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
priest’s room, supposing the room to be cotemporary with the arch. So
little remains of the side walls that with regard to the windows and
roof and height we are left to conjecture. There is no appearance of its
having been higher than the nave. It most resembles a chancel on the
west, and there is in Uyea, Shetland, a chapel with an adjunct,
apparently original, in that position. If we may suppose that the west
arch was the _original_ entrance to the church, and that the south
doorway was of later date, then this building may have been a sacristy,
cotemporary with the south doorway. The floor of the late cottage was
about 1 foot 3 inches above what appears to have been the floor of the
west arch, which is 5 feet 5 inches below the top of cap. The north wall
is 2 feet 10 inches thick, and the south wall 2 feet 6 inches. They are
about 10 feet 6 inches or 11 feet above the supposed sill of the west
arch.
The south doorway is of ecclesiastical date, even if the jambs are not
original. The north doorway is perhaps domestic, though resembling that
on south. They have the usual rebate and wooden frames fixed in them,
and have lately been the doors of the cottage.
The heads are square. (Fig. 85.) Probably at the beginning of the
domestic period the south one was altered in some degree, and the north
one made or altered. If the building at the west end was the original
chancel, these entrances are not cotemporary with _that_, being in wrong
position for that arrangement.
[Illustration: FIG. 85.--Church, Enhallow, Orkney. North and South
Elevations.]
It is not certain whether the present chancel on the east is cotemporary
with the nave, or whether there was an earlier one or none; but the
present chancel arch is clearly an addition of a much later date than
the nave. (See Fig. 84.) It is 4 feet 1 inch wide, pointed, has red
freestone caps chamfered, and the mark of insertion is clear on the
north side of it. It will be seen that the nave is 11 feet 3 inches wide
at west end, and 12 feet at east, and in the south-east corner there is
a slight projection and roughness. This may be the junction of a former
south wall of the nave which got out of repair, or it may be the
junction of the jamb of the chancel arch. When the chapel came to be
used for a cottage it was divided into two stories. (Fig. 86.)
On the north (Fig. 87) is one window, square headed, 2 feet by 1 foot 2
inches clear, with splayed jambs, but without freestone dressings or
external chamfer, and in north-east corner is an ambry 3 feet 9 inches
by 3 feet 9 inches, and 1 foot 6 inches recess. The bottom is 3 feet 6
inches above the original floor. The position is peculiar.
[Illustration: FIG. 86.--Church, Enhallow, Orkney. Sections.]
[Illustration: FIG. 87.--Church, Enhallow, Orkney. Sections.]
On the south is a window like that on the north, and three small
ambries, perhaps one or all domestic.
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