Fig. 123.—Kirk of Ness. East and West Walls and Chancel Arch.
doorway (inside) is a square-headed window (see [Fig. 123.]), 3 feet by 1 foot 1 inch externally, splayed inward to 3 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 3 inches. At 2 feet 2 inches above this (outside) is another opening, 2 feet 4 inches wide, for a bell. The west face of the bell-cot is 7 feet 10 inches wide. The top is gone, but about 2 feet 3 inches in height of the jambs remain. The jambs are parallel both ways, and about 1 foot 6 inches thick from east to west. The ridge of the roof was about 3 feet higher than the bottom of the opening for the bell, and whether this opening originally came through to the inside of the church is doubtful. Possibly this bell-cot is not original. The ridge of the roof was about 24 feet 7 inches above the floor under the chancel arch.
The chancel is 13 feet by 11 feet 3 inches inside. The north and south walls are 3 feet 2 inches, and the east one 3 feet 6 inches thick. The chancel arch ([Figs. 123] and [126]) has no projecting jambs, but springs from
Fig. 124.—Kirk of Ness. North and South Elevations.
the chancel walls at 5 feet 7 inches above the floor, and the feet of the arch are set 3 inches back on the jambs at the impost, as at Wyre and Linton in Orkney. (See account of church on Brough of Birsay.) The spring is 3 inches higher on the south than on the north. There is no cap. The arch is semicircular, and consists of one rectangular order 3 feet thick. The stones of the arch average 1 foot 6 inches in length, but are thin. The top of the gable is 19 feet above the impost. The abutments of this arch were not sufficient, and the nave and chancel walls have spread, and a considerable fissure has taken place at the crown of the arch. In the north wall, at the east corner, is a square-headed window, 2 feet by 1 foot externally, splayed inward to 2 feet 5 inches by 2 feet. In the south wall, exactly opposite this window, is a similar one, 1 foot 7 inches by 1 foot. (See Figs. [124] and [125].) The top of the external opening of this window is 7 inches below the south impost of the chancel arch. The top of the window on the north is 3 inches lower than on the south—the same difference as in the two springs of the chancel arch. In the west angle of the nave and chancel is a similar window, 1 foot 9 inches
