medieval-atlas/the-church/374

Transcription

Church plans from about 1120 to 1560 Lesser churches Throughout the Middle Ages a clear majority of lesser churches were of rectangular plan, with no structural distinction between choir and nave. Whilst such simplicity might be combined with enrichment of architectural detail, it does give an indication of the relative impoverishment of the parochial network within the Scottish church. However, there were periods when the parishes attracted the increased generosity of patronage which made complex planning more widely possible. The most significant of these were the centuries between about 1120 and 1220 and between about 1450 and 1550; the former corresponds roughly with the phase of greatest momentum in the establishment of the Scottish parishes, and the latter with the growing disenchantment with the great religious institutions which fostered a more personal expression of religious devotion. In the first of these periods it is again clear that patrons in the lowland areas looked to England for architectural guidance. The careful articulation of nave and choir as an expression of the twin functions of a church was widely seen across the border, as were more sophisticated variants with a western bell tower or an eastern apse. But in the peripheral regions other sources may have been sought: whilst there are English parallels for the round church at Orphir or the cylindrical tower of Egilsay -both in Orkney -it seems possible that the builders were looking further afield. Most of these early parish churches or chapels were without flanking aisles, although the proliferation of cults and the emergence of a richer liturgy led to some of the burghs providing themselves with partly aisled churches from the later twelfth century onwards, as at Aberdeen or Crail. By the fifteenth century Scotland can no longer be viewed as part of an extended northern English architectural province. Whilst the clearest evidence for this is in architectural details, it is at least partly evident in certain aspects ofplanning. As in the greater churches the increasing use of polygonal apses from the mid-century onwards, for example, points to European influence, whilst the tendency to add lateral chapels represents the Scottish solution to a universal problem. .::d1 14 r.,---------........... •.. ---=~.:::: u;;~ Unaugmented rectangular plan (Auchindoir) 30 feet Simple two-cell plan (Duddingston) 10 metres Simple two-cell plan augmented by western tower (Stobo) Simple plan with semi-circular apse to choir (Dalmeny) Plan augmented by chapels or aisles (Muthill) Plan with more or less regular transeptal chapels (Tullibardine) Plan with polygonal apse to choir (Culross, SI. Mungo's) Church plans: lesser churches 374