roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_050

Transcription

No. 567 -- MELROSE PARISH -- No. 567

On the church walls two rows of putlog-holes can
be seen above the seating and at a still higher level
there is a row of corbels below a weather-table, the
last serving also as a sill-course for the nave-aisle
windows. The corbels bore the runner of a pent-
house roof, the rafters of which rested on this runner
on one side and on the outer wall of the alley on the
other side. The toes of the rafters seem to have been
tenoned into a special form of tile wall-head, speci-
mens of which are preserved in the museum. The
upper putlog-holes received one end of the tie-
beams, the lower ones accommodated a series of
inclined braces corresponding to the rake of the
rafter-feet ; the ties, braces, and rafter-feet were
probably boarded in to form a coved ceiling. A
slight difference in the width of the E. and S. alleys
accounts for discrepancies in the levels of the corbels
and lower putlog-holes on the two sides. This was
the arrangement where the alleys were reconstructed
with the church, but the early alleys may have been
barrel-vaulted-so much, at least, is suggested by
the evidence for a short stretch of barrel-vaulting
that may be seen immediately S. of the chapter-
house.
The S. compartment on the ground floor of the
E. range, a vaulted chamber opening out of the N.
transept (p. 278), is known as the " wax-cellar ".
In a common arrangement the compartment in this
position is divided in two, the part opening to the
church forming a sacristy and that part opening to
the cloister serving as a treasury. Here there is one
compartment only, presumably a sacristry ; it prob-
ably acquired its name from the fact that the money
paid twice a year towards the cost of maintaining
lights in the church was called ceragium. With the
exception of its N. wall, which survives from the
12th century and contains three round-arched
recesses, the wax-cellar was entirely rebuilt when the
transept was reconstructed ; and its present vault is
even later, as it has replaced an earlier one. It is lit
from the E., the single, small, lintelled window being
set so high as to require three steps within its breast.
There are steps at the entrance too, for the floor, like
that of all the ground-floor apartments in the cloister
buildings, is considerably lower than the church
floor. The lowest step is a re-used tombstone dating
from either the 13th or the 14th century and bearing
an inscription in Lombardic letters of which only
the beginning is exposed ; this reads † HIC IACET /
IOHANNA D(E) ROS [. . . . .]. The family of Ros or Rous
were prominent on the East March, owning the castle
and manor of Wark in Tynedate. This tombstone
presumably came from the part of the cemetery taken
in when the church was enlarged, since the burial of
women within Cistercian churches was prohibited.
On the N. side of the wax-cellar lies the chapter-
house which, although reduced almost to its founda-
tions, shows extensive signs of alteration. Where so
little is left the size and shape of the original chapter-
house cannot be precisely determined, but a close
approximation can be made. The width from N.
to S. has always been in the neighbourhood of 34 ft.
6 in. This indicates that the first chapter-house
was aisled, as the Cistercians preferred, while a pier
on one side-wall may stand on the line of the
original E. wall, in which case the building did not
project E. beyond the limits of the range. If these
inferences are correct, it follows that the early build-
ing was vaulted, and was three bays wide and two
bays long, as at Preuilly, measuring 30 ft. 6 in. from
E. to W.
The chapter-house was already in existence in
1159 1 when Waltheof, the second abbot, who was
afterwards canonised, was buried beside the entrance
in a position which he had himself chosen. In 1170
his tomb was opened by Ingelram, bishop of Glasgow,
who found the body entire and its vestments intact,
and thereupon provided a new grave-cover of polished
marble. In 1240 the grave was once more disturbed,2
a tooth and some small bones being removed as
miracle-working relics ; but for the purpose of the
present account the importance of the record lies in
a previous sentence, which states that, at the same
time, the bones of other abbots who had been buried
beside the entrance to the chapter-house were trans-
ferred to the E. part of the building.3 This entry
proves that in 1240 the chapter-house had already
been enlarged to its present dimensions ; and the
inference may be drawn that the work was then still
in progress.4 After its enlargement the chapter-
house, like that of Tintern, was a rectangular vaulted
hall, three bays wide and five in length, having a
width of 34 ft. 6 in. and a length of 53 ft. The
arcaded front, of which only the lower part has
survived, is richly treated. The central doorway and
its side-openings have shafted jambs built in recessed
orders, the shafts, which were detached, having
finely moulded bases of the " water-holding " variety.
In 1921 excavation proved that the floor had been
tiled. Contrary to the Cistercian regulations, some
of the tiles are ornamented in contrasting colours,
motifs such as the fleur-de-lys, the star, and the petal
being used ; since the Chapter-General of 1218
ordained that such pavements, where they existed,

1 Jocelyn of Furness cited in Scotichronicon, vi, cap. xxv.
2 Although the chronicle is silent on the point, it is
probable that in this year the saint's tomb was enclosed
within a feretory-fragments of one of this time were found
beside the chapter-house and are now on display in the
museum.
3 The privilege of burial in the chapter-house of Melrose
was not confined to abbots. From 1215 onwards lay bene-
factors of the house were buried both in then old building
and in the new one ; the first burial recorded in the latter,
after the translation of the abbots' remains, was that of a
woman, Christian Corbet, wife of William, second son of
Patrick, Earl of Dunbar. (Melrose Chronicle, 61, 71, 89,
90, 107.) She died in 1241, and was probably thus
honoured both on account of her father's benefactions and
because her husband was reputed miles bone oppinionis (sic)
and was also the fortunate possessor of one of St. Waltheof's
teeth (supra).
4 Cf. Melrose Chronicle, 35, 39, 87.

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