roxburgh-1956-vol-1/04_325

Transcription

No. 504. KELSO PARISH. No. 504
vicar, removable at his pleasure. The Abbot exer-
cises episcopal jurisdiction over his parishioners himself.
"The church, in size and shape, resembles that
of St . Augustine de Urbe, except that at each end
it has two high chapels (1) on each side, like wings,
which give the church the likeness of a double cross.
It's fabric is of squared grey stone, and it is very old
indeed (vetusta admodum et annosa). It has three
doorways, one towards the west, in the fore-part (in
anteriore parte), and the other two at the sides. It is
divided into three naves by a double row of columns.
The entire roof of the church is wooden, and its outer
covering is of leaden sheets. The ground within is
partly paved with stone and partly floored with bare
earth. It has two towers, one at the first entrance to
the church, the other in the inner part at the choir;
both are square in plan and are crowned by pyramidal
roofs like the tower of the Basilica of St. Peter. The
first contains many sweet-sounding bells, the other,
at the choir, is empty on account of decay and age.
The church is divided by a transverse wall into
two parts; the outer part is open to all, especially
parishioners both women and men, who there hear
masses and receive all sacraments from their parochial
vicar. The other part, the back of the church,
takes only monks who chant and celebrate the
Divine Office. Laymen do not go in except at the
time of Divine Service, and then only men; but
on some of the more solemn festivals of the year
women are also admitted. In this furthest-back part,
at the head of the church, there is an old wooden
choir.
"The high altar is at the head of the choir, facing
east, and on this several choral masses are cele-
brated daily, one for the founder and the other
according to the current feast or holiday. There are
besides, in the whole church, twelve or thirteen altars
on which several masses are said daily, both by
monks and by secular chaplains. In the middle of
the church, on the wall which divides the monks
from the parishioners, there is a platform of wood;
here stands the altar of the Holy Rood, on which the
Body of Christ is reserved and assiduously wor-
shipped, and there is the great worship and devotion
of the parishioners. On the same platform there is
also an organ of tin. The sacristy is on the right-
hand side of the choir; in it are kept a silver cross,
many chalices and vessels of silver, and other suffi-
cliently precious ornaments belonging to the altar
and the priests, as well as the mitre and pastoral staff.
"The cemetery is on the north, large and square,
and enclosed with a low wall to keep out beasts. It
is joined to the church. The cloister, or home of the
monks is on the south and is also joined to the
church; it is spacious and square in shape, and is
partly covered with lead and partly unroofed through
the fury and impiety of enemies. In the cloister
there is, on the one side, the chapter house and the
dormitory and on the other two refectories, a greater
and lesser. The cloister has a wide court round which
are many houses and lodgings; there are also guest-
quarters common to both English and Scots.
There are granaries and other places where merchants and
the neighbours store their corn, wares and goods and
keep them safe from enemies.. There is also an
orchard and a beautiful garden.
"In the cloister there is usually the Abbot, the
Prior and the Superior; and in time of peace thirty-
six or forty professed monks reside there. The town
by which the monastery stands is called Calco, and has
been said, or rather, in their common tongue, Chelso;
it contains not more than sixty dwellings and is
subject to the Abbot in respect of both temporal and
spiritual jurisdiction. Nearly all the inhabitants are
husbandmen and cultivators of the fields of the mon-
astery, and none of them pays tithe or dues; on
the contrary they receive payment from the Abbot,
that they may be able to withstand and repel from
the monastery the continual attacks of enemies.
"The Abbey has, in addition, three or four other
hamlets under it from which it receives tithes. It
also holds the patronage of many parish churches
from the vicars of which it receives part of the fruits.
The Abbots house is separate from that of the
monks, but their table is in common.
"It's value is somewhat uncertain because of the
continual raids and pillaging of enemies and robbers,
but by common opinion it is estimated at 1,500
ducats or thereabouts : and its fruits consist in church
dues, tithes, provisions and rentals."
By the late 17th century, to judge from the illustra-
tigons in Slezer's Theatrum Scotiae, little more was
left of the church than at present. Within the parts
then surviving a parish church was instituted in
1649, (2) it's E. Wall being built in alinement with the
E. piers of the W. crossing while the vestry extended
E. Into what had been the nave. Traces of this
intrusion remained until the middle of the last
century, but had been swept away before H.M. Office
of Works became custodian of the fabric in 1919.
The abbey church, as well as the cloister on its S.
side must have been set out on the first entry of the
convent to the site; this inference is corroborated
by Fordun, who relates that Earl Henry (died 1152)
"in monasterio de Kalco secus Roxburgum sepultus
est, quod pater ejus a fundamentis costruendo. . . .
ditaverat",(3) and some sixty years later, when the W.
end of the church came to be built, no material
departure was made from the original Norman design
although the architectural details were fashioned in
the Transitional style then current. Thus we find
that the bold projecting base-course on the W. end
of the church is identical in section with the one in

1. This refers to the transepts. Duncan's use of the comparative "eminemtiores" hardly does justice to their height
2. The Church of St. James in the burg of Roxburgh (q.v., p. 253) still functioned in that year, but had only six communicants
3. Scotichronicon, v, cap. Xliii

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