roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_032

Transcription

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

pierced, quatrefoiled parapet, at either end of which
there has been a pedestal adorned with a turret-like
projection like those still to be seen on the coronal of
the crossing-tower. The belfry on the gable-head
is an obvious addition (cf. p. 268).
The W. wall of the transept (Fig. 330) forms one
side of a re-entrant angle into which projects a stair-
turret, finely designed. The base of this turret is
almost plain, being relieved only by the three hollow-
chamfered slits that light the stair inside ; but above
the level of the nave-aisle wall-head the super-
structure is developed to an octagonal plan and stands
free except for its attachment to the transept wall.
The exposed sides bear angle-shafts. The shaft at
the SW. corner is interrupted by a niche, the central
and highest-set member of a group of three ; the
others are centred respectively in the adjoining sides
of the turret. Above the transept wall-head the
octagon is complete and stands entirely free. It bears
a cornice enriched with two rows of floral paterae.
Immediately below this cornice may be seen a
doorway giving access from the stairhead within to
the outside of the transept roof. Above the cornice
an open balcony or bartizan, which apparently once
had a wooden balustrade, encircled the little crocketed
and crested spire (Fig. 366) in which the turret
finishes. In Fig. 330 two of the W. clearstorey
windows, of two and three lights respectively, may
be seen beyond the stair-turret. Pointed-arched and
filled in with curvilinear tracery, these windows are
quite different in character from the corresponding
lights of the N. transept shown in Fig. 335. This W.
clearstorey of the N. transept contains a group of four
lancet-windows and an isolated fifth light farther S.
The lancets all have equilateral arches, the three inner
ones having trefoiled heads and identically contoured
jambs while the outermost member of the group
differs from the others in jamb-section and its head
is not trefoiled. The isolated light has a trefoiled
head within a drop-centred arch.
The crossing-tower is now represented only by its
W. side and the W. ends of its N. and S. sides. But
enough remains to show that when complete the
tower was low in height and square on plan, that all
four sides were identical in treatment, and that what-
ever terminal it had was of wood, and probably took
the form of a low pyramidal roof. Each side bore a
raking weather-table for the purpose of protecting
the end of the high roof abutting on it. As will be
seen from Fig. 335, the one complete weather-table
is considerably above the present high roof of the
nave (p. 268). Immediately above the apex of this
weather-table a moulded and enriched string-course
defines the bell-chamber and forms a sill-course for
its windows, of which there were three in each wall.
These openings have pointed heads moulded, as are
the jambs, with a series of rolls-and-hollows. The
piers on either side of the central opening once
carried projecting shafts; these rose from the sill-
course to a wall-head course which is moulded and
enriched with floral paterae. Similar shafts are still
to be seen at the corners of the tower, where they
start some five courses below the sill-course. Above
the wall-head these shafts are surmounted by pedestals
in the form of mock turrets with embattled tops, and
between the pedestals there runs a pierced quartre-
foiled parapet, now fragmentary.
On both sides of the church each of the three
surviving bays of the structural nave has two clear-
storey lights with pointed trefoiled heads. The wall-
head above them, which dates only from 1618, when
it was rebuilt out of the old material, is rather lower
than the original one. The N. wall-head, facing the
cloister, is unadorned; the S. wall-head, on the
other hand, is moulded and enriched with boldly
carved paterae from which project two gargoyles, one
in the form of a monster, the other one representing
a pig playing bagpipes (Fig. 389), a motif not confined
entirely to Scotland. To transmit the thrust of the
high vault of the nave, flying buttresses are carried
across its aisle roofs, a double series being required
on the S. side of the nave, where there are two aisles
(Fig. 330). All have moulded soffits and crocketed
tops. Those on the N. abut on pinnacled counter-
forts which rise without projection from the aisle
wall-head and have provision on their N. faces for
image-work. Those on the S. are received on pin-
nacled buttresses, the buttresses common to both
the outer and inner series having richly treated niches
on their S. faces. Two of these niches still contain
effigies, one of the Virgin and Child, and the other
of St. Andrew. The effigy of the Virgin (Fig. 364),
possibly the finest piece of mediaeval figure-sculpture
left in Scotland, is decidedly Flemish in treatment,
and it may therefore have been carved in Flanders,
like the choir-stalls. Its position, in alinement with
the pulpitum and thus marking externally the W.
limit of the monastic choir, is particularly appropriate,
the Cistercians being the first order to dedicate them-
selves to the Blessed Virgin. The niche in which
this image stands is more elaborate than its neigh-
bours. The outer buttresses, those projecting from
the wall of the nave chapel-aisle, also have provision
for image-work, the easternmost one having a niche
corresponding to those on the transept buttresses
while the others, which are later in date, have only a
corbelled bracket and projecting canopy.
The outer wall of the N. aisle of the nave shows
very clearly the end of the abuttal section formed in
the second stage (p. 270) and the westward continua-
tion of the work of the third stage - the junction
coming almost directly below the E. counterfort.
The E. end of this wall contains the professional
doorway (Fig. 340), the threshold of which is a tomb-
stone in secondary use. An unusually good specimen
of a common 15th-century type, this doorway has a
semicircular head built in three orders, the middle
one heavily undercut; the head is enclosed by a hood-
mould, foliaceously enriched and received on foli-
aceous stops, and the jambs have stout engaged shafts

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