It is remarkable, notwithstanding the abundance of sculpture on the early monuments, that, until the advent of the Norman influence, scarcely any indication of architectural details or sculpture occurs on the churches of either Ireland or Scotland.
The earliest sign of decoration on buildings in Ireland is seen in the form of a cross, composed of five white pebbles, inserted over the doorway, in the dark stone of which the beehive cells of Ardoilean are built. Some of the round towers contain very early instances of symbolism in the Celtic cross carved on the lintel, while late examples (such as Brechin) show a further advance in the introduction of a Crucifixion on the lintel, and other figures on other parts of the doorway. The carving of the cross on the above and other lintels is probably symbolic of the blood of the lamb which was struck on the doorposts of the Israelites in Egypt at the Passover.[42]
EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURES IN SCOTLAND.
The ecclesiastical structures of the early centuries which still survive in Scotland are of the type of the stone erections above described in the monasteries of Ireland. The beehive huts and oratories of the parent eremitical establishments in the latter country are represented by a few similar collections of structures which yet remain in the remote islands and distant parts of Scotland.
Groups of dry-built beehive huts (or the remains of them), surrounding one or more primitive churches, can still be pointed to in several localities. These are surrounded with the wall or cashel which was always present around the Irish monasteries.
Diminutive dry-built stone cells or oratories, with sloping or curved walls, having the roof closed in with overlapping stones, converging towards the centre, and covered with flag-stones, are still found in the remote islands. One oratory also exists at Inchcolm where the stone roof is supported by a true arch, as in some of the latest Irish examples. It should, however, be pointed out that huts of similar construction to the above are known to have been erected and inhabited in recent times in the Outer Hebrides.[43] The hermitages above referred to, although belonging to this oldest type of structure, may thus possibly not be the oldest buildings in the country.
At a later time the rude monastic cells and hermitages were followed by the churches established by the missionaries from Iona. The Scottish churches erected by the Columbans were, like those of Ireland, of extreme simplicity, and generally of small dimensions. They consisted of a simple oblong chamber, with a single door and a single small window. The walls were often built without mortar, and the wall apertures were finished with undressed stones. These structures were sometimes covered with a plain barrel vault, and sometimes with rafters and thatch. The jambs of the doorway incline inwards and have straight lintels; the windows are either square-headed or rudely arched. Until the Romanesque influence is felt, not a trace of any kind of ornament is to be found on these churches. Latterly, a few details resembling Norman work are introduced.
In other examples of this type the details are more advanced. The door jambs are upright and are covered with semi-circular arches, and the windows are also similarly treated. The buildings, however, possess few features to enable the date of their erection to be determined. They may possibly have all been erected during a long course of years at different times in different localities, according to local circumstances; but it is natural to suppose that those of the more refined type are the latest.
Another class of churches forms a distinctly later type than the above simple quadrilateral structures. These are the churches consisting of a nave and chancel. Not that the method of construction or the details of these churches show any advance on the previous class. On the contrary, the details are in many cases as simple and rude as those of the one-chambered churches; but the alteration of the ground plan, by the addition of a separate chancel, shows a development of the religious service, leading to the inference that the type of churches with chancels is later than the single-chambered ones. This, however, only shows that the idea is later, not that single-chambered churches did not continue to be erected after the chancel had, in some instances, been introduced.[44] The persistence of an original form of plan is remarkable and is well exemplified in the history of the castles of Scotland, which shows how the primitive keep-plan of the thirteenth century continued to be adopted up to the seventeenth