Part 7

With regard to the whole of the later architecture of Scotland, however, whether we consider the middle pointed or the third pointed periods, we think there can be no doubt but that it is all the work of native architects. Had the design owed its origin to either English or French architects, it would have more closely resembled the design of the perpendicular in England or Flamboyant in France. But being entirely different from either of these styles, although partaking to some extent of the features of both, and being also much later in date than the corresponding styles of these countries, the only conclusion which can be drawn is, that the architecture of the middle pointed and third pointed periods in this country was wrought out by native hands. Old forms were long adhered to and new features were slowly adopted, and when adopted were not followed entirely or exactly in accordance with the original model, but with certain distinct modifications in details.

The mouldings are generally rather massive and heavy. The buttresses (as at Melrose) strongly resemble English middle pointed work. The pier and arch mouldings are not quite so light and well marked as in England, and the tracery of the windows, although geometric, is not always so elegant as in the South.

Good chapterhouses and sacristies of this period still exist at Glasgow, Crosraguel, Pluscardine, and elsewhere, which are square, and have a central pillar supporting groined vaulting. The very elegant chapterhouse of Elgin Cathedral is octagonal, and beautifully vaulted with a central pillar.

THIRD OR LATE POINTED STYLE.

In the latter half of the fourteenth century, Gothic art, both in France and England, again showed symptoms of a change of character. In France the architects seemed to have exhausted their powers of development as regards constructional elements, and were now occupied with the elaboration of details. The earlier geometric tracery now assumed a very flowing character, which, from the flame-like shapes of the bars of the stone work, was called “Flamboyant.” In England, on the other hand, the tracery assumed a rigid form, and from the mullions of the windows being carried up in straight lines from the sill to the arch, the style received the name of “perpendicular.” (Fig. 25.) In many respects, connected with ornament and decoration, the styles of the two countries resembled each other, but in one respect they differed widely. In France the simple intersecting pointed vault was never departed from, but in England the development of the vaulting into new forms made great progress at this period. It has been mentioned that in their “decorated” work the English had begun, in the thirteenth century, to introduce “liernes” or intermediate ribs into the vaults. This process still continued and advanced till the vaulting surface became covered with ribs. (Fig. 26.) The ribs were latterly used as ornamental features, spread over the surface of the vault, which again became the supporting arched surface, as it was before the introduction of Gothic bearing ribs in the twelfth century. A favourite form of this kind of vaulting is known from its appearance as fan vaulting. In working out this kind of vaulting, it was found desirable to bring all the ribs to the same level at the apex, and in order to accomplish this it was found convenient to use arches of double curvature, or four centred arches, a depressed form which is characteristic of perpendicular work.

From this peculiarity there followed many changes in style almost unknown abroad. The use of the depressed arch in the vault soon led to its adoption in the clerestory windows placed under the vault, and from these it spread to the other windows, and ultimately to all the arches of the building. From these features a perpendicular structure is at once recognisable. The panelling of the vaults led, in sympathy, to panelling in the wall surfaces, in the buttresses, and everywhere. A linear system of ornamentation was thus produced, which was developed to an extreme degree--the mouldings were thinned off till they became mere strings, with wide shallow hollows between, and all interruption to the stringy or liney effect thus produced was objected to. Thus the caps of shafts were almost abolished, and the thin arch mouldings carried down the piers without interruption from the arch to the base. The piers were divided up with large shallow hollows or splays, and the subordination of mouldings was lost. When caps were used they were generally small and octagonal in shape, and stood meaningless amidst a cluster of mouldings. Doorways were less deeply recessed than formerly, and the four-centred arch was usually enclosed in a square moulding, the spandrils between the square head and the arch being filled with tracery or sculpture, often of a heraldic nature.

In France the two-centred arch was adhered to, and traceried windows were frequently introduced over doorways. Some of the carving, both at home and in France, is executed with great delicacy and spirit, but much of the foliage is of a very conventional form peculiar to the period. In running ornaments the stems frequently become more important than the leaves, thus carrying out the thin linear character of the style.

The English architects always showed a fondness for wooden roofs, and at this the latest period of Gothic these open timber constructions became very common. In France, on the contrary, vaulted roofs were preferred till the revival of classic art.

THIRD OR LATE POINTED STYLE IN SCOTLAND.

