stirling-1963-vol-1/05_172

Transcription

No. 131 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 131
of this earlier arrangement is given by several surviving
features - the sloping heads of the end walls of the aisles,
the heavy splayed raggles of the penthouse roof appear-
ing on these, the square-headed windows in the E. pair,
which once lighted the roof-space, and the weathered
raggle of the penthouse roof which shows above the
clearstorey windows.
The floor of the choir lies higher than those of the
crossing and of its own aisles, and sets of three steps
rise respectively under the choir arch and under both
the E. arches of the arcades. The piers of the arcades
(Pl. 27 A) are square on plan, each side measuring 2 ft.
8 1/2 in. They consist of clustered, filleted shafts, the
sections of which correspond with the mouldings of
capitals and bases. The capitals comprise a compressed
bell and a heavy upper member consisting of multiple
rolls and fillets; the bases are high (Pl. 27 C). The capitals
of the S. arcade differ somewhat from those of the N.
arcade and incorporate carved foliage (Pl 27 B). The
arches have pronounced hollow mouldings and incorpor-
ate labels, those of the S. arcade finishing on carved stops
while those of the N. arcade die into the pier capitals.
Immediately above the apices of the labels, which on the
S. side are decorated with carved heads, there runs a
string-course, which forms a base to what must originally
have been three triforium openings in either wall; these
are round-headed, chamfered on the outside but heavily
moulded inside, and each now contains a round-headed
two-light window. This alteration has resulted from the
substitution of flat for penthouse roofs on the aisles
(supra). The four roof trusses rest on moulded corbels,
the E. and W. ones on both arcades having spiral shafts
with stops set above the string-course; the other corbels
have shafts which descend below the string-course,
those on the N. dying into the capitals of the main arcade,
and those on the S. finishing on carved stops. The present
wooden lining of the roof, which dates from 1867, is said
to cover old "oak rafters, six inches square, about sixteen
inches apart, having angle struts, forming five angles". ¹
The first internal feature encountered at the W. end
of the N. choir-aisle is the filled-up doorway in the W.
bay, mentioned above. Its rear jambs are moulded, and
originally a spiral stair opened off its W. jamb to give
access to a room over the crossing, known as the King's
Room, which was destroyed about the middle of the
19th century. ² Just E. of this door there is a broken
benatura with an ogival head, chamfered on the arrises.
Further E. there is an Easter Sepulchre (Pl. 27 D); it is
3 ft. high, stands 1 ft. 10 in. above the floor and has a
moulded edge, much restored. The stair at the NE.
corner, which leads down to the vestry and offices under
the choir floor, dates only from the most recent restora-
tion, when these underground apartments were built
in an excavated space.
The vaulting of the N. aisle springs from the capitals
of the choir arcade on one side and from moulded corbels
on the other. It resembles that of the N. nave-aisle, and
has similar bosses with shields; but in addition there are
small decorations at all the intersections of ridge and
transverse ribs, a feature which occurs only here and
there in the nave vaults. The treatment of the S. aisle is
again similar (Pl. 28 A), but here the tas-de-charge spring
on both sides from corbels; those on the S. side finish
with short, twisted wall-shafts, which terminate in
carved stops (Pl. 28 B). The corbels on the choir side are
set slightly above the capitals of the pier arcade; one of
them is carved with a human mask, and the other three
are floriated. In the SE. corner of the S. aisle there is a
small ogival-headed credence with a chamfered arris.

THE PRESBYTERY. As the site of the church slopes
downwards from W. to E., the easternmost footings of
the presbytery are much below the internal floor levels,
and the aspect of the high E. end, as seen from the lower
level of St. John Street, is most impressive (Pl. 18 B). It
has five sides separated by stepped buttresses which are
topped by crocketed finials; the E. face is much the
widest, and the intermediate faces slightly wider than
the westernmost pair. The lowest part of the wall is
intaken above the plinth and a string-course runs round
just below the windows, rising and falling to suit the
levels of their sills. The windows are similar to those in
the rest of the church; the E. one has six lights and the
remainder three, but only the two W. ones have kept
their original tracery which is of a crude curvilinear form.
At the wall-head a crenellated parapet with a splayed
coping is corbelled out on a continuous corbel-course
above which is set a row of water-spouts. The parapet-
walk, like those of the aisles, is flagged. The E. end
finishes in a crow-stepped gable, and the roof, which is
pitched lower than that of the choir, is covered with stone
slabs (Pl. 20 D). The series of canopied niches noted on
the choir buttresses continues on those of the apse, but
here the niches are below the level of the window-sills.
The following details can be made out - N. and NE.,
worn stops showing what were probably heads; SE.,
apparently a head instead of a shield; S., traces of a
saltire on the shield. ³ Under the E. window there is a
further niche, with a tapering stop below it. Below this
niche there is a panel in a moulded frame; this appears
to be an insertion, and whatever inscription it once bore
is now illegible. The raggle of a lean-to roof appears on
walls and buttresses in the re-entrant angle between the
presbytery and the N. aisle of the choir.
Internally a lofty pointed arch at the E. end of the
choir opens into the presbytery, which is two steps higher
than the choir. The arch mouldings die into the wall-
faces immediately above a short string-course, from
which a shaft descends on either side to the level of the
capitals of the choir arcade and finishes in a carved stop
(Pl. 29 B, C). On each side of the presbytery, above the
side-windows, two squinch-arches have been formed
to make a square springing for the vaulted ceiling, which
is a pointed barrel-vault (Pl. 29 A); these arches are
segmental and heavily-moulded, the mouldings finishing
on stops of which one is a human face. The barrel-vault

1 T.S.N.H.A.S. (1889-90), 13, 60.
2 Eccles. Arch., iii, 319.
3 This last is evidently the shield included by Dr. Ross in his
account of those in the choir (T.S.N.H.A.S. (1913-4), 134).

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