stirling-1963-vol-1/05_173

Transcription

No. 131 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 131
had five moulded ribs and a moulded ridge-rib; the
former rise from moulded stops set on a string-course
at the springing-line. On the S. respond of the apse arch,
about 5 ft. above the level of the present floor and some
8 in. below a consecration cross, there are faint traces of a
shield painted in red and black outline. The painting has
been greatly damaged by the cutting-out of a hole for a
beam, which is now filled up with cement, and no details
can be made out.
Ten consecration crosses can be seen at various points
in the church. Their positions are indicated on the plan
(Fig. 52).

PULPIT AND DETAILS. The pulpit (Pl. 27 E) was made
during the alterations of 1911-4 to the West Church, but
it incorporates part of an older one dating from the 17th
century. Its circular body, in which the old work appears,
is divided into four main parts by fluted pilasters with
composite capitals, and these parts are in turn subdivided
transversely by mid-rails. The four upper panels are sunk,
fielded and carved with arabesque ornamentation; the
lower ones are sunk but not fielded, and show a variant
of the square-and-cypher pattern with a carved foliated
centre. The mid-rails have a simple intertwined border en-
closing a floral centre and, at each end, a leaf. The top rail
shows a band divided into rectangles by vertical ribs. Some
carved masonry details are preserved in St. Andrew's
Aisle; they include a stone decorated with geometrical
tracery and now hollowed out on one side to form a basin.
This was found in 1913 "in the foundations of a garden
dyke of one of the cottages in the northernmost row from
Cambuskenneth Abbey". ¹ No doubt it once formed part
of the Abbey buildings (cf. p. 129). In addition, the
chapel contains a corbel bearing a crudely carved human
head, part of a stone carved with what may have been the
hilt of a sword, and an object resembling a mortar.
Some further carved fragments are to be seen on the
rockery on the E. side of Cowane's Hospital (p. 292).

BELLS. Four bells hang in the tower, and have recently
been fully described, with an account of their history, by
Mr. R. W. M. Clouston.² The main facts regarding them
are given by him as follows. The treble bell ( 3 3/4 cwt.)
was bought new in 1781, and is inscribed 1781 / WM.
CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECIT. The second bell
(5 1/2 cwt.) is probably of 15-century date and may be
of local manufacture; it is inscribed in Gothic character
+ AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINUS TECUM
BENEDICTA TU INMULIERIBUS ET BENEDICTU(S)
("Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women and blessed"). An extra
vertical stroke has been added before IN, which has been
run into MULIERIBUS, and ET is represented by a
single crossed stroke, read by Clouston as T. The third
bell (4 3/4 cwt.) was originally bought from Lord Madertie
in 1631, but appears to have become cracked by 1657 and
was recast by Ouderogge of Rotterdam. It is inscribed
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA + CORNELIS OVDEROGGE
FECIT ROTTERDAM ANNO DOMINI 1657 / TO
STERLING TOWN I DOE BELONG. The tenor bell
(8 cwt.) was made by William Chapman in 1781, but
had to be recast, by David Burges, at the Gorbals
Foundry, in 1853. It is inscribed DAVID BURGES
FOUNDER GLASGOW, 1853 NO. 391. The frame in
which the bells hang dates from 1781.

GRAVE-MONUMENTS, ETC.
In St Andrew's Aisle. The following four memorials
lie in the floor of St. Andrew's Aisle, which was for
long the burial-place of the Forestar family. All are
now somewhat wasted and, in the account that follows,
the details of the inscriptions and heraldry shown in
square brackets have been supplied from records of the
carvings made by W. Rae Macdonald in 1896, and now
preserved in the Commission's archives. (1) A slab
inscribed HEIR LYETH / AGNES L [EI] SHMAN / WHO
DEPAIRTED / THE LAST OF / MAIRCH 1633 HIR
AIG 77. Below the inscription is an incised shield
dividing the initials D [F] and charged, for Forestar: A
hunting horn. Below this again there is another, dividing
ME and charged, for Erskine differenced from Stirling
or Leslie: On a pale, a buckle. Agnes Leishman appears
to have been a daughter of John Leishman of Waltoun
and wife of Duncan Forestar of Arngibbon. ³ The
attribution of the shields and initials that appear upon
the lower part of the stone is uncertain, but they may
represent David Forestar of Denovan and his first wife
Marie Erskine, who died about 1657. ⁴ The proprietor-
ship of the chapel seems to have passed from the
Forestars of Garden to the Forestars of Denovan in the
third quarter of the 17th century. ⁵ (2) A badly wasted
slab bearing two shields, the upper one having a label
above it [bearing the date 1584]. The upper shield,
which divides the initials AD, is charged: [On a fess
three mullets], in base a crescent. The lower shield,
which divides the initials AD / [E] M, is [parted per
pale and charged: Dexter, on a fess three mullets, in
base a crescent; sinister, a hunting horn, three mullets
in chief]. These are evidently the arms of Alexander
Durham of Mollet and of his wife Elizabeth Murray ⁶;
Alexander Durham was Argentar ⁷ to Mary, Queen of
Scots, and to James VI. (3) A large slab (6 ft. by 3 ft.
10 in.) in good preservation (Pl. 44 D). A marginal
inscription reads + HEIR LYIS ANE HONORABIL
MANE CALIT ALEXANDER FOSTER LAERD OF GARDEN
QVHA DEIT THE 13 OF IANVARE 1598; and below
the top line of this, with its own ends returned down-
wards, runs the motto SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA
("Honour and glory to God alone"). Below there is a
shield dividing the initials AF / DF, the lower pair being
cut large on a sunk panel. The shield is charged, for

1 T.S.N.H.A.S.) 1913-4), 134.
2 P.S.A.S., lxxxiv (1949-50), 85 ff.
3 Fleming. The Old Castle Vennel of Stirling, 52; The Stirling
Antiquary, ii, 106.
4 The Commissariot Record of Stirling, Register of Testaments,
1607-1800. S.R.S., 53.
5 The Stirling Antiquary, ii, 103.
6 Fleming, op.cit., 51.
7 The Argentar was the Royal officer having charge of the
money belonging to the king or queen.

-- 138