arched recess (Fig. 357), lies the sculptured effigy of a knight wearing a suit of chain armour, and with legs crossed. This is said to be the

statue of Alan, Lord of Galloway, who was interred in the abbey in 1234. There seems also to have been a fine monument in the choir, and numerous portions of cusped and carved work are to be seen piled up in the nave, which may be fragments of this or some other ruined structure of the same nature.

The cloister garth is on the south side of the nave, and measures about 105 feet by 102 feet. The walls surrounding the cloisters are for the most part old. In the north-east angle is the ancient doorway to the nave, and in the north-west angle a more modern doorway. On the east

side, adjoining the south transept, is the slype from which a wide door (doubtless modernised) leads into the transept. To the south of the slype stood the chapter house, which must have been a very beautiful building, measuring 51 feet from east to west by 34 feet from north to south internally. From some fragments of shafts which remain, and from the responds against the west wall, it appears to have been vaulted in three spans from north to south, with four bays from east to west, but the vaults have now entirely disappeared. The front wall next the cloisters, however, fortunately survives (Fig. 358).

It is a splendid specimen of first pointed architecture (Fig. 359). In the centre is the doorway, and on each side a window, divided into two openings by a central shaft. The doorway and windows were, as usual, designed to remain open, so that the brethren in the cloisters might hear all that passed in the chapter house.

The features are all beautifully designed, and the details are of the purest and most elegant forms (see Fig. 358), the whole being enriched with finely carved dog-tooth and other ornaments.

In the arch mouldings a very profuse employment of the fillet is noticeable. The panels in the tympanum over the double arch of the windows, both in the exterior and interior, are filled in with plain, but finely designed, geometric figures (Fig. 360), and the simple bold cusps of the doorway have been carved with foliaceous scroll work, now almost obliterated by decay.

Internally the design of this front wall (Fig. 361) corresponds almost exactly with that of the outside, but is, perhaps, even more effective from containing the vaulting shafts and the springing of the broken groins.

The west wall of the chapter house is altogether a very exquisite piece of pointed work, and was probably executed just before the disturbances of the end of the thirteenth century, which interrupted, and for a time stopped, all architecture in Scotland. The style is clearly later than the early pointed work of the transept, the round abaci and the filleted mouldings contrasting with the square abaci and the pointed or round mouldings of the transept.

On the west side of the cloisters is a row of ruinous cellars, still partly vaulted, but not very accessible. On the south side are the door to what may have been a large chamber, probably the refectory, and some remains of domestic buildings. (See Fig. 361.)