stirling-1963-vol-1/05_171

Transcription

No. 131 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 131
ascribed by Ross ¹ to the Nairn family; they may
represent either Robert Nairn or Thomas Nairn, both
of whom appear in the burgh records in the period during
which the nave was under construction. ²
The roof, which contains nine main trusses, is one of
the few mediaeval timber roofs still surviving in Scotland
(Pls. 23 A and 25). It is of comparatively rough workman-
ship. The trusses comprise tie-beam, king-post, struts
and principal rafters, supporting purlins and ridge-
piece (Pl. 26). Extra rigidity is afforded by short
longitudinal struts which further support the ridge-
piece and the adjacent pair of purlins, while the ends of
the trusses are supported on wall-posts, alternate trusses
being further strengthened by stout curved brackets.
These latter trusses, which form the main structural
members of the roof, have long wall-posts, supported on
moulded corbels. The intermediate trusses have only
short wall-posts, which rest, on the N., upon carved
corbels, and on the S., upon the labels of the clearstorey
windows.

THE CROSSING AND TRANSEPTS. As has been said, the
central tower that formed part of the original scheme
was never constructed, and, though the arches to the
choir and aisles were built, it was only in the course of
the restorations of 1936-40 that the crossing-piers were
completed and the crossing arched over. It is not now
known how the two W. crossing-piers were finished on
their E. faces. They are shown as squared by MacGibbon
and Ross, ³ but a later plan, ⁴ prepared about 1912 and
now in the Commission's archives, shows them as
being obscured on the E. by the cross-wall that will be
mentioned shortly, and they are now obscured by the
20th-century restorations. In these the W. piers were
given the same appearance as the E. ones on N., E. and
S., while their W. faces retain the original half-round
responds of the nave arcade. The two E. piers, however,
are of 16th-century date apart from restoration in their
W. portions; they are composed of clustered shafts
contained within capitals and bases which are square on
plan, each side measuring 6 ft. 6 in. Before the restorations
the church was divided into two by a screen-wall, which
was built about 1656 (cf. p. 130) and which is known
to have been repaired in 1731. ⁵ Transepts may have been
contemplated as early as the 15th century (cf. p. 134),
but were not erected until 1936-40.

THE CHOIR. The choir is divided into three bays, and
has a N. and a S. aisle (Pl. 23 B). Its external appearance
(Pl. 17) differs from that of the nave in that it stands
much higher and that the aisle windows are con-
sequently taller; the buttresses, too, of which the end
ones are set obliquely, are carried up to the end in
crocketed finials, and are intaken in steps (Pl. 20 A, E).
There is also a double string-course at the bases of both
upper and lower parapets as well as one at window-sill
level; while the parapet of the N. aisle preserves, near
its centre, an original crenellated portion, the uppermost
courses of the rest have been rebuilt. Differences in
the copings of the crenellated and uncrenellated parapets
suggest that those on the S., which today are plain, may
likewise have been crenellated originally and have been
renewed. The aisle windows are equilateral and have
stopped label-mouldings; all have four lights except the
W. one on the N. side, which has three, and which also
has its sill at a higher level; the tracery in all appears to
have been renewed. The three-light window seems to
have been designed to leave room, immediately to the
W. of it, for a doorway, now filled up (p. 137). Below the
sill of the E. window on the S. an opening has at some
time been broken through the wall and subsequently
filled up; this is unlikely to have been a door as its head
would have been too low. ⁶ Raggles for a penthouse roof
have been cut on the buttresses on each side of this bay.
Each wall of the choir, above the aisle roof, now has three
clearstorey windows, but these are not original (p. 137).
In the W. gable, above the roof of the nave, there is a
vesica window; its jambs are splayed both inside and
outside. At window-sill level the buttresses incorporate
canopied niches, which are borne on carved corbels.
Many of the corbels are now rather worn, but those on
the N. side of the choir have evidently been carved with
human masks (Pl. 20 B). The corbels on the S. side of the
choir are carved with shields, the one on the central
buttress being charged: A saltire, on a chief two mullets,
within a bordure (Pl. 20 c). These appear to be the arms
of Bruce of Stenhouse and Airth, who became
a burgess of Stirling in 1520. ⁷ The other two shields,
which are now very much worn, were recorded by
Dr. Ross about 1912. ⁸ The westernmost one appears to
have been charged: A bull's head cabossed, in chief a
cinquefoil. It may represent a member of the Bully
family, which frequently appears in the burgh records
in the early 16th century. ⁹ The easternmost shield was
charged: On a bend between two mullets, two [? roses],
within a bordure, but this coat has not been identified.
On the new buttress at the NE. corner of the new N.
transept an old canopy and shield have been inserted to
form the top and bottom of a niche. ¹⁰ Two mullets in
chief can be seen on the shield, and the main charge was
a saltire; the arms appear to be those of the family of
Bruce of Stenhouse and Airth (supra). The aisles now
have flat roofs of lead, but they were originally of pent-
house form and were covered with stone slabs; evidence

1 T.S.N.H.A.S. (1913-4), 119; "parted per pale, sable and
argent, on a chaplet, 4 quarterfoils, all counterchanged".
Illustration ibid. on an unnumbered plate.
2 Ibid.
3. Eccles, Arch., iii, fig. 1238, p. 316.
4 This plan is also the source of other information made use
of here about the arrangements existing before the restorations
of 1936-40.
5 Stirling Council Records, ii, 219.
6 But Ronald, in T.S.N.H.A.S. (1889-90), 50, states that a
doorway was broken through the wall at this point in 1714.
7 Stirling Council Records, i, 2.
8 T.S.N.H.A.S. (1913-4), 133 ff. Unnumbered plate.
9 E.g. Stirling Council Records, i, 39; Stirling Charters, 190.
10 These are evidently the fragments that were recorded by
Dr. Ross about 1912, at which time they were preserved in
St. Andrew's Aisle (T.S.N.H.A.S. (1913-4), unnumbered
plate).

-- 136