by tracery, is filled with solid masonry. The window in the east end (Fig. 1237) is pointed, and is filled with tracery which has been renewed, and is dated over the centre arch 1635. In the south transept there is a simple monument of Renaissance character (see Fig. 1236), which contains a fine shield with the Hay and Cockburn arms impaled--the first a mullet between three inescutcheons and the initials W. H., and the second a crescent between three cocks with the initials H. C. This shield contains traces of colour, and on the frieze there are five pateræ also in colour. [Illustration: FIG. 1236.--St. Bothan’s Collegiate Church. Monument in South Transept.] An earlier church than that just described existed here, and was dedicated to St. Bothan, after whom also the parish was named, until, on the erection of the present mansion house, the baronial name of the extensive domains of Yester superseded the old parochial name. In the ancient _Taxatio_ (1176) the Ecclesia de Bothani was rated at 30 marks, and it is again referred to in Bagimont’s Roll (1275) as the [Illustration: FIG. 1237.--St. Bothan’s Collegiate Church. East End.] Præpositura de Bothans, and is rated at £40. The territory of Yester was from the twelfth century in the possession of the family of Gifford, and in 1418 it passed, by marriage, into the possession of Sir William Hay of Locherwart, with whose descendants it still remains.[124] In 1421 Sir William founded the Collegiate Church of St. Bothan for a provost, six prebendaries, and two singing boys. And he and his successors endowed it with sufficient revenues. After the Reformation it continued to be the parish church till 1708, when a new church was built in the neighbouring village of Gifford. PARISH CHURCH, STIRLING.[125] This is one of the best preserved of the old churches of Scotland, and although it has suffered severely by various renovations and restorations, it is still a building of very considerable interest. The church occupies a high situation on the Castle Hill, and as approached up the steep streets, the lofty east end which first appears to view, with its prominent buttresses and tall windows, has a most imposing and picturesque effect.[126] The edifice consists of two divisions, the nave and choir, which were built at two different periods. The nave, which is the oldest part, is undoubtedly the church referred to in the Chamberlain’s Accounts for the year from July 1413 to June 1414, in which he “discharges himself of the issues of ayre held at Stirling, because it was granted to the work of the parish church which had been burnt.” Of the earlier church which had been burnt nothing now remains. The date of the east end or choir is known to be between 1507 and 1520.