east-lothian-1924/05-206

Transcription

TRANENT.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [TRANENT.

apparently roofed the eastern rib vaulted
portion (" biggit the queir of Seytoun, and
pendit it sa fer as it is, with rymbraces.")3 His
son, George, fourth Lord Seton, who died in
1508, completed the vaulting of the choir
(" pendit the quier from the rymbrasis but")†
built the vestry (" revestré ") or sacristry,
vaulting and roofing it with stone,3 and rendered
the establishment collegiate c. 1493. George
fifth Lord, who fell at Flodden 1513, covered
the choir roof with stone slabs, provided the
choir with glazed windows (" glaising windois"),
paved it and furnished it with stalls ("daskis")
and " cylerings* above the alter." His work
was continued by his widow Lady Janet
Hepburn, who died in 1558. She built the
north cross aisle, removed Lady Catherine Sin-
clair's south aisle because the side of it was
parallel with the side of the church, and re-
built it in correspondence with the north aisle
" to make it ane perfyt and proportionat croce
kirk." She likewise built the steeple, which she
did not quite finish, and it remains incomplete
to this day. In the vestry she had a loft
inserted with locked cupboards, and, founding
two prebendaries, built " thair chalmaris upon
voltis " (i.e. over vaults).
The choir has a three-sided apsidal eastern
termination with buttresses projecting diagon-
ally from the angles and rectangularly from
the south wall. The transepts have buttresses
projecting diagonally from the corners of the
gables and rectangularly from the east and west
walls. The buttresses have moulded and
weathered set-offs and have terminated in
crocketed pinnacles, one of which remains in
situ at the north-east angle of the north
transept ; all, save one on the east wall of the
south transept, have elaborately canopied
niches with moulded bases displaying such
devices as the emblems of the Passion, the
Seton arms, those of Seton impaled with
Murray, and divers foliaceous designs. Around
the whole structure there returns a splayed
basement course with an additional projecting
upper member round the choir and sacristy.
A string course returns round the choir at
the level of the window sills ; at the same
level on the north transept there returns

† " but " as in " but and ben " ; the eastern
completed portion was " ben."
* i.e. a canopy, usually in Scots as " sylure."

116

a hollowed string course. At eaves level
there is a cavetto cornice, of earlier section
round the choir and sacristry than round
the transepts, which is enriched with pateræ
save on the east wall of the south transept.
The pateræ of the cornice of sacristy and choir
are floral, while those of the transepts take the
form of grotesques, or are shield shaped, or
foliaceous. The choir has a slated roof re-
placing the 5th Lord Seton's original stone
flags, which covered this roof similarly to the
roofs of the transepts and sacristry.
The choir has an external doorway, which is
now built up, in the central bay of the south
wall (fig. 163). This has a semicircular head
wrought with filleted rolls and flanking hollows,
which are continued down the jambs and ter-
minate in moulded bell-shaped bases. The
projecting label is undercut and terminates in
stops carved respectively with a foliaceous and
a zoömorphic motif. Above the doorway is a
panel, very decayed, within an enriched
marginal border, bearing a crest, helm and
mantling over a canted shield supported by
two animals. On either side of the crest is a
diminutive shield. The arms on these and on
the main escutcheon are illegible.*
The choir windows are of two and three
lights with splayed jambs and pointed heads ;
the infilling of tracery is modern but repeats
the old design. The eastern walls of the
transepts are blank, in accordance with
Scottish custom (cf. Art. No. 68), but the
gables are pierced by large windows. These
have pointed heads, and their central mullion
is built in courses and bifurcates above the
springing level ; the compartments thus formed
are filled with smaller tracery, modern but in
keeping with the windows. The windows to
the west are of three lights and resemble
those of the choir.
The church is now entered through the
western arch of the crossing. The north,
south and west arches and piers of the crossing
are similar in section and are coarser and
heavier than those of the earlier eastern arch.
The piers of the latter have slighter bases and
terminate in rather delicately carved foliaceous
capitals in contrast with the coarser vine, palm
leaf and thistle motifs employed on the other
pier capitals. The choir is 54 feet long and

* But cf. Family of Seton ii. p. 784.