The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century; vol. 1/3MacGibbon, David
History
The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century; vol. 1/3
MacGibbon, David
Church architecture -- Scotland
The doors are chiefly in the west ends. Both square and round heads
occur. Several have no rebates. (See Birsay.) St. Ola, Deerness, and
perhaps Uya have no chancels, but all the rest have decided chancels.
There is no instance of a chancel door. Orphir, Egilsey, The Ness,
Culbinsbrough, Norwick, Kirkaby, and Colvidale have or had chancel
arches equal in width to the chancels. In England this fashion rarely
occurs; where it does it is late. It is constructively weak.
Enhallow has a chancel arch with projecting jambs of about the English
proportion.
Birsay, Wyre, Linton, perhaps Uya, and probably Noss have or had very
narrow chancel arches.
In our early churches the chancels were small in comparison with the
naves, and in cathedrals the ritual choir was under the cross or west of
it.
They elongated the choirs in the thirteenth century, and soon placed the
ritual choir east of the cross.
Orphir and Egilsey had windows with circular heads. Birsay, Wyre,
Enhallow, and Culbinsbrough had at least some windows with flat heads.
The Ness has all flat. No instance remains of a double light, or of a
transom, or of a triangular head, which is not unfrequent in Ireland.
At Egilsey, Enhallow, and the Ness are no grooves for glass or rebates,
or external chamfers. At Orphir and Birsay are grooves and chamfers.
(See account of Egilsey.) Of the six churches which retain the east
ends--St. Ola, Orphir, Deerness, Wyre, Egilsey, and the Ness--four have
no east window, except that in the latter there is a small opening high
up in the east gable. In the early Irish churches it is very unusual not
to have an east window. Probably no apse was without an east window.
As far as can be made out at present, there was no step to the chancel
and no platform for the altar, except the inserted step and altar at
Birsay. In some the chancel windows are singularly low, as at Wyre and
Egilsey. No piscina remains, and only one sedile, but several ambries.
There are only four cases where we can judge of the pitch of the roofs.
The Ness had a roof including about 85 degrees, Egilsey about 88
degrees, Enhallow the same, and Wyre about 95 degrees. Probably all had
rude stepped coping on the gables.
MONUMENTS.
The grave stones found in connection with these churches are of four
kinds.
1. Keel-shaped slabs placed horizontally on graves, as at Sandwick in
Unst, sketched by Mr. Irvine.
2. Upright stones nearly rectangular, with crosses engraved on them, as
at Sandwick, etched by Mr. Irvine, and at Norwick and some other places.
This class includes the elaborate monument from Culbinsbrough.
3. The same shaped stones, without any ornamentation, found at many of
the old burial-grounds.
4. Upright stones cut into the form of crosses, as at Uya.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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