[Illustration: FIG. 1585.--Heraldic Panel from Prestonpans Church.] pilasters. On the four compartments arms, surrounded by laurel wreaths, are blazoned in colour, together with initials. The initials G. H. and B. C., which refer to George Hamilton, Laird of Preston, and Barbara Cockburn, his wife, are carved in relief in the spandrils. The letters painted within the arches, viz.,S/J. H. and D./K. H. stand for Sir John Hamilton, the son of the above, and Dame Katherine Howieson, his second wife, married 1620. The lady died 1629. The shields beneath these initials contain the Hamilton arms twice, and the Cockburn and Howieson arms for the wives of the father and son. The initials of the son and his wife were carved over the windows of the tower, while over the centre window they appear in a monogram with the date 1626. This panel, which is one of the very few early coloured decorations which survive in Scotland, is now in the possession of General Sir William Stirling Hamilton of Preston. RATHAN CHURCH, ABERDEENSHIRE. A ruinous building situated about three miles south from Fraserburgh, and standing in an old churchyard. The east end has entirely disappeared, and only a small part of the north wall remains (Fig. 1586). What [Illustration: FIG. 1586.--Rathan Church. Plan.] survives of the south wall of the nave is 49 feet long, but it doubtless considerably exceeded that length; the interior width is 21 feet. A south aisle is entire, but roofless. It enters from the nave by a plain round-arched opening (Fig. 1587) 8 feet 8 inches wide, and the outside dimensions of the aisle are 35 feet long by 20 feet 8 inches wide. The nave (see Fig. 1587) has a door in the west end, with a window [Illustration: FIG. 1587.--Rathan Church. Interior of South and West Sides.] above and a belfry on the apex of the gable, dated 1782, which probably superseded an earlier one. [Illustration: FIG. 1588.--Rathan Church. Doorway of Aisle.] The aisle has a round-arched doorway (Fig. 1588) with a bar hole in the west wall, and over it a panel with an inscription in raised letters, “ALEXANDER FRASER OF PHILORTH, PATRON,” a coat of arms, and part of a broken stone with an inscription. It is possible that these stones are not original, but have been inserted; they are so covered with ivy that it is not easy to determine. In the south gable (Fig. 1589), which is crow-stepped, there is a well-moulded window with a straight lintel, and a sundial over. In the east wall there is an ambry (Fig. 1590) with an ogee arch, and alongside it what was probably a piscina is now filled with an old memorial inscription. [Illustration: FIG. 1589.--Rathan Church. Window in South Gable.] The Church of Rathan was dedicated to St. Ethernan or Eddran, from whom the place is said to take its name. This saint lived towards the end of the sixth century. “He consecrated several churches, and particularly Rethin, which was afterwards dedicated to his own memory.”[256]