roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_058

Transcription

No 567 -- MELROSE PARISH -- No. 567

N. The width of the open area was about 40 ft.,
the length from N. to S. is as yet unknown. Near the
S. end may be seen a row of three post-bases, indicat-
ing that at this end there was a loggia of timber posts
supporting a lean-to roof. The loggia was rather
wider than the girth since it included the width of
the alley on its E. side. Towards the end of the 12th
century, however, this loggia was widened to the
N. and was provided with an arcaded front towards
the cloister ; apparently the intention was to continue
the arcade along the W. wall of the alley, but for some
reason this was done and a solid wall was built
instead. On the N. side of the arcade may be seen a
small area of 13th-century tiling. This is at a higher
level than the arcade bases, and it suggests that the
garth had been built over by the date of its inser-
tion. The remains of a cross-wall farther N. leads
to the same conclusion.
The farmery, or infirmary, court and its buildings
-hall, chapel, kitchen, reredorter, etc.-have still to
be located on the E. side of the chapter-house, and
when this is done it will probably be found that the
extension of the chapter-house (supra) involved an
alteration on the whole farmery complex. The
buildings are likely to have been commodious, since
they had to accommodate not only the sick or
stationarii, but also the sempectae, professed monks
of fifty years' standing, and the minuti, those who had
recently been bled. Cistercian monks were bled in
batches four times a year.
THE CAMERA. On the N. of the site of the farmery
court the foundations of a building have been exposed
beside the mill-lade. This is obviously the magna
camera abbatis que est super ripam aque, built by
Abbot Matthew about the middle of the 13th century ;
Matthew was elected in 1241 and deposed at Rievaulx
in 1261, contrary to the wishes of his flock.1 The
camera was oblong on plan, measuring internally
33 ft. from N. to S. by 76 ft. from E. to W. The E.
gable, which still bears traces of a stone bench on the
inner side, shows on its outer side the remains of
three buttresses, one at either end and one in the
centre. The undercroft, therefore, had a vault
supported on a central row of pillars. The S. wall,
which is also buttressed, includes towards the E. end
one jamb of a triple-shafted 13th-century doorway,
the space in front of it being paved with tile quarries.
This indicates that the entrance was protected by a
porch and, if the building was two-storeyed, as is
likely, there was no doubt a chapel above the porch.
Some time after it was built the camera seems to
have been lengthened towards the W.-an alteration
is indicated by the omission of buttresses from the
W. gable, which moreover has a footing of different
character from that of the other walls. A tank with
a cobbled bottom was discovered some little way to
the S.
THE COMMENDATOR'S HOUSE. The last building
that falls to be described stands about 47 yds. W. of
the camera and presents its N. gable to the mill-lade.
This building has an interesting architectural history.
In 1634 it was the tower and manor place of
Melrose, the principal messuage of the barony and
lordship ; 2 in 1618 it is described as the fortalice
and manor place,3 and in 1609 as the " palatium
de Melros ".4 In point of fact the building referred
to in the charters was the house built in 1590 by the
commendator of the time, James Douglas. When
given to the State in 1934, the commendator's house
was examined by the Inspector of Ancient Monu-
ments who found evidence that Douglas had merely
reconstituted one of the monastic buildings for his
own occupation. The place had obviously been, in
the first instance, the palatium 5 of an abbot, and,
as such buildings have rarely survived in Scotland,
the Ministry of Works restored the old fabric for
preservation after the removal of such parts as were
entirely modern. It has now been fitted up as a
museum. Illustrations Figs. 395 and 396.
The early ordinance laid down that both abbot and
prior should sleep in the dorter, but that custom was
soon abandoned ; a separate building was provided,
but the rule was observed in letter although not in
spirit by the provision of a corridor connecting the
lodging with the dorter. Then, as the more important
guests came to be entertained not in the guest-hall
but in the abbot's apartments, his lodging had to be
a building of some size and was accordingly placed
in the most convenient situation-often in one entirely
removed from the dorter. Thus, before the middle
of the 15th century, Prior James Haldenstone had
built at St. Andrews " Pulchrum et spectabile palatium,
infra curiam hospitii Prioris, cum decentioribus oratorio
et camera inibi situatis . . . " .6
The palatium at Melrose shows an unusual ad-
mixture of building-stones suggesting that it has been
constructed largely of material taken from the earlier
church which, it will be remembered, was demolished,
part by part, before the reconstruction made neces-
sary by the calamity of 1385 (p. 267). Some of the
re-used material, however, was brought there in 1590
by the commendator. The primary plan suggests
a 15th-century origin for the building, which may
be tentatively ascribed to Abbot Andrew Hunter
(1444-71). As it stood in the 15th century, the
palatium was oblong on plan, had two storeys, and
was covered with a tiled roof. As it stands today, the
whole S. end is a modern restoration. The masonry
of the original fabric is of rubble up to a height of
about 3 ft. from the ground and from there upwards
as ashlar, reverting to rubble below the wall-head.
The N. gable is intaken at the level of the first floor.
The original windows are small, and are heavily
chamfered like the contemporary doorways. There

1 Melrose Chronicle, 122.
2 R.M.S., 1634-51, No. 64.
3 Ibid., 1609-20, No. 1913.
4 Ibid., No. 139.
5 A palatium is a building which is derived from the free-
standing hall (cf. Mackenzie, The Mediaeval Castle in
Scotland, 137-79).
6 Scotichronicon, lib. vi, cap. lvii.

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Douglas Montgomery

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