roxburgh-1956-vol-1/04_328

Transcription

No. 504 KELSO PARISH
position nor does one appear in a survey prepared
by the late Sir R. Rowand Anderson in 1869, before
the renewal took place. The circular turrets in which
the corner buttresses terminate also include some
modern mason-work.
The south arcade of the nave (Fig.301) is now
exposed externally, as the outer wall of the aisle has
been demolished. The space above the aisle vaults
was the triforium chamber, opening into the sur-
viving bay of the nave triforium arcade by a narrow
arched doorway, the survivor of three; its threshold
has been dropped three courses. The triforium
chamber also opened into the arcade of the neigh-
bouring transept through a double archway with a
sturdy central pier, the capital and base of which which are
both depressed. Its roof was steeply pitched and
unusually high, extenidng up to the continuous sill-
course of the clearstorey windows of the nave and
transept. The walls above are divided into bays by
shallow pilasters on the plane of the walling below
them, the masonry between being consequently
recessed. In each bay there is a clearstory window
similar to those elsewhere. Immediately above the
clearstorey runs the lowest course of the wall-head,
set out to the main wall-plane on a series of small
corbels. Some of this masonry, however, is a
restoration.
The W. and S. sides of the surviving tower have
been reduced in height, but are otherwise complete;
the two other sides and the NW. crossing-pier no
longer exist. Their crossing-arches were built in
three chamfered orders, the innermost one of the W.
arch being incomplete today. The surviving piers
each have a large semi-shaft on the ingoing flanked
by a series of small rolls or shafts set in nooks. The
SW. pier has been greatly distorted through settle-
ment, possibly as a result of the undermining carried
out on both crossing-towers in 1545. The pier bases
are flatly sectioned. The capitals are enriched
variously with scallops and with a late type of Tran-
sitional foliage, their abaci being rectangular like the
others that occur throughout the building. The
tower itself has buttresses at its corners rising from
the high wall-heads, at which level it has had a single
round-arched opening in the centre of each wall.
The opening is built in two orders, the outer one
supported on nook-shafts. Higher up is a small
lintelled access to the roof-space above which two
circular quatrefoiled windows of the 13th century
flank the apex of the high-roof weather-table. Three
pointed windows in each wall lighted the bell-
chamber above. The window jambs have a single
wide splay, but the arch-heads are splayed and
rebated.
THE CHURCH: Interior. The internal treatment
of this church has been unusually rich for Scotland,
its walls being decorated with arcades which are
virtually unrelieved by plain wall-surfaces. In the
nave, design has been predominantly horizontal in
contrast to the vertical factor apparent in the tran-
septs and Galilee. The absence of containing-arches
gave an opportunity to increase the clearstorey light-
ing, but of this no advantage has been taken. The
nave, indeed, must have been a sombre place,
although to an observer looking from it towards the
radiantly lit crossings at either end the general
appearance of the interior would undoubtedly have
been impressive.
In the transepts and Galilee the lowest part of the
walls bears an interlaced arcade, the rather coarse
moulding of its arches having in some cases a beak-
head enrichment, in others a chevron on fret, while
almost all the mouldings also show the nail-head, a
motif applied to many of the capitals as well. Most
of the arcade shafts are either missing or incomplete.
Their bases are moulded, their capitals either scal-
loped or rudely foliated. This arcade had been
continuous only on the side walls of the Galilee and
the W. walls of the transepts, being interrupted
elsewhere by the doorways in the N. and W. gables,
the arches between the nave aisles and the transepts,
and a chapel situated at the NE. corner of the S.
transept. It was to accommodate this chapel that
the E. half of the S. gable was recessed within an
arch with an enriched hood-mould. The back of
the recess (Fig.303) contains a piscina in an arched
niche, this being sufficiently large to include a small
locker on each side of its interior. Farther W. is an
independent locker, as well as an aumbry in the W.
ingoing of the recess. The projecting course from
which all these openings rise is enriched with
dog-tooth ornament.
The W. buttresses of the transept gables are
hollow and contain newel-stairs giving access to the
wall-passages and superstructure. The main angles
of the Galilee and transepts contain slender engaged
shafts, those within the inner angles stopping at the
high wall-heads, while the others upon the gables
have risen a dozen courses higher and would seem
to have appeared above the high roofs. The lowest
windows of these W. divisions are built in two order
inside, the inner one supported on nook-shafts,
mostly built with bands, resting on moulded Tran-
sitional bases and surmounted by rudely foliated
capitals. In the transept gables, however, there are
no windows at this level, as the N. transept-gable is
covered at this height by the N. doorway, the high
rear-arch of which precludes any other openings
here, while on the outside of the S. transept-gable
there stood the W. range of the cloister. In place of
windows here we find two arched recesses on the
inside of the gable, generally corresponding to the
arcade formed elsewhere by the lowest windows, but
the eastern one of the pair had to rise from a higher
level than its neighbour in order to clear the arched
recess of the chapel previously mentioned. Its sill
bears a pellet or ball-enrichment.
The triforium passage was intended to be con-
tinuous throughout the whole church, and actually
was so round the transepts and Galilee; but as it
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