roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_049

Transcription

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

scribed fragment which runs NINIANI KAT(HER)-
IN(A)E / THOM(A)E PAULI CUTHB/(ER)T(A)E S(ANCTI)
PETRI KE(N)TIG(ER)NI (" Of Ninian, Katherine,
Thomas, Paul, Cuthbert, St. Peter, Kentigern ").
A most interesting memorial in the shape of a prie-
dieu of stone (Fig. 375), dating from about the turn
of the 13th and 14th centuries, has been set into the
floor. Its back and front measure respectively 1 ft.
4 in. and 1 ft. 1 in. in height ; the width is 1 ft. and
the thickness 6 1/2 in. On the upper surface runs the
inscription in Lombardic lettering † ORATE PRO /
ANIMA FRATRIS PETRI CEL(L)ARII (" Pray for the soul
of brother Peter, the cellarer "). On the back is
carved a penannular design very similar to that found
on contemporary grave-slabs. The chapel is covered
with a lierne vault, from which most of the ribs have
disappeared. The ridge-ribs have had trefoiled
soffits, like some of the vault-ribs in St. Matthew's
Collegiate Church, Roslin.1
The second chapel has a string-course only on the
S. and E. walls, and the E. section has been removed
to accommodate a reredos. Behind the alter can be
seen a " waster ", a stone set out for an inscription
in four lines within a scrolled border which has not
been completed. This chapel has a tierceron vault
and all its bosses are foliaceous. The third chapel has
a similar vault. There is a string-course upon the
S. wall only. The W. wall contains the Renaissance
memorial numbered 2 on p. 289. The E. wall of the
fourth chapel shows definite signs of fire, as if a tall
wooden reredos set against it had been burnt. On
the S. wall there is a string-course and below that the
memorial numbered 3 on p. 290. Memorial 4 (p. 290)
is inset in the floor. The fifth chapel is covered with
a tierceron vault in which the master-boss probably
represents St. Michael. The boss to the E. of this
bears a man's head, and the one to the W. a shield of
arms ; the charges are decayed, but they were pre-
sumably those of Abbot Andrew Hunter. The other
bosses are foliaceous. In the floor there are memorials
5 and 6 (p. 290).
The sixth chapel, open to the sky like the two
farther W., was intended to have a tierceron vault
with level ridges. The string-course only occurs on
the S. wall. The piscina below seems to have been
inserted after the S. wall had been completed, since
the drain debouches on the chapel floor. A stone
inserted at the back of the piscina bears the initials
V T, presumably for Abbot William Turnbull (1503-7).
Memorial 7 rests against the S. wall. The two
chapels farther W. show nothing of special interest,
while the two beyond these are represented only by
their foundations.
Illustrations of the church not specifically referred
to above will be found in Figs. 330, 331, 337, 341,
342, 343, 345, 346, 357, 358, 360, 363, 365, 367, 368,
369, 370, 371, 373, 376, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 391,
and 392.
THE CLOISTER. Along each of the four sides of the
cloister ran the usual covered alley or gallery, its
outer side pierced by open arcades in order to admit
light and air ; fragments of the primary arcade, dating
from the last years of the 12th century, have been
set up in relation to one another in the museum. In
the abbey's early days, when there was a lane on the
W. side of the cloister (p. 266), the garth or open
space measured some 93 ft. from N. to S. by 100 ft.
from E. to W. ; when the lane was done away with
the latter dimension was increased to 115 ft. On the
N. side may be seen foundations of a lavatory, one
of the most important provisions of a Cistercian
cloister,2 projecting into the garth. Situated in a
position convenient for the choir-monks' frater and
kitchen alike, this is a small square building con-
taining a circular basin.3 In their present state of
ruin, it is uncertain to what extent the cloister-build-
ings were affected by the late 14th-century recon-
struction, but the S. alley as well as the S. end of the
E. range and its alley were obviously rebuilt with the
church. Although nothing remains of the alleys but
their floors, the provision made for them on the walls
of the church (Fig. 335) supplies a certain amount of
evidence for their treatment. Thus from the chapter-
house down to the SE. angle of the cloister may be
seen a series of seven arcaded seats (Fig. 338), boldly
moulded and richly carved. Similar seats were
intended to run along the S. alley also, that is on the
N. side of the church, and one of them (Fig. 340)
was built on the W. side of the processional doorway.
But when this had been completed, together with the
abuttal section, in the second stage of the construc-
tion (p. 270), work was interrupted, and when it was
resumed a simpler variety of arcaded seating was
adopted, having foiled heads rising from corbel-stops.
The central seat of the latter series (Fig. 339),
intended for the abbot, is more elaborately treated
than the others and is marked off from them by little
wall-shafts. These seats along the wall of the church
were used during collation, a short reading from the
Lives of the Fathers, which took place between vespers
and the last service of the day, compline ; 4 and it
is clear from the Consuetudines that the ceremony of
foot-washing was also preformed here. If, as at
Rievaulx,5 there were carrels or desks for the study in
the cloister alleys, they would have been placed
against the arcaded outer wall. At the junction of
the E. and S. alleys a projecting benatura is con-
veniently placed beside the processional doorway,
the entry to the church from the cloister. Nothing
is left to indicate the position of the armarium
claustri, the bookcase normally provided between the
chapter-house and the processional door.

1 Inventory of Midlothian, No. 138.
2 Le Duc, Dictionnaire Raisonné de l' Architecture Fran-
çaise, vi, 170.
3 The one Cistercian abbey in the British Isles in which
the lavatory is still intact is that of Mellifont, Co. Louth.
4 Marquise de Maillé, L'Eglise Cistercienne de Preuilly,
70.
5 Chartulary of Rievaulx, Surtees Society, vol. 83, 340.

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