roxburgh-1956-vol-1/04_326

Transcription

No. 504 Kelso Parish No. 504
the W. end of Jedburgh, built in Transitional style,
and almost identical with that on the E. end of
Dryburgh, which must be subsequent to 1150.
The abbey buildings (Fig. 297) are of sandstone,
Probably from Sprouston Quarry (No. 975), situated
No. 504 Kelso Parish No. 504
the W. end of Jedburgh, built in Transitional style,
and almost identical with that on the E. end of
Dryburgh, which must be subsequent to 1150.
The abbey buildings (Fig. 297) are of sandstone,
Probably from Sprouston Quarry (No. 975), situated
[Floor plan of Abbey inserted here]
Fig. 297. Kelso Abbey (No. 504).
on the opposite bank of the Tweed and 2 1/2 miles
ENE. of Kelso. The stone, pale grey to buff or
yellow in colour when freshly broken, is rich in
disseminated flakes of mica and consequently the
carved details are considerably decayed.
THE CHURCH : Exterior. In Scotland the Tiron-
ensians favoured an extended front for their larger
churches, and the one at Kelso had not only transepts
in the usual position but also others at the W. end
flanking a great Galilee porch-these W. divisions
having also a tower above their crossing and together
making a facade of quite unusual grandeur. That
this W. end was based upon that of Ely Cathedral
has often been said, but the suggestion has little to
support it. At Ely, in the first instance a Benedictine
church, the Galilee is an addition, although it prob-
ably occupied the site of an earlier porch, while that
of Kelso was an original provision. There is, more-
over, good reason for believing that Kelso is the
earlier structure of the two. Indeed, apart from their
having a common plan for their W. ends and showing
a similar profusion of nailhead ornament, there is
little correspondence between the two buildings,
and any prototype for Kelso is probably to be sought
in Rhenish Romanesque work.
The nave and its aisles are represented only by
two bays of the S. arcade, and the extent of the nave
is uncertain, excavation by H.M. Office of Works in
1933 having yielded no definite evidence of the
position of the E. transepts. The form of the E.
ending is likewise unknown, but in view of the early
date of the monks' entry to the site, and of the fact
that the seniors at least of the convent must once
have been inmates of Tiron and therefore conversant
with contemporary French design, it is most likely
that the E. end was apsidal in the first instance, while
the E. transepts may each have had an apsidiole.
Both on plan and in elevation the design of this
church is of exceptional merit, yet most of the
architectural detail is both coarse and uninspired in
comparison with the contemporary work at Jedburgh.
Although its SW. angle is missing, the front of the
Galilee (Fig.299) still forms a dignified composition
in the Transitional style-its great W. portal ad-
vancing in the centre from between broad buttresses
of slight projection with engaged shafts rising within
their re-entrant angles. The doorway itself, now
represented only by its N. side, is built in recessed
orders. On the remaining jamb there have been five
nook-shafts, traceable from their moulded bases and
their capitals, the latter carved with water-leaf
foliage. The arch-head, enclosed within a hood-
mould, has been built in six orders, all of them
variously enriched, the motifs including the nail-head,
the dog-tooth, banded rolls, the cable, the beak-head,
and the chevron. Above it runs a sloping cope rising
from a chip-carved band, which returns and runs
along the surviving halfit on which there is a single
bay of interlaced arcading lower down. Over the
portal there are the remains of a single lofty round-
arched window built in two orders, the outer order
of the jambs being provided with a nook-shaft while
that of the arch bears a bold chevron ornament.
On either side of the window there have been two
bays of attenuated interlaced arcading with long
banded shafts. Over these and the window run two
decorated courses, the upper one enriched with a
nebuly and the lower one with a flattened double
cone, confined between two string-courses. The
upper part of the gable shows one side of a vesica-
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