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 structure begun to be erected in continuation of the south transept
has already been referred to. The building (see Fig. 571) is 57 feet in
length by 25 feet in width internally, and comprises four bays in the
length and two in the width, supported on three central pillars. The
entrance is from the wide landing of the staircase in the south transept
leading down to the lower church, from which point a series of wide
steps leads down to the floor. From these steps a good view is obtained
of the interior (Fig. 605).
[Illustration: FIG. 604.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral.
Details of Rood Screen.]
The pillars are all moulded and provided with caps and bases, and the
arches springing from them have numerous moulded groins with large
foliaged bosses at the intersections. A substantial stone bench
surrounds the outer walls; on this rest the bases of the responds and
the sloping sills of the windows. Externally the building is plain (see
Fig. 593), and has evidently been prepared for an upper story. It has a
heavy moulded base, which is returned round the buttresses. The section
of this base (see Fig. 573) is different from those of the nave and
choir, and is doubtless later, the base of the main building being (as
above mentioned) carried through this wing, which abuts against it. The
buttresses of the main building are also carried down to the base, and
the walls and arches of the crypt abut upon them. The doorway is
evidently much older than the crypt. The windows have plain tracery, and
over each window is a small panel containing a piece of sculpture,
probably representing subjects from a mediæval bestiary, such as those
referred to in Vol. I. p. 19. They look older than the building in which
they are inserted.
[Illustration: FIG. 605.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Interior of
Blackadder’s Crypt.]
It is conjectured from the following inscription on the vaulting, “This
is ye ile of Car Fergus,” that this structure was begun at an early
period, and that it was completed by Archbishop Blackadder, whose arms,
surmounted by his mitre, are carved on the central buttress at the south
end, and also on the corbel of a niche at the north-west angle. It is
difficult to decide either the date or the purpose of this structure.
It
[Illustration: FIG. 606.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Monument to the Barons
of the House of Mynto.]
has evidently been intended to be carried higher, and probably may have
been meant to form an extension of the transept. Although the work in
the interior has considerable resemblance to that in the lower church,
it is decidedly later, and has been copied from it. The work on the
exterior is very much inferior, and the carving of the caps, which
seems also to be imitated from that of the choir, is evidently late and
debased. The groin ribs, too, are coarse, and point to about the time of
Bishop Blackadder.
[Illustration: FIG. 607.--St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Part of Monument,
enlarged.]
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