roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_044

Transcription

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

three bays in length. Its easternmost bay has a large
window at the end and another one at each side.
Beneath the E. window there are two lockers, the
lintel of the one to the S. being a gravestone in
secondary use which may be the stone described ¹ as
bearing " a cross and falchion said to be in memory
of James, 2nd Earl of Douglas, but all that is left
are two incised parallel lines possibly indicating
the cross-shaft ". Below each of the side windows
there is a contemporary tomb-recess, neither of
them destined to become a royal sepulchre. On the
W. side of the N. tomb there is a locker. On the W.
side of the S. tomb a trefoil-headed credence and an
ogival-headed double piscina ² have been inserted
at some time in the 15th century.
On the side walls and at the E. angles of the presby-
tery there are projecting wall-shafts for the vault.
These shafts stop short of the floor-level, leaving
room for a wall-bench below them. Round them
there returns a moulded string-course which emphas-
ises the sill-levels of the windows, and they are also
banded half-way up. Their capitals, from which the
vault-ribs spring, are richly foliated. The elaborate
lierne-vault of the presbytery, now represented only
by its E. bay, is very domical. Its webs are con-
structed of slabs set on edge. All the ribs - wall,
ridge, transverse, diagonal, tierceron, and lierne -
are moulded, and have at their intersections carved
bosses arranged as described below. It will be seen
from Fig. 378 that the tierceron-ribs were meant to
be continuous from their springing to the ridge,
although a simpler and even more interesting pattern
could have been obtained by stopping them against
the central octagonal compartment.
The central boss represents the Trinity, facing E.
and flanked by two censing angels, the crucified

[Diagram Inserted]
Fig. 383. Melrose Abbey (No. 567) ; key to roof bosses of
choir, as shown in Fig 378.

Christ appearing between the knees of the seated
Father, while a dove symbolises the Holy Ghost.
The eight bosses of the rib-intersections at the
corners of the central octagonal compartment repre-
sent the following apostles, reading from the western-
most one by S., E., and N.: St. Andrew with the
saltire cross, St Bartholomew with the flaying-knife,
St. Peter with the keys, St. Thomas with a spear,
St. James the Less with a fuller's club, St. James the
Greater with his pilgrim staff and scrip, St. Paul
with a sword, and St. Matthias with a battle-axe.
In addition to their emblems some of the figures bear
scrolls. The outer series of bosses on the tierceron-
ribs includes: NW. of St. Andrew a foliated boss;
SW. of St. Andrew an unidentified saint, perhaps
St. John as he has a book; SW. of St. Peter a foliated
boss; SE. of St. Peter a boss carved with a rose,
symbolising the Blessed Virgin; SE. of St. James
the Less an angel; NE. of St. James the Less a
foliated boss; NE. of St. Paul a boss with carving
too much worn to be deciphered; NW. of St. Paul
another one with a snail-like pattern. The W. boss
at the intersection of the ridge-rib and transverse
rib is decayed; each of the two on either wall, at
the junction of the transverse and tierceron-ribs,
represents an aged bearded man bearing a scroll,
presumably one of the Patriarchs; while the E. boss
at the junction of the ridge and tierceron-ribs is
foliaceous. Illustrations of these and other bosses
in the church will be found grouped together in Figs.
378 to 382.
The two inner or W. bays of the presbytery are
represented by little more than the N. side of the E.
bay, yet enough remains to indicate what the ordin-
ance has been. On each side of the presbytery there
were two archways, the E. member of the pair
opening into the presbytery chapel and the other
forming the introitus superior, or upper entry of the
monastic choir. The NE. archway alone is entire.
Its respond shows a base-section rather earlier than
that of the corresponding pier; its capital, too, is
foliaceous, while the capital of the pier is moulded
and enriched with small paterae and ball-ornament.
The pier-section includes semi-rounds alternating
with pointed bowtels, and on the surviving pier of
the N. bays the S. member develops into twin wall-
shafts for vaulting. These wall-shafts are joined by
a third shaft, which is set out on a grotesque corbel
placed immediately above the pier capital. A
projecting niche on the S. face of this pier defines
the upper end of the monastic choir; the elaborate
canopy remains, but the image bracket below, which
was supported by the figure of an angel, has been
deliberately mutilated. The surviving arch of the
choir arcade is obtusely pointed and built in three
orders, the central one defined by undercutting. The
clearstorey passage above it has a traceried screen
towards the choir, built in two divisions within a
flat arch-head confined by the wall-rib of the high
vault. The lower part of the screen included a
pierced quatrefoiled parapet with an embattled top.


1 Glenriddell MS. preserved in the National Library of
Scotland, vi, 20.
2 On the use of the double piscina see Bond, The Chancel
of English Churches, 146-8.

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