stirling-1963-vol-1/05_183

Transcription

No. 137 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 137
across the middle. The lowermost part of the shield
has been mutilated by the fracture, but if a boar's head
appeared here, as is most probable, the charge would
have been: A chevron between three boars' heads erased,
at honour point a small cross. This last no doubt does
duty for the inescutcheon of a Baronet of Nova Scotia.
On the dexter side of the shield there probably once
appeared S / ME, for Sir Michael Elphinstone, but
today only the S survives, with the bottom of the M just
showing below the belt of mutilation. On the sinister
side of the shield there appears a rod of office, its lower
end mutilated. Below the shield is cut the motto
V [I] VIT POST FVNE / [R] A VIRTVS ("Virtue lives
beyond the grave"). The main inscription begins at the
upper dexter corner of the slab, runs round the margin
and continues below the top line; with a conjectural
restoration of the damaged portions, it may be taken to
have read HEIR LYES ANE [H] ON / [OVRABLE] MAN
SIR MICHAEL ELPHIN [STO] N MAISTER HOVSHOLD
TO / HIS MAIESTIE AND AN [E] / OF HIS MOST
H [ONOVRABL] E PRI [VY] CO [VN] SAL BROTHER
GERMAN TO ROBERT LORD EL / PHINSTONE QVA /
DECEASED THE 14 / OF FEBRVARIE 1625 / AETATIS
SVAE 2. The last line is cut on an ansate panel. Sir
Michael Elphinstone was the second son of Alexander,
and Lord Elphinstone, and served as Master of the
Household to James VI. His age as given in the inscrip-
tion is obviously absurd, and must presumably result
from a stone-cutter's error.
(vii) Alexander, 4th Lord Elphinstone. This is a plain
slab with a raised shield in the centre. It is charged: A
chevron between three boars' heads erased. About the
shield are set the initials L / AE, and below it the date
1638, all in relief. This is evidently the memorial of
Alexander, 4th Lord Elphinstone, whose wife's grave-
slab is noted under (v) above. (Cf. also p. 240).

TOMBSTONES, ETC., IN THE GRAVEYARD. The Logan
monument, which stands on the S. margin of the
graveyard, has evidently been reduced in height and is
now partially ruinous, but it may originally have
resembled the Sconce monument in the Holy Rude
graveyard, Stirling (p. 139). It is probably later in date
than 1707, but it incorporates fragments of earlier
monuments. One of these is the central panel in the
band of ornamentation at ground level; it bears a shield,
supported by woodhouses and charged: A saltire, in
dexter chief a mullet. Traces of lettering are visible
below the shield, and in 1878 these could be read as
AB, for Sir Alexander Bruce of Airth ¹ father of the
first Baronet. Another is part of a round-topped and
moulded pediment which now stands loose on the top
of the structure. This shows, in the centre, the relief
figure of an archangel with a trumpet and an open book,
and at the extremities the divided date 1685. On the
pages of the book is incised [T] HIS IS / THE WAY /
WALK YE / IN IT ² ; to the right of the figures appears
ARISE YE DEAD / AND COME TO JUDGEMENT, and to
the left of it TO-DAY / THE VOYCE IS / BUT ERE
LONG / THE VOICE WILBE -- The unfinished sen-
tence evidently continued on a stone which has now
disappeared.
The inscription on the principal surviving panel,
though no doubt later than 1707, deserves to be
recorded as an example of the taste of its period. Apart
from the initials IL and MP, in capitals in the upper
corners, it represents a metrical version of a passage
from the Book of Job, and reads JOB CHAP XIX /
VERS 25 26 27 /
I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES
THAT AT THE LATTER DAY /
HE SHALL THEN STAND UPON THE EARTH
HIS SCEPTRE FOR TO SWAY /
AND THOUGH AFTER MY WITHRED SKINE
MY BODY WORMES QUICKLIE /
SHOUL [D] ALL DESTROY YET TRUST I WILL
GOD IN MY FLESH TO SEE /
WHOM I SHALL SEE EVEN FOR MY SELF
AND MINE EYES SHALL BEHOLD /
AND NOT ANOTHER THOUGH MY REINES
BE ALL CONSUMED A [?ND] OLD
Below, in a different script, appears REBUILT BY
MARGARET LOGAN DAUGHTER TO / JAMES LOGAN
IN THE YEAR 1773.
Five small headstones of the 17th century were noted.
Four of these, standing together in the NW. corner of
the graveyard, evidently belong to the same family as
they are inscribed respectively 1682 / GM IS / AB IM;
GM IS / AB IM; 1698 / GM IS; and GM IS. The
fifth shows the date 1696 only. There are a large number
of recumbent slabs, nearly all of which are now illegible,
and some of these may possibly be earlier than 1707,
as may also be some of the small earthed-up headstones.
The fact that a cliff falls away from near the S. side of
the church has led to the majority of the graves being to
the north of the building.
Three mortsafes lie in the graveyard. They all take
the form of massive iron coffins, like the one at the
North Church illustrated in Pl. 51 C, and on each appears
the word AIRTH followed by a date - 1831, 1832 and
1837 on the three respectively.

900868 -- NS 98 SW ("Church")
Various dates in 1955

138. South Church, Airth. This church stands on the
SW. side of Main Street, near the SW. edge of the
village. As is shown by the inscription noted below, it
was built in 1809 as a Burgher meeting-house; but it is
no longer in its original condition as it was renovated in
the early years of the 20th century - the fenestration
being altered, the gallery removed, the seating replaced
and a heating-system installed. ³ It is a plain oblong
structure of large squared rubble with droved dressings

1 P.S.A.S., xiii (1878-9), 168.
2 Isaiah, xxx, 21. The other two texts do not appear to be
quotations from the Scriptures.
3 Information from the Rev. James H. Miller.

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