Fig. 184.—Monymusk Church. View from South-West.
founder of their house, and they were thus assimilated to the state into which the Keledei of St. Andrews had been brought. Like them, they consisted of a prior or head, with twelve members, and, like them, were excluded from all parochial functions. In 1245 the Keledei of Monymusk had entirely disappeared, and instead we have a confirmation by Pope Innocent II. to the “prior and convent of Monymusk of the Order of St. Augustine.”
The remains of the ancient Norman church establish the antiquity of the foundation. These consist of the lower part of the tower and the chancel arch. The church, as it now stands ([Fig. 183]), is a plain oblong modern structure 45 feet in length by 20 feet 3 inches in width internally, with a north wing or aisle, and galleries in the north, west, and east divisions entered from outside stairs. The ancient tower at the west end and the ancient chancel arch at the east end clearly fix the length of the original structure, and the modern side walls probably mark the position of the original side walls. To the east of the chancel arch there is an apartment about 15 feet square, used as a vestry, and in continuation of this structure to the eastward are the roofless walls of a building 34 feet in length. This enclosure is used as a burial-place. It has a modern doorway in the north wall, and all the walls are so covered with ivy that no traces of ancient work, if such exist, can be discovered.
Fig. 185.—Monymusk Church. Chancel Arch.
The west tower ([Fig. 184]) is 22 feet by 23 feet externally. It appears to have been almost entirely rebuilt, except the doorway in the west wall, which seems to be ancient. It has plain square jambs and round arch head, with hood mould enclosing the arch stones. The opening in the west wall of the tower leading into the church has been by a round archway 9 feet in width, now built up. This wall has been much altered, but there appear to have been Norman imposts to the arch. The chancel arch ([Fig. 185]) is 8 feet 6 inches wide. It has had a large attached centre shaft and two smaller side shafts in each jamb. The north centre shaft has been removed and a wooden substitute introduced. The shafts have all had Norman caps of the cushion pattern (see enlarged sketch in [Fig. 185.]), but they are now so battered as to be scarcely distinguishable. The arch is much concealed under the east gallery. To the right of it is a monumental tablet of the seventeenth century, which bears the arms of Leslie and Forbes impaled.
From the style of the architecture of the Norman remains, it seems most probable that they form part of the convent erected by the Earl of Mar in the beginning of the thirteenth century.
ST. BRANDON’S, Birnie, Morayshire.
Birnie is believed to have been the original seat of the Bishop of Moray before he migrated, in the first place, to Kineddar, then to Spynie, and finally to Elgin. Simeon, the fourth Bishop, was buried here in 1184. The church is situated about three miles south from Elgin, near the river Lossie, and the road to it from Elgin passes through a pleasant, well cultivated country, diversified with numerous undulations and woods.