stirling-1963-vol-1/05_167

Transcription

No. 131 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 131
where they had been mutilated or hacked away to give
access to pews and galleries. Finally, between 1936 and
1940 an extensive programme of restoration was carried
out under the direction of James Miller, the most
important features of which were the removal of the
dividing wall between the East and West Churches, the
linking up of choir and nave by the completion of the
crossing and the erection of transepts. The central
tower, which it was the intention of the 16th-century
builders to erect, is still absent, but in other respects it
may be said that the church now embodies the ideas of
its original designers in a way which its condition of a
century ago might have been thought to preclude entirely.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. The church, which is
oriented almost exactly E. and W., comprises, as has
been said, a W. tower, a nave of five bays, transepts, a
choir of three bays, and an apsidal presbytery, the nave
and the choir having both N. and S. aisles (Figs. 52 and
53). The external length of the whole building, over
tower and apse, is 208 ft., of which the tower, which
projects 18 ft. 1 in., and the nave jointly account for
104 ft. 6 in., the crossing for 25 ft., the choir for 52 ft.
and the apse for 26 ft. 6 in. In external breadth the
tower measures 30 ft. 7 in., the nave with its aisles
62 ft. 3 in., the choir with its aisles 63 ft. 5 in. (average),
and the presbytery 36 ft. 9 in. Walls vary in thickness
from 5 ft. 3 in. to 3 ft. 8 in.; they rise from a plinth for
which the same section has been kept at all the building-
periods, and which is stepped downwards as required to
suit the fall of the ground. In the re-entrant angle W. of
the N. transept stands St. Andrew's Chapel (supra), and
at the W. end of the N. side the foundations of St.
Mary's Chapel (supra), now demolished. The present
main entrance-door is in the S. transept; the one
ordinarily used is situated near the W. end of the S. side
of the nave and is covered by a porch of recent con-
struction. The general appearance of the building
is illustrated in Fig. 53, and in Pls. 17 and 18 A, B. As a
result of a change in the original intentions of the builders
(p. 133), the nave now lies like a saddle between the
higher transepts and choir on the one hand and the
rather tall W. tower on the other. The central tower that
formed part of the original scheme was never constructed.

THE TOWER. The tower (Fig. 54, Pl. 18 C) is 85 ft. high
to the top of the parapet, a pinnacled cap-house rising
above the parapet in the NW. corner. It is built of ashlar
brought to courses, a few of the stones being snecked. It
is divided into three stages, the lowermost of which is
defined by a hollow-moulded string-course immediately
below the sill of the first-floor window. This string-
course marks the division between the two phases of
construction (p. 130), the part below it belonging to the
period of c. 1450-70 and the remainder to that of 1507-40.
The second and third stages of the tower are divided by a
continuous corbel-course of three members, which sup-
ports an external gallery on N. and S. and on which the
uppermost stage oversails on E. and W. These galleries
carry parapets standing 4 ft. 6 in. above the flagged walks;
the parapets are not crenellated, and the coping and the
uppermost three or four courses have been renewed. The
uppermost stage of the tower is topped by a second
corbel-course, similar to the one below, which carries a
crenellated parapet with moulded and splayed coping,
and water-spouts. The parapet-walk is 25 ft. above the
walks of the galleries. Both corbel-courses are interrupted
at the NW. corner of the tower, which contains the stair,
their line being continued round the corner by a hollow-
moulded string-course. A similarly moulded string-
course serves as an eaves-course to the cap-house, which
finishes in an octagonal, hollow spire about 11 ft. high

[Plan Inserted]
Fig. 53. Holy Rude Church, Stirling (No. 131); section by MacGibbon and Ross (1908)

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