east-lothian-1924/05-153

Transcription

OLDHAMSTOCKS.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN EAST LOTHIAN. [OLDHAMSTOCKS.

west of the transepts, and the choir by a window
between the sacristy and transept and by two
windows in the south wall. These choir win-
dows have segmental heads, and the traceried
infilling is complete but has been restored in
at least one instance. The skews of the gables
have a cavetto moulding on the impending
surface and terminate at the apex in seats for
crosses and at the eaves in skewputs carved
with shields or cherubs heads, which bore
crudely crocketted pinnacles, now fragmentary.

The tower has on each face a lancet window
with trefoiled head. The little skews at
the eastern end (fig. 117), which received the
old nave roof, terminate in carved skewputs,
corbelled out over the angles of the corner
below ; the corbels are carved with foliaceous
work. The western skews have the appearance
of being inserted for symmetry. The transepts
have a set-off beneath the sills of the windows.

The nave interiorly is 39 feet long and 20 feet
wide and measures from the ground to the
apex of the vault 29 feet. Beneath the spring-
ing of the high pointed barrel-vaults, which
ceil the nave and choir, three tiers of beam
rests may be noticed. The upper tier-or
perhaps tiers-possibly served for the beams
supporting the scaffold and centering when the
building was constructed. The lowest tier
appears to have been formed to support an
intermediate floor, when the building served as
a stable. A doorway high up in the wall above
the western arch of the crossing was reached
by a ladder and gave access to the lower of
the apartments in the tower. The arches of
the crossing (fig. 113), save the eastern, which is
probably the original chancel arch, are pointed
in form with splayed archivolts. The inner
members of the east and west arches appear to
have been renewed. The piers are of a similar
section and have splayed bases and moulded
capitals. The piers of the eastern arch are
similar to the others and have bases of the
same form but at a slightly higher level,
suggesting the elevation of the choir. The
eastern capitals are foliaceous, and the arch
is composed of curvilinear mouldings. Immed-
iately above the abaci, the soffit is morticed to
receive the rood beam. The piers of the other
arches are also morticed but in a clumsy
fashion, as though these notches were formed

77

subsequently for doors during the period of
farm use.
The choir is 33 1/4 feet long and 17 3/4 feet wide
with a height of 24 1/2 feet from the ground to
the apex of the vault. From the third course
above the springing the vault seems to have
been renewed. The east window is lamentably
mutilated and enlarged to permit of the
entrance of vehicles. On the south side, at a
height of 7 1/2 feet from the ground, is a massive
corbel with a shield on the face, evidently the
survivor of two which flanked the high altar
beneath the central window and served to bear
the effigies of saints. On the south wall,
beneath the sill of the eastern window, can be
seen a small portion of the circular basin of
the piscina, which has evidently been borne on
a projecting shaft, a feature not usual in
[marginal note]
Marycastle
Scottish work. West of the same window are
fine triple sedilia (fig 116) with ogival heads
crocketted and infilled with cusping. The
jambs, which are moulded and are received on
the seat without bases, have foliaceous capitals
surmounted by crocketted pinnacles, which
also are placed between each head. The central
head is borne on moulded corbels, which are
carved on the soffits with representations of
angles, winged and long haired, playing in-
struments resembling a harp and lute. A
square recess in the north wall near the eastern
angle may be a sacrament house. West of it
is the arched opening to the sacristy, and oblong
chamber 13 1/2 feet by 15 feet ceiled with a
pointed barrel-vault at a height of some 13
feet above the ground. Mortices in the intrados
of the archway and ingoing of the piers seem
to indicate that the opening was filled with a
" hers " or grille. Beneath the north window
there is an arched tomb recess with a segmental
head. The jamb moulds, also continued round
the head, are filleted rolls with flanking hollows.
On each ingoing is a corbel carved with a
15th century female head, and on either side of
the recess is a corbel, the western representing
an angle playing a lute, the other very much
defaced.
The transepts are oblong, measuring 23 feet
by 13 1/2 feet, and the apex of their vaulted
ceilings is 22 1/4 feet above ground. Each
gable has an arched tomb-recess beneath the
windows. That in the north transept displays
beneath a helmet and mantling a canted shield

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Douglas Montgomery

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