During the latter part of the fifteenth and in the sixteenth centuries the erection of cathedrals and monasteries in Scotland was almost entirely superseded by collegiate churches. These structures are generally designed on a cruciform plan, with a central tower over the crossing. They have usually a porch at the south-west and a sacristy at the north-east angle, and occasionally one or more chantry chapels attached. Except in the larger examples of collegiate churches, such as St. Giles’ and Trinity College, Edinburgh, aisles are rarely introduced, and groined vaulting, although used in the above structures, is also uncommon. The churches are generally covered with pointed barrel vaults, for the most part plain, but sometimes ornamented with ribs applied to the barrel surface. The latter style of decoration is sometimes employed in the vaulting over the

presbytery, so as to distinguish it by its richness. This class of vaulting carries out in its simplest elements the principle adopted at this period in England of making the vaulting surface more important than the ribs, and using the latter as ornaments upon the surface of the vault.

The exterior of the churches is generally marked by rather heavy buttresses, crowned with small and debased-looking pinnacles. The buttresses have often a great many set-offs. In other examples buttresses are entirely omitted. The doorways vary considerably. The semi-circular arch, which is sometimes preserved in the earlier styles, is now of very frequent use, not only in doorways, but also in pier arcades and clerestories (as at Paisley and Dunkeld). Elliptic arches and three-sided door heads are also used.

At this period we find indications of English influence in a few perpendicular traceries, as at Melrose Abbey, and of French influence in some Flamboyant forms, and in the three or five sided apse which frequently forms the eastern termination of the churches. Western and central towers are usual features, generally rather squat in form, and sometimes surmounted with a short spire, having numerous small lucarnes and pinnacles. Four of these towers were once finished with spires of open work resembling a crown, but the number is now reduced to two--viz., St. Giles’, Edinburgh, and King’s College, Old Aberdeen.

The piers are often of a plain circular form, and the arches have frequently plain chamfers instead of mouldings. The caps of piers are peculiar and heavy, the abacus consisting of a deep series of mouldings. Grotesque ornaments and large flowers are common, and frequently of rather coarse design; but in some instances, as in the cloisters of Melrose, the ornaments are beautifully sculptured.

A revival of early enrichments, such as the dog-tooth or nail-head, is a curious characteristic of this period, as it was also in the case of the late domestic architecture. Other early features are also revived, such as detached shafts, with well-marked caps and bases of early form. This is specially observable at Iona and in Argyleshire and the Western Islands, where, as already mentioned, a peculiar style prevailed.

In course of time, as pointed out elsewhere,[60] the ecclesiastical elements were invaded by the features of domestic architecture, and a mixed, but picturesque, style was developed which had more of a Scottish than a Gothic aspect.

Many examples of Scottish structures of the third period will be illustrated. The buildings, though comparatively small, are numerous and interesting, as they illustrate a specially Scottish branch of Gothic architecture. They consist largely of collegiate edifices, and amongst them is the well-known collegiate church of Roslyn.

A number of churches showing the mixture of domestic and ecclesiastical features which prevailed in the latter half of the sixteenth and seventeenth century have already been illustrated, as above indicated.

That series of churches will be continued so as to exhaust the subject.

The contrast they present with the churches of the earlier centuries is very striking, and affords much food for reflection.

THE CELTIC MONASTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURES IN SCOTLAND,

CHIEFLY AS ILLUSTRATED AND DESCRIBED IN THE WORKS OF THE LATE T. S. MUIR.

It has been shown in the Introduction that Christianity was brought to Scotland in the sixth century by the Celtic missionaries from Ireland, and that, after it had endured for seven centuries, the monastic Church of the Columbans, was superseded by the Roman ecclesiastical system. Each of these phases of Christianity possessed its own form of architecture--the one derived from the features peculiar to the Celtic style of building, and the other from the development of the Romanesque architecture general throughout Europe. The latter began to take effect in Scotland about the beginning of the twelfth century, while the former, which had existed from a very early date, continued to prevail in certain parts of the country long after that period.

We shall first consider the structures of the oldest or Celtic style. The earliest examples of ecclesiastical architecture in Scotland are, doubtless, the rude structures built with uncemented stones, which still survive in some of the remote islands off the coast, chiefly in the Western seas.

These islands, as well as the mainland of Scotland, have been visited again and again by the late Mr. T. S. Muir, who has embodied the results of his peregrinations in his volume on the _Characteristics of Old Church Architecture in Scotland_ (1861), and in his _Ecclesiological Notes on some of the Islands of Scotland_ (1885)--the latter containing a _resumé_ of a number of charming little volumes produced by Mr. Muir at different times. Mr. Muir’s account of his repeated visits to the outlying islands is very quaint and entertaining, and shows that he has been inspired with an enthusiasm for ecclesiology very rarely equalled. He has certainly been the discoverer of many extremely interesting structures, which serve to show the connection between the early Christianity of Ireland and Scotland and the gradual development in this country of a style of ecclesiastical architecture similar to that of the parent isle.

