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
Only the merest fragment of this ancient church now remains, consisting
of the east wall (Fig. 336), with an eastern tower attached to it. The
masonry of the east wall shows it to be of the Norman period. There has
been no opening of any kind in this wall. The returns of the chancel
walls are only indicated on the east wall by the slightest traces in the
jointing, so completely have they been cut away. The eastern tower (Fig.
337) is quite a unique feature in Scotland. It had no connection with
the church, although built against it, and is of later erection by
probably two or three centuries. The doorway is low and lintelled, and
has a simple splay. The upper part of the tower has apparently been
rebuilt, and, with the slated roof, dates doubtless from the seventeenth
century. The tower is about 10 feet 6 inches square inside, and about
34 feet high to the top of the masonry. It contains no stair.
In Ure’s _History of Rutherglen_ it is stated that there was a nave with
side aisles, 62 feet long by 25 feet wide, “exclusive of the additions
on the back and front;” that is, exclusive of the side aisles. Assuming
these to have been eight or ten feet wide, we should have a church
nearly corresponding in size with the present erection, built about a
century ago, and occupying the site of the nave, as shown in outline on
the plan, on which are also indicated the nave piers. The nave was thus
about 62 feet long by 45 feet wide, and the chancel was about 42 feet
long by 20 feet wide inside. Ure, by a mistake easily made, gives the
dimensions of the chancel as ten feet less in length. He also mentions
that there were five pillars on each side of the nave. This may mean
four whole pillars and two halves (the responds), as shown in the plan,
which, however, merely pretends to approximate to something like what
the original was.
[Illustration: FIG. 336.--St. Mary’s, Rutherglen. Plan.]
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