The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century; vol. 3/3MacGibbon, David
History
The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century; vol. 3/3
MacGibbon, David
Church architecture -- Scotland
Carmelite Friars’ Monastery.
Door in Choir.]
The church is an aisleless structure 97 feet long by 30 feet 2 inches in
breadth over the
[Illustration: FIG. 1222.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery.
East Window.]
walls (see Fig. 1214). It has a south transept projecting 22 feet 9
inches and 25 feet in width. The crossing is separated from the three
limbs of the church by projecting piers (Fig. 1216) carrying round
arches, above which rises the central tower. When the masonry which
blocked up the archway leading into the choir was lately taken down, it
was found that there had been a parapet about 3 feet high separating the
crossing from the choir. The responds of the massive parapet coping were
discovered wrought on the stones of the piers on either side. The choir
and crossing only have stone vaults. These are barrel vaults, as shown
in the view of the choir (Fig. 1217), where the vault is pointed, and in
the crossing (see Fig. 1216), where it is round and at right angles to
that of the choir, from which it is cut off and separated by the tower
arch. The springing of the tower arches is kept below that of the vault
over the crossing, as is usually done, in similar circumstances, in late
structures, so as to avoid the difficulties of groined vaulting. The
roof covering of the choir is of large overlapping stones, wrought after
the manner so often found in the castles and churches of the fifteenth
century. A wide gutter runs along the eaves (Fig. 1218), from which the
water escapes by numerous gargoyles.
There was a pointed entrance door in the south wall (Figs. 1219 and
1220) at the west end of the nave, and leading into the choir there is a
[Illustration: FIG. 1223.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery.
Window in Choir.]
[Illustration: FIG. 1224.--Carmelite Friars’ Monastery.
West Window of Nave (now destroyed).]
round-arched door (Fig. 1221), which is, however, lintelled in the
interior (see Fig. 1217). In the opposite wall a door leading to the
cloisters has the reverse arrangement, being round-arched in the inside
and lintelled on the exterior, where, on its west jamb, there is a
Maltese cross. A similar cross is visible on the west side of the
transept near the south end. There was a door into the cloisters from
the crossing (see Fig. 1215) and another existed from the nave.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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