The belfry stage has an opening in each face. Those on the west and north sides (see [Fig. 164.]) consist of large arches, each containing two smaller ones. They are alike, and measure about 3 feet 5 inches wide on the inside by about 5 feet 10 inches high to top of large arch, and about 4 feet 2 inches of daylight. They are divided with a central octagonal shaft, with round responds set well back in the wall. The shafts have all cushion capitals, those of the responds being slightly higher than those of the central shafts. The arches springing from these caps are very rudely formed. Each of these two windows is wider at the springing of the arch
Fig. 163.—Muthill Church. Plan.
than at the base by about 2½ inches, and the responds taper even more. The latter have no bases, while the centre shafts have only the merest fillet. The south window ([Fig. 166]) has a square lintel. It is about 3 feet 8½ inches wide by 4 feet 1½ inch high, and has no taper. The opening is divided by a mullion, placed flush with the outer face of the wall. The east window is a single light, about 1 foot 7 inches wide inside, increasing by 2 inches to the outside. It is 3 feet 11 inches high, and is 2 inches wider at the lintel than at the base. We have minutely described these windows, as they are peculiar in their differences, and are undoubtedly original. We know of no reason why the north and west ones should be so much more ornamental than the other two.
This tower appears to have stood quite isolated, like that of Dunblane Cathedral. There is nothing to indicate that it was attached to any building. There are no roof ragglets, but only the faintest mark caused by the pointing where the roof of the present ruin joined the walls. What position the tower occupied in regard to the early church, which
Fig. 164.—Muthill Church. View of Tower from North-West.
doubtless stood here, cannot now be ascertained. There seems to have been a doorway on the west face of the ground floor (see [Fig. 164.]), about 4 feet wide, formed with a flat arch about 7 feet 6 inches above the present level of the ground; but it is doubtful if the door came to the level of the ground, which seems to have been raised in the course of centuries. A door opened into the church on the east side of the tower. It is about 3 feet wide by 6 feet 2 inches high, and has also a flat arch; but it is not easy to say whether these doors are original or are insertions. In the basement floor on the north and south sides there is a square-headed window, about 7 or 8 feet above the floor. The one on the north side is 12 inches wide by about 1 foot 10 inches high, and is divided by a mullion placed similarly to that in the south belfry window.