Abbeys -- Scotland; Cathedrals -- Scotland; Church architecture -- Scotland
while it gives a fine shadow under the arch, has a feeling of
rudeness, which, to a considerable extent, characterises the whole
west front. "There is a remarkable resemblance in the decoration of
this doorway to that of the doorway in the porch of Lerida
Cathedral, Spain, supposing the tunnel arch of Arbroath away, and
the moulded part brought forward to the face of the wall, as is the
case at Lerida.... A similar ring ornament, on a large scale, is
also to be seen in a doorway at Lamington, Lanarkshire, where it is
likewise used along with the zig-zag, but there the ringed order is
the outer enrichment."[440]
The removal of the outer part of a gallery, which existed over this
doorway, has increased the rude appearance of the west front, but
the inner part of this gallery still remains. Within the great
thickness of the wall a chamber of considerable size was obtained,
and it opens into the nave by six pointed arches, and to the outside
over the doorway by three arches. It is regarded as obvious that
three gablets projected outwards from the wall for a distance of
about four feet, supported on two intermediate shafts, and that the
gallery was closed in at each end with walls or haffits, both of
which still remain in part. We now see the west front robbed of its
most unique features; the gallery was reached by a long passage at
each end from stairs in the angle-buttresses. It probably was a
gallery for an orchestra, and may have also been used as a pulpit to
address an open-air audience.[441]
Above this gallery was an immense circular window, a portion of
which still survives. "It is probable that this part of the building
was erected at two different times, the west doorway and some of the
pillars of the gallery being in the early transition style, while
the triple windows to the front and the six-light arcade towards the
interior are in the first pointed style. When the gallery was
completed in the first pointed period, the floor space was enlarged
by extending it to the front, hence the necessity for the deep
tunnel arch over the west doorway. The pointed arches in the ingoing
also indicate this first pointed period."[442]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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