roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_059

Transcription

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

is evidence that penthouse roofs extended from the
side walls and N. gable ; and a gallery or veranda,
from which the first floor was entered, ran along the
E. wall. This gallery returned round the NE. corner
of the building, and was there supported on heavy
struts instead of on posts as elsewhere. At its S.
end, that is at the SE. corner of the building, there
was no doubt a wooden forestair leading to the gallery
and through that to the first floor. On either floor
there were at least two rooms. On the ground floor
two fireplaces with mutilated hoods stand side by
side with room for no more than a stud partition
between them. The original building was 26 ft. in
breadth and about 70 ft. in length over all.
In remodelling the palatium in 1590 Douglas
removed the penthouse roofs and gallery, and added
to the SE. corner of the building a wing containing a
stair in the base and a room and a garret in the super-
structure. He reorganised the ground floor as a
kitchen and cellarage, inserting partitions where
necessary, and also remodelled the first floor and
contrived a third storey. New windows and doors,
which can be identified by their rounded arrises,
were formed without much regard for the original
openings. One window had an inscribed lintel,1 which
has come to rest over the modern entrance in the S.
wall of the wing. The lintel has a recessed panel
with a ribbon enrichment on the border, and contains
the initials of James Douglas and Mary Ker of
Ferniehirst separated by a heart and followed by the
date 1590. A small sunk panel on the right contains
a monogram of the initials A M, which may be those
of the carver but are more likely to stand for Abbas
Melrosensis, Douglas having been commendator at
that time. Beside the entrance a circular " shot-hole "
has been reset in modern masonry ; the E. and N.
walls of the wing each have a gun-loop in situ.
Like its predecessor, the 16th-century stair was of
wood ; this is most unusual at this period for so
important a house. The stair rose to the first floor,
whence the ascent was continued by a turnpike, now
removed, which was supported on a small, rect-
angular, vaulted lobby set out within the re-entrant
angle. Douglas divided the ground floor into four
compartments. those at either end occupying the full
width of the palatium ; the two intermediate com-
partments, which alone are vaulted, having a passage
on their E. side. The passage, from which all four
compartments were entered, was itself entered from
the E. It also communicated with the staircase by
way of the vaulted lobby below the turnpike. The
S. compartment is modern. The two vaulted cellars
remain intact. The N. compartment has been re-
stored as far as possible to the 16th-century arrange-
ment. On the S. it contains a wide-arched fireplace
with a salt-box in one jamb and a spice-cupboard in
the other.
On the first floor there are now three rooms. The
one to the S. is entirely modern. That to the N.,
situated over the kitchen, is the same size as it was
in the 16th century-at which period it had a fire-
place to the S., a recess in the gable opposite, and a
window in each outer wall. To make the central
room, two 16th-century rooms have been thrown into
one ; each had a fireplace at one end and was separ-
ated from its neighbour by a stud partition. In its
E. wall can be traced the two 15th-century doorways
that were entered from the gallery of the palatium.
In the 16th century the one to the N. was provided
with a lamp recess and a window and became a close
garderobe, while the other became a cupboard.
Before the restoration so little was left intact of the
16th-century rooms in the stair wing and on the
second floor that their arrangement is uncertain.
THE MUSEUM. In the museum are preserved the
following pieces of architectural detail, mostly from
the abbey buildings. Illustrations of a selection
will be found in Figs. 83, 84, 265, 372, 374, 393
and 394.
Ground Floor, S. Room. A 13th-century vault-
springer of Quarryhill stone from the claustral build-
ings ; fragments of a 13th-century pillar and respond
capitals of Quarryhill stone ; fragments of a 13th-
century colonnette and capital of Quarryhill stone ;
stones showing varieties of chiselling ; part of a
13th-century three-light window with nook-shafts,
probably from the choir-monks' frater ; 13th-century
keystone and vaulting-ribs from the claustral build-
ings ; fragment of late 12th-century double cone-and-
spindle ornament ; fragments of a 13th-century open
arcade which has had trilobed colonnettes set in a
double row ; fragment of a springer of a vault of the
same arcade ; fragment of early 13th-century arcad-
ing with a quadruple column-cap enriched with leaf-
and-berry ornament ; ribs and jamb mouldings
showing examples of masons' marks ; a corner of a
dressed slab bearing a Roman foliage-pattern, de-
scribed under No. 604.
Ground Floor, N. Room. From the early monastic
site at Old Melrose (No. 592), a carved fragment of
warm-coloured freestone, rounded at one end and
measuring over all 1 ft. 2 in. by 10 1/4 in. with a present
thickness of 5 3/4 in. The front alone is roughly dressed
and on it is carved a volute, or spiral of five turns,
below which there is a " neck ", originally about 9 in.
wide but now reduced to 3 1/2 in. This fragment may
be part of the top of a disc-faced cross.
Staircase. A grotesque sculpture, locally known
as " Tookam ", found in a garden wall at Melrose. A
double lion supporter removed from the lower end
of a 15th-century effigy-tomb.
First Floor, S. Room. Specimens of lead water-
pipes ; a late 12th-century capital of a nook-shaft
carved with wind-swept foliage ; a 12th-century
mask-corbel of red sandstone from Old Melrose
(No. 592) ; a late 12th-century capital of a nook-shaft
carved with water-leaf foliage ; a 12th-century
burial-canister of lead found in the chapter-house ;

1 Wade, A History of St. Mary's Abbey, Melrose, 251.

-- 288