KIRKLISTON CHURCH, Linlithgowshire.
Some portions of the old Church of Kirkliston, situated about seven miles west of Edinburgh, including the tower and two ancient doorways, stand in the churchyard, on the high north-west bank of the Almond Water, in the village of Kirkliston. The main body
Fig. 329.—Kirkliston Church. Plan.
of the church, so far as can now be ascertained, was an oblong structure ([Fig. 329]) about 60 feet in length by 26 feet in width externally, but part of the north wall has been removed, so as to allow the church to be extended. The old tower ([Fig. 330]) stands at the west end of the structure. It is about 21 feet square, and has the solid buttresses projecting on both sides of the angles, which indicate early work—transition
Fig. 330.—Kirkliston Church. View from South-West.
or first pointed. A square projection at the south-east angle of the tower contains a wheel staircase. The windows are mere slits. The roof of the tower is evidently comparatively new. It has a picturesque seventeenth century belfry on the east gable.
There is an old archway in the east wall of the tower, which connected it with the main building of the church.
Fig. 331.—Kirkliston Church. South Doorway.
In the south wall of the church there still exists, though partly restored, a splendid Norman doorway. ([Fig. 331.]) The doorway itself measures 4 feet 9 inches in width, and the whole door-piece measures 14 feet 7 inches over all. Besides the attached rolls on the jambs, which form shafts with caps, there are seven detached shafts on each side, arranged alternately large and small, with three large ones at each outer angle. These had all caps of transition form, but the carving is now almost completely destroyed. The arch, which is semicircular, has numerous mouldings, which are not arranged in the usual square orders, but have
Fig. 332.—Kirkliston Church. North-East Doorway.
received a freer treatment. The divisions may be regarded as composing four orders, of which the inner order and the third order are enriched with chevron ornaments. The hood moulding has also been carved with the chevron, but the ornament has now almost all disappeared.
The wall of the church in which the above doorway stands is undoubtedly of considerable antiquity, the cornice which carried the original parapet being still in situ. (See [Fig. 330.])
At the north-east angle of the existing church another Norman doorway, removed from elsewhere in the building, has been re-erected. ([Fig. 332.]) The round arch consists of three plain square orders, which spring from the enriched caps of two nook shafts and the jamb moulding. Most of the caps have a transition character, and the carving is fairly preserved.
At the south-east angle of the church is erected the burial-house of John, Earl of Stair, born 1672, died 1747. Over the moulded doorway is the inscription, “Virtute decet non id sanguine niti. 1629.”
Kirkliston from an early period belonged to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, who held much land in the locality. The church, as altered, is still used as the parish church of Kirkliston.
Fig. 333.—St. Mary’s. Ratho. View of West End.
ST. MARY’S CHURCH, RATHO, Mid-Lothian.
The village of Ratho lies about one and a quarter mile south from the railway station of the same name, and about eight miles west from Edinburgh.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Mary, and the “Lady’s Well,” in the vicinity, is still in use. Although greatly altered and mostly
Fig. 334.—St. Mary’s, Ratho. South Doorway.
rebuilt, the church still retains some indications of its Norman origin. The view ([Fig. 333]) shows the west end of the church, crowned with its belfry. The buttresses indicate considerable age, but it is scarcely possible to fix their date. The only Norman relic preserved is the doorway in the south-west wall (seen in the sketch). It is built against by the wall of a wing, so that only a portion of the doorway remains visible. This consists ([Fig. 334]) of one jamb, which had a nook shaft and a cushion cap, carrying a plain round arch with a hood mould, carved with a zigzag or saw-tooth ornament.
Ratho Church was connected with Holyrood Abbey, and was a rectory. In 1444 the tiends and patronage were, with the consent of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, made over to the College Kirk of Corstorphine, which was then established. By this means four prebendal stalls were endowed.
ST. PETER’S CHURCH,[184] PETERHEAD, Aberdeenshire.
The remains of the Church of St. Peter, Peterhead ([Fig. 335]), consist of the side walls of the chancel and the entire chancel arch, with a square tower projecting outwards in the centre of the west wall of the nave. No other portion of the nave remains. The tower and west wall are late, but the chancel is of the Norman period. The arch is quite plain, and is supported on square jambs having Norman cushion caps.