The condition and features of the numerous cells and churches which Mr. Muir visited many years ago, when they were in a more perfect state than they now are, have been so fully described and illustrated by him that it would appear to be a work of supererogation to follow his footsteps and investigate them over again. We have, therefore, adopted his descriptions and illustrations, and have prepared an abstract of the numerous materials scattered throughout his works, arranged, as far as possible, in accordance with the historical sequence of the types of the buildings, and described in Mr. Muir’s own words.

Dr. Joseph Anderson has pointed out, in his _Scotland in Early Christian Times_, that the early churches of Scotland, like those of Ireland, consisted of a single oblong chamber, with one door and one window, and that these structures were frequently found associated with beehive huts and surrounded by a cashel or rampart.[61]

We have in Scotland several examples of similar churches associated with beehive huts, and sometimes surrounded by a wall. Examples also occur of groups of chapels resembling the well-known similar groups in Ireland.

The following are descriptions of these structures, chiefly extracted from Mr. Muir’s works.

I. SIMPLE OBLONG CHURCHES, ASSOCIATED WITH BEEHIVE CELLS AND CHURCHES IN GROUPS.

EILEAN NAOMH, ARGYLESHIRE.

An extremely interesting example of the remains of an early monastic establishment on the Irish model is that on Eilean Naomh, one of the

Garvelloch Islands, which lie about three miles west of Lunga, off the coast of Argyleshire. About the middle of the island, and on the south-east side, stand the ruins of several structures. “One of the largest and most entire is obviously a church internally 21 feet 7 inches in length, constructed, like all the other buildings, of rude masonry, in which no lime or cement of any kind has been used. Excepting the gables, which are wanting, the walls are perfect, but present nothing in the way of detail more important than a square-headed doorway of slightly tapering form in the west end, and a small square-headed window splayed on both sides, but mostly on the interior, in the east end, flanked on its south by a projecting shelf of slate, which seems to have been an altar.”[62] The enclosures of what were probably the garden and the burying-ground are visible south of the church.

Mr. Muir then describes “another building, an underground cell of irregular oval shape (Fig. 27), measuring 5 feet 4 inches by 4 feet 5 inches, with a depth of rather more than 4 feet. The roof is formed simply by a few heavy slabs laid across the walls on a level with the ground outside, and the entrance is by a slanting aperture (Fig. 28), just where the roof and the walls unite. Two other buildings (Fig. 29), forming a part of this curious group, remain to be described. These are dome-shaped and joined together; the larger one internally 14 feet in diameter, the other about a foot less. The two buildings communicate with each other by means of a square-shaped doorway through the point of contact, and the larger one with the outside by another doorway of the like kind facing the south-west; but with the exception of a square aperture at the ground, more like a gutter hole than a door, there is no external opening in the smaller building.”[63] The dome of the smaller structure is complete, but that of the larger is ruined. (Fig. 30.)

The island of Naomh was often visited by Columba, and the establishment of which the above fragments are the remains is believed to have been that originally founded by St. Brendan, and afterwards refounded by Columba. Near the shore St. Columba’s well still survives.

One cannot fail to recognise in the above description a striking resemblance to the early monastic establishments of Ireland. We here find the same dry-built quadrilateral church, with door having sloping jambs, and the same beehive huts with domed roofs.[64]

SKEABOST, SKYE.

“In an islet in the river Snizort at this place there is an open burying-ground

containing a group of five or six chapels, the shell of two pretty entire, the others reduced nearly to the ground. Of the former, the one least perfect (Fig. 31) is a featureless building, externally 82 feet in length; the other--probably that mentioned in the _Originales Parochiales_ as dedicated to St. Columba--is externally 21 feet in length, and has a flat-headed window (Fig. 32), 2 feet in height and 6 inches wide, in the east end, the west end blank. In

the larger building there is a basin of a baptismal font, square, with rounded corners.”[65]

“On making the shore one is immediately struck with the intensely ecclesiastical character of the spot. From end to end the islet is covered with the remains of chapels.”[66]

Here we find a group of chapels which were formerly surrounded by a marsh, while fragments of an enclosing wall or rampart can also be traced.

MUGSTOT, SKYE.

“Mugstot, properly Monkstead, stands on a slightly elevated spot surrounded by a swampy meadow, formerly the bed of a lake, some two or three miles from Uig, in the direction of Kilmuir Kirk. Like Skeabost, it exhibits a group of greatly ruinated buildings, three in number, standing in a line from north to south. The southernmost building, which is 22 feet long inside, and pointed east and west, is the least dilapidated, and evidently the Chapel of St. Columba mentioned by Martin. The intermediate ruins are little more than the foundations of an oblong building, 49 feet in length, and standing north and south.” Then follows a description of what has apparently been a circular cashel. “The other building is of oval form, measuring internally about 62 feet east and west, and 42 feet north and south, the walls composed of irregularly-shaped stones, mostly of large size, uncemented, but fitly put together. This building is very much broken down, but least dilapidated on the east, where it is still some 7 or 8 feet high. Within the area are observable the foundations of walls crossing each other at right angles, the spaces between having probably been vaulted cells.”[67]

HOWMORE, SOUTH UIST.

