There is another tiny barn-like edifice at Greenloaning, near
Dunblane. The little church is situated adjacent to a farmhouse, and
seems to have been erected for the benefit of the farm-workers. It
is remarkably small. The scenery in the vicinity is magnificent, and
the church is regarded with much interest by tourists.
St. Anthony's Chapel is another small building also in ruins. It is
interesting owing to its historic surroundings, being in the near
vicinity of Holyrood Palace. It comprises a hermitage, sixteen feet
long, twelve feet wide, and eight feet high, and a Gothic chapel
forty-three feet long, eighteen feet broad, and eighteen feet high.
One of the most remarkable of these little churches is that at
Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, which is a very queer little chapel
elegantly hewn out of the solid rock, the roof being beautifully
ribbed and groined in the Gothic style. At the back of the altar is
a large niche, where an image used to stand, and on one side of it
is a place for the "holy-water" basin. There are also figures of
three heads--designed, it is believed, for an emblematical allusion
to the order of the monks at the once neighbouring priory. Possibly
they were cut by some of the monks. The order was known as Sanctæ
Trinitatis. A few yards away there is another head. It has been
surmised that this is a representation of St. John the Baptist, to
whom the chapel is supposed to be dedicated. There is a cavity in
the floor, in which some ancient relic was rested. The chapel is
ten feet six inches long, nine feet wide, and seven and a half feet
high. Near the entrance is the following inscription:--
"Beneath yon ivy's spreading shade,
For lonely contemplation made,
An ancient chapel stands complete,
Once the hermit's calm retreat
From worldly pomp and sordid care,
To humble penitence and prayer;
The sight is pleasing, all agree--
Do, gentle stranger, turn and see."
The chapel is known as St. Robert's Chapel. St. Robert, the hermit
who used it for devotions, was born about 1160, and was the son
of Sir Toke Flouris, who was mayor of the city of York. In his
youth he was noted for his piety, and he entered the Cistercian
Abbey of Newminster in Northumberland. He was only there eighteen
weeks, however, removing to York, and then to Knaresborough, where
he retired from the world to live a life of contemplation in this
restful spot. He died in the September of 1218. On one side of the
entrance to the chapel, under the ivy, is the figure of a Knight
Templar, cut in the rock, in the act of drawing his sword to defend
the place from the violence of intruders. This is a queer and
remarkable building, and, though not now used as a place of worship,
the reference here made to it may prove interesting.
[Illustration: (_Photo: Cassell and Co., Ltd._)
INTERIOR VIEW OF PERIVALE CHURCH.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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