There is a supposed reference to the church in the Book of Deer, in 1132, concerning a gift consecrated to St. Peter, Columcille, and Drostan, who “were the tutelar saints of the Churches of Peterhead, St. Colms, and Deer, which were the only churches in the district dedicated to these saints.”[185] Their endowments were then gifted to the great Columban Church of Dunkeld, with which they remained till the founding of the Abbey of Deer, in 1218, when, it is believed, the patronage of the Church
Fig. 335.—St. Peter’s, Peterhead. View from South-East.
of St. Peter, at Peterhead, was conveyed to that abbey by the charter of foundation, now not known to exist.
ST. MARY’S CHURCH,[186] RUTHERGLEN, Lanarkshire.
Only the merest fragment of this ancient church now remains, consisting of the east wall ([Fig. 336]), with an eastern tower attached to it. The masonry of the east wall shows it to be of the Norman period. There has been no opening of any kind in this wall. The returns of the chancel walls are only indicated on the east wall by the slightest traces in the jointing, so completely have they been cut away. The eastern tower ([Fig. 337]) is quite a unique feature in Scotland. It had no connection with the church, although built against it, and is of later erection by probably two or three centuries. The doorway is low and lintelled, and has a simple splay. The upper part of the tower has apparently been rebuilt, and, with the slated roof, dates doubtless from the seventeenth century. The tower is about 10 feet 6 inches square inside, and about 34 feet high to the top of the masonry. It contains no stair.
In Ure’s History of Rutherglen it is stated that there was a nave with side aisles, 62 feet long by 25 feet wide, “exclusive of the additions on the back and front;” that is, exclusive of the side aisles. Assuming these to have been eight or ten feet wide, we should have a church nearly corresponding in size with the present erection, built about a century ago, and occupying the site of the nave, as shown in outline on the plan, on which are also indicated the nave piers. The nave was thus about 62 feet long by 45 feet wide, and the chancel was about 42 feet long by 20 feet wide inside. Ure, by a mistake easily made, gives the dimensions of the chancel as ten feet less in length. He also mentions that there were five pillars on each side of the nave. This may mean four whole pillars and two halves (the responds), as shown in the plan, which, however, merely pretends to approximate to something like what the original was.
Fig. 336.—St. Mary’s, Rutherglen. Plan.
Ure gives a drawing of the interior of the church, with detailed sketches of some of the capitals of the piers. Four of these capitals are preserved in a garden rockery in Rutherglen, and the annexed sketch ([Fig. 338]) shows them as they are seen lying there half covered up and concealed. The upper one, which shows the bed of the capital, is a respond from one of the end walls, and the diameter of the column, as indicated by the inner circle, is 18 inches, the breadth across the abacus being 2 feet 5 inches. The enrichments of these capitals correspond with those indicated by Ure in his view, and he informs us that the pillars, of which there were five on each side, “are smooth and round, except the middle ones, which are octagonal.” He further says that the arcade “arches are pointed, but the point is hardly discernible,” and with this the view in his book agrees. Above the arcade he shows a small square window, probably measuring about 2 feet each way, and widely splayed inside. Immediately above this was the roof. The walls were “about 20 feet high, including the pillars on which they are supported.” It is satisfactory to find Ure’s description of the church supported by the
Fig. 337.—St. Mary’s, Rutherglen. Tower, &c.
remaining fragments. The lower member, shown in Fig. 338, is a carved stone, probably part of the chancel arch. It is enriched with the alternate billet ornaments so frequent in such arches during the Norman period.
The church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and was granted to the Abbey of Paisley by William the Lion before the year 1189, and it continued in their possession down to the period of the Reformation. There were several altars, with endowed chaplains.
Fig. 338.—St. Mary’s, Rutherglen. Norman Caps.
The church stands near the west end of the cemetery, on the north side of the main street. The entrance from the street is through a picturesque lych-gate of Renaissance design, dated 1663. (See [Fig. 337.]) It is surmounted by a sundial, dated 1679.
The cemetery is mentioned in the charters of Paisley (No. 85) in the year 1262, when the widow of John of Perthie grants to Paisley a piece of land lying between the church of the Virgin Mary and the river Clyde.