At Mr. Muir’s first visit there were here remains of a group of five chapels (Fig. 33) all close together, but on his second visit he found one removed. “The missing one was a very characteristic building, the smallest of the group, with a very narrow rectangular window and a short _sloping_ doorway in the east end. Externally it measured only 17½ feet in length.

Of those still remaining, the largest has been about 60 feet in length. Scarcely anything of it is standing more than the east wall, a long cruciform couplet [widely splayed inside and looking like first pointed],[88] in which shows that the building had been the finest and largest of the lot. The next largest is internally rather more than 54 feet in length. Of it, also, the only remains is the east wall [pierced with a narrow flat-headed window (Fig. 34), 2 feet long and 6 inches wide, extremely rude].[68] The two other chapels are each about 20 feet in length, not so much reduced, but with no features deserving notice. [In the east gable there is a flat-headed window of very small size, and on the south side there is one much of the same kind; on the north side are remains of a doorway--the west end blank.][69] In two of the chapels the altar is still extant, and there are also fine memorial slabs.”[70]

“Of the chapels, the largest is externally 20 feet in length,”[71] with small flat-headed windows--west end blank. Of the two other chapels, the largest is 19 feet 4 inches in length, with flat-topped window. The other (now removed), 17 feet 7 inches long externally, by 11 feet 6 inches wide; walls rudely built. The doorway, _with inclining jambs and flat head_, was in the east end; above, in gable, a flat-headed window, 14 inches long by 3 inches wide.

KILBAR, BARRA.

In a burying-ground, “three dilapidated chapels, resembling very much those at Howmore. The largest (Fig. 35) (supposed to be that of St. Barr), (1) is externally 42 feet in length; the end walls nearly away, the north and south walls nearly entire. The north side has a rude triangular-headed doorway (Fig. 36) enclosed in a semi-circular arch, and a triangular-headed window on its east. In the south wall there are three windows of the same form--two of them together near its east end, and one near the west end. Against the east end the altar remains almost entire. The next largest chapel (2) is externally 30 feet in length; it is divided by a dead wall into two unequal apartments, each having a flat-headed doorway on the south. The east end contains a flat-headed window 16 inches in length by 3½ inches wide, and there are windows of like kind in the side walls, the west one blank. Of the third and smallest chapel (4), externally 18 feet 3 inches in length, very little is left. At my first visit (July 1855) both ends were entire, the east one containing a small flat-topped window, the west one blank; now (July 1866) the only detail is a narrow window at the eastern extremity of the north wall, the head round, and formed of one stone.”[72]

Another chapel at a little distance has been removed.

II. HERMITS’ CELLS.

The above descriptions apply to groups of chapels similar to those in Ireland. We shall now consider Mr. Muir’s descriptions of the rude hermitages which he discovered on some of the remotest rocks round the coast.

THE CHAPEL OF ST. RONAN, NORTH RONA.

The small solitary island of Rona lies about thirty-eight miles north-eastwards from the Butt of Lewis, and about the same distance from Cape Wrath. It is about one mile long and the same in width. Such an island, so far from land, formed a meet spot for the dwelling of an early Anchorite, and here is still preserved the Chapel of St. Ronan. The island was twice visited by Mr. Muir, who thus describes the chapel:--

“Of this rude and diminutive building [the eastern chamber] not much can be said. On the outside it is in most part a rounded heap of loose stones, roofed over with turf. Within you find it a roughly-built cell (Fig. 37), 9 feet 3 inches in height, and at the floor 11 feet 6 inches long and 7 feet 6 inches wide. The end walls lean inwardly a little, the side ones so greatly that when they meet the flat slab-formed roof they are scarcely 2 feet apart. (Fig. 38.) Beyond the singularity of its shape, there is

nothing remarkable in the building, its only minute features being a square doorway in the west end, so low that you have to creep through it on your elbows and knees; a flat-headed window without splay on either side, 19 inches long and 8 inches wide, set over the doorway (see Fig. 38); another window of like form and length, but an inch or two wider, near the east end of the south wall; and the altar stone, 3 feet in length, lying close to the east end.

“Attached as a nave to the west end of the cell, and externally co-extensive with it in breadth, are the remains of another chapel, internally