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
A remarkable recessed tomb having some analogy with those at Rowdil is
described and figured in a paper by Professor Norman Macpherson in the
_Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, Vol. XII. p.
583. It consists of a plain round arch in the north wall of the ruined
Church of St. Donan in the island of Eigg. In the wall at the back of
the recess is a large square panel containing sculptures, which “afford
an interesting example of Celtic notions of heraldry.” These sculptures
appear to represent the Clanranald shield, having in the place of the
first quarter a hand grasping a cross, in the second what appears
[Illustration: FIG. 1308.--Priory Church of St. Clement.
Figure, &c., in West Elevation.]
to be a lion, in the third a galley, and in the fourth a castle. A tree,
like a laurel, springs from the base and stretches to the top, with a
bird on the highest branch.
The external appearance of St. Clement’s is shown by Fig. 1299 and by
the elevations (Figs. 1306 and 1307). The latter also show the tower and
the peculiar carved heads and other figures, above alluded to, as
probable insertions from an older structure. Fig. 1308 shows the small
figure of a saint, inserted over the cabled string course on the west
side of the tower, and the narrow cusped window above it. The north
elevation (see Fig. 1307) and the sections (see Figs. 1300 and 1301)
explain the mode in which the tower is built upon a higher level than
the church.
ORONSAY PRIORY,[142] ARGYLLSHIRE.
Notwithstanding the very numerous small churches and chapels found in
the Western Isles,[143] there are comparatively few remains of
monasteries. The original Celtic religious establishments were,
doubtless, monastic in their form and structure, but of convents in the
later sense, corresponding with those so common on the mainland, few
traces are now to be seen. Next to the great Abbey of the Isles at Iona
and the nunnery on the same island, the largest monastic establishment
in the Western Isles of which the structures survive is the Priory of
Oronsay.
This island lies about ten miles west from Jura, and can be most
conveniently reached from Portaskaig, in Islay. The isle is about two
and three-quarter miles broad from east to west by about two miles from
north to south. It stands at the south end of the larger island of
Colonsay, from which it is separated by a narrow channel, dry at low
tide.
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