The building (Fig. 1238) consists, from end to end, of a central nave with north and south aisles (the aisles being vaulted in stone), an eastern apse, and a western tower. The nave has five bays, the choir three bays, and they are separated by a wide bay, which may be termed the crossing. The crossing now serves as an entrance hall to the two churches which are located in the edifice, walls being built across each side of the crossing so as to enclose the choir as one church and the nave as the other. The total internal length of the building, exclusive of the apse and tower, is about 160 feet by about 55 feet in width; including apse and tower the internal length is about 200 feet. The original entrance to the church was through the western tower, and as the ground rises considerably towards the west, there must have been steps down to the floor of the nave. The western doorway was destroyed in 1818, when the sill of the window above was lowered into the space occupied by the door arch, but the bases and lower part of the door jambs still remain (Fig. 1239). The tower, which is vaulted, opens into the nave (as at Linlithgow) through a lofty pointed arch, springing from moulded responds (Fig. 1240). [Illustration: FIG. 1238.--Stirling Parish Church. Plan.] [Illustration: FIG. 1239.--Stirling Parish Church. Tower, from South-West.] [Illustration: FIG. 1240. Stirling Parish Church. Responds of Tower Arch.] The piers of the nave (with the exception of two) are round and massive cylinders, and the east and west responds (Fig. 1241) are semi-cylinders. The piers and responds have circular and delicately carved and moulded capitals (see Fig. 1241), with but slight projection or undercutting. The moulded bases, where not destroyed, are also round and of slight projection, those of the responds terminating on semi-octagonal plinths. The general appearance of these pillars illustrates what is so often found in Scotland (both [Illustration: FIG. 1241.--Stirling Parish Church. West Respond of Nave Arcade.] in ecclesiastic and domestic work) during the fifteenth century and onwards, viz., a tendency to imitate Norman and early pointed details. This tendency is also seen in the nave piers of Dunkeld Cathedral, in the piers and arches of the naves of Aberdour Church and Dysart Church, in the imitation of first pointed work in the late cloisters of Melrose, and many other examples which might be cited. But the later counterfeit is never perfect, there being always some touch of contemporary design which reveals the imitation. The two exceptional piers, above referred to as not being cylindrical, are the fourth piers (Fig. 1242) from the west end (Fig. 1243). These piers are composed of clustered shafts with moulded capitals, the upper members of which do not follow the contour of the piers, but sweep unbroken across the cap in the same manner as in the caps in [Illustration: FIG. 1242.--Stirling Parish Church.