The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century; vol. 2/3MacGibbon, David
History
The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century; vol. 2/3
MacGibbon, David
Church architecture -- Scotland
The repairs carried out by Prior Alexander were probably the work
required for the erection of the tomb of Sir Kenneth and his own tomb,
which was in a recess in the choir on the opposite side of the wall from
that of Sir Kenneth.
[Illustration: FIG. 652.--Beauly Priory. Tomb of Sir Kenneth Mackenzie.]
The tomb of Sir Kenneth (Fig. 652) is a good specimen of the work of the
period, and is very similar to other tombs of the same kind at Fortrose
and Fearn. The recumbent figure, clad in full armour, rests on an
arcaded tomb or pedestal, and the recess, which is covered with a
pointed canopy, is enriched with a crocketed label and pinnacle bearing
a shield, and the whole tomb is flanked by two thin buttresses. On the
sill is engraved the following inscription:--“Hic Jacet Kanyens M.
Kynych d’us de Kyntayl. q. obiit dii Februarii A. Di M.CCCC.LXXXXI.”
The chamber to the south of the choir has also contained monuments, but
they are now destroyed. It measures 22 feet by 17 feet internally, and
seems to have been connected by a door with the conventual buildings to
the south. It has contained two stories, the upper story forming a
gallery, connected with the church by a wide arch (see Fig. 649).
The choir contains a double piscina, near the east end, in a good first
pointed style.
Under the triangular windows in the south wall of the nave are a piscina
and ambry. These mark the position of an altar, which may have been
erected at the rood screen, which probably separated the nave from the
choir at this point, thus dividing the portion of the church open to the
parishioners from that reserved for the clerics. Opposite this piscina
there is a door (now built up) in the north wall, and near it, on the
outside, there is another piscina. This may possibly mark the position
of another chapel, which may have been that of the Holy Cross above,
said to have been erected by Hugh Fraser in the fifteenth century.
NEWBATTLE OR NEWBOTLE ABBEY,[90] MID-LOTHIAN.
Newbotle Abbey or, as it is now called (without the name having any
special meaning), Newbattle Abbey is situated on the river Esk, about
two miles south from Dalkeith. It was founded by David I. in the year
1140, for monks of the Cistercian order, who were brought to Newbotle
(or new residence) from Melrose. The “leader of the colony” appears to
have been Ralph, the first abbot, who obtained numerous gifts and
privileges for the convent, and consecrated a “cemetery within the
precinct of the monastery.” The second abbot, Alfred, who died in 1179,
was also a great benefactor to the abbey. He brought to it many relics,
which he enclosed in a silver chest. “He adorned the chapter house with
handsome seats, and also erected proper stalls, with convenient desks or
_menologies_ of wood, in the cloisters on the side where the ‘collation’
or reading of the lives of the saints was held, for the use of the
brethren during the reading of collation before compline at the washing
of feet at Maunday.”[91]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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