roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_027

Transcription

No. 567 -- MELROSE PARISH -- No. 567

had been buried at Melrose, to visit the abbey once a
year ; and by the early 15th century visitors were
being encouraged, Jedburgh having set the example
in 1371. ¹ In 1427 the abbey was said to possess a
notable collection of relics much resorted to by
pilgrims. ² Such visitors were, of course, a valuable
source of revenue.
Change of function, coupled with the evolution of
architectural style, inevitably resulted in the church
that was designed after 1385 differing markedly in
its architecture from earlier churches of the Order ;
yet so strong was the Cistercian structural tradition
that certain early characteristics were retained. Thus
the new church had no triforium ; it was given a
very low crossing-tower ; the wall-shafts for its high
vaults were corbelled out after the fashion adopted
at Pontigny in the third quarter of the 12th century ;
the choirs, both of the choir-monks and of the
conversi, were designed to be enclosed by solid stone
walls about 9 ft. in height. In passing it may be
noted that, in the majority of Cistercian houses in
Britain, the conversi ceased to exist as a class after the
Black Death, which in 1349 swept across England
and reached Scotland, where it played havoc through-
out 1350. But the " converses " of Melrose still
existed in 1389 ³ and therefore required accommoda-
tion in a separate choir.
Accordingly the new church had not only to
accommodate a community of two classes, like its
predecessor, but had also to include a series of chapels
for secular use ; at Rievaulx, similarly, in the late
14th-century chapels for the laity were introduced
into the 12th-century nave-aisles, but there the choir
of the conversi was removed. As will be seen from
the plan (Fig. 327), the new church was on a much
larger scale than the old one. One practical con-
sideration which helps to determine the plan of a
monastic church is the number of choir stalls to be
accommodated and, since the new choir was made
30 ft. longer than the old one, it is a fair inference that
the number of choir-monks had increased or was
expected to do so. Again the extensive provision
of altars indicates that most, if not all, of the monks
were in priests' orders, as required by the decree of
the Œcumenical Council of Vienne held in 1311. ⁴
Yet another factor controlling the plan of the new
church was the presence of an existing cloister ; this
determined the position of the transepts and of the
wall of the N. aisle of the nave. Room for expansion
could thus only be found by encroaching upon the
cemetery and the ground adjoining it.
THE PLAN. The plan is cruciform and includes a
structural nave, ten bays in length, flanked on the
N. by a narrow passage-aisle and on the S. by a
wider one - the latter giving access to a lateral chapel-
aisle, in which eight chapels still remain. To the
W. may be seen the foundations of two more chapels.
The transepts each have an E. aisle three bays in
length, in which the two outer bays contain chapels
while the inner one serves as a lobby in front of a
chapel which projects farther E., flanking the presby-
tery. This echelon ending, a repetition of the earlier
plan, has obvious aesthetic advantages which were
probably the principal reason for its retention.
BUILDING PROCEDURE AND PERIODS. The building
procedure is obvious. The site was not cleared ; on
the contrary the new church was built round the old
one, like a nut-shell enclosing a kernel, and as each
new part neared completion its predecessor was taken
down. Thus the monastic routine was never seri-
ously interrupted. The new foundations were
apparently set out in one operation, or in two at
most, but the walls were erected piecemeal, com-
mencing at the E. end, in sections which are easily
distinguishable in the parts still standing. These
show no fewer than five separate periods of con-
struction. The first section undertaken included the
presbytery, its flanking chapels, the central bay of
either chapel-aisle, two piers of the S. transept-
arcade and at least one pier of the N. transept-arcade.
All this could have been carried out without inter-
fering materially with the old church, which must
have been patched up after the destruction of 1322.
The second stage saw the construction of both
transepts, the completion of their E. aisles, and the
erection of the crossing-piers and of the three E. bays
of the nave arcade, together with the pulpitum. The
E. bay of either nave-aisle was also constructed in
order to complete the customary " abuttal section ".
A certain amount of the earlier fabric had to be
demolished before these parts could be built, and it
is not surprising to find that recumbent tombstones
of lay-folk were removed either from the old floor
or from the cemetery and were broken up for use in
found-courses and thresholds - the footing of the W.
wall of the N. transept is formed entirely from old
grave-slabs. The first and second stages overlapped ;
on the completion of the walling at the E. end some
of the masons were transferred thence to the S.
transept-gable and the E. clearstoreys of both tran-
septs. The second stage halted at the springing-level
of the W. windows of the N. transept, but in it the
transept gable was carried up sufficiently high to
receive the roof of the choir-monks' dorter, which
was also being rebuilt at this time ; while on the
walls facing the cloister an arcaded seating was pro-
vided and, above this, provision for the pentice roofs
of the alleys. The first stage may be dated from the
close of the 14th century onwards, the second ending
about 1425 ; both stages were thus within the time
of Abbot Binning.
In these first thirty years of reconstruction three
master-masons had a hand. The designer of the E.
end was obviously trained in a Yorkshire lodge. John
Morow (infra) was presumably responsible for the
design of the S. transept, which is clearly influenced

1 Calendar of Papal Registers, Letters, iv, 163.
2 Ibid., vii, 570.
3 Cal. of Docts., iv, No. 398.
4 Coulton, Five Centuries of Religion, i, 126 n. 2.

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