THIRD OR LATE POINTED STYLE IN SCOTLAND.
During the latter part of the fifteenth and in the sixteenth centuries the erection of cathedrals and monasteries in Scotland was almost entirely superseded by collegiate churches. These structures are generally designed on a cruciform plan, with a central tower over the crossing. They have usually a porch at the south-west and a sacristy at the north-east angle, and occasionally one or more chantry chapels attached. Except in the larger examples of collegiate churches, such as St. Giles’ and Trinity College, Edinburgh, aisles are rarely introduced, and groined vaulting, although used in the above structures, is also uncommon. The churches are generally covered with pointed barrel vaults, for the most part plain, but sometimes ornamented with ribs applied to the barrel surface. The latter style of decoration is sometimes employed in the vaulting over the
Fig. 26.—Winchester Cathedral. West End of the Nave. (From Britton’s Chronological History of English Architecture.)
presbytery, so as to distinguish it by its richness. This class of vaulting carries out in its simplest elements the principle adopted at this period in England of making the vaulting surface more important than the ribs, and using the latter as ornaments upon the surface of the vault.
The exterior of the churches is generally marked by rather heavy buttresses, crowned with small and debased-looking pinnacles. The buttresses have often a great many set-offs. In other examples buttresses are entirely omitted. The doorways vary considerably. The semi-circular arch, which is sometimes preserved in the earlier styles, is now of very frequent use, not only in doorways, but also in pier arcades and clerestories (as at Paisley and Dunkeld). Elliptic arches and three-sided door heads are also used.
At this period we find indications of English influence in a few perpendicular traceries, as at Melrose Abbey, and of French influence in some Flamboyant forms, and in the three or five sided apse which frequently forms the eastern termination of the churches. Western and central towers are usual features, generally rather squat in form, and sometimes surmounted with a short spire, having numerous small lucarnes and pinnacles. Four of these towers were once finished with spires of open work resembling a crown, but the number is now reduced to two—viz., St. Giles’, Edinburgh, and King’s College, Old Aberdeen.
The piers are often of a plain circular form, and the arches have frequently plain chamfers instead of mouldings. The caps of piers are peculiar and heavy, the abacus consisting of a deep series of mouldings. Grotesque ornaments and large flowers are common, and frequently of rather coarse design; but in some instances, as in the cloisters of Melrose, the ornaments are beautifully sculptured.
A revival of early enrichments, such as the dog-tooth or nail-head, is a curious characteristic of this period, as it was also in the case of the late domestic architecture. Other early features are also revived, such as detached shafts, with well-marked caps and bases of early form. This is specially observable at Iona and in Argyleshire and the Western Islands, where, as already mentioned, a peculiar style prevailed.
In course of time, as pointed out elsewhere,[60] the ecclesiastical elements were invaded by the features of domestic architecture, and a mixed, but picturesque, style was developed which had more of a Scottish than a Gothic aspect.
Many examples of Scottish structures of the third period will be illustrated. The buildings, though comparatively small, are numerous and interesting, as they illustrate a specially Scottish branch of Gothic architecture. They consist largely of collegiate edifices, and amongst them is the well-known collegiate church of Roslyn.
A number of churches showing the mixture of domestic and ecclesiastical features which prevailed in the latter half of the sixteenth and seventeenth century have already been illustrated, as above indicated.
That series of churches will be continued so as to exhaust the subject.
The contrast they present with the churches of the earlier centuries is very striking, and affords much food for reflection.
Egilsay Church. From South-West.
THE CELTIC MONASTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURES IN SCOTLAND,
CHIEFLY AS ILLUSTRATED AND DESCRIBED IN THE WORKS OF THE LATE T. S. MUIR.
It has been shown in the Introduction that Christianity was brought to Scotland in the sixth century by the Celtic missionaries from Ireland, and that, after it had endured for seven centuries, the monastic Church of the Columbans, was superseded by the Roman ecclesiastical system. Each of these phases of Christianity possessed its own form of architecture—the one derived from the features peculiar to the Celtic style of building, and the other from the development of the Romanesque architecture general throughout Europe. The latter began to take effect in Scotland about the beginning of the twelfth century, while the former, which had existed from a very early date, continued to prevail in certain parts of the country long after that period.
We shall first consider the structures of the oldest or Celtic style. The earliest examples of ecclesiastical architecture in Scotland are, doubtless, the rude structures built with uncemented stones, which still survive in some of the remote islands off the coast, chiefly in the Western seas.
These islands, as well as the mainland of Scotland, have been visited again and again by the late Mr. T. S. Muir, who has embodied the results of his peregrinations in his volume on the Characteristics of Old Church Architecture in Scotland (1861), and in his Ecclesiological Notes on some of the Islands of Scotland (1885)—the latter containing a resumé of a number of charming little volumes produced by Mr. Muir at different times. Mr. Muir’s account of his repeated visits to the outlying islands is very quaint and entertaining, and shows that he has been inspired with an enthusiasm for ecclesiology very rarely equalled. He has certainly been the discoverer of many extremely interesting structures, which serve to show the connection between the early Christianity of Ireland and Scotland and the gradual development in this country of a style of ecclesiastical architecture similar to that of the parent isle.
The condition and features of the numerous cells and churches which Mr. Muir visited many years ago, when they were in a more perfect state than they now are, have been so fully described and illustrated by him that it would appear to be a work of supererogation to follow his footsteps and investigate them over again. We have, therefore, adopted his descriptions and illustrations, and have prepared an abstract of the numerous materials scattered throughout his works, arranged, as far as possible, in accordance with the historical sequence of the types of the buildings, and described in Mr. Muir’s own words.
Dr. Joseph Anderson has pointed out, in his Scotland in Early Christian Times, that the early churches of Scotland, like those of Ireland, consisted of a single oblong chamber, with one door and one window, and that these structures were frequently found associated with beehive huts and surrounded by a cashel or rampart.[61]
We have in Scotland several examples of similar churches associated with beehive huts, and sometimes surrounded by a wall. Examples also occur of groups of chapels resembling the well-known similar groups in Ireland.
The following are descriptions of these structures, chiefly extracted from Mr. Muir’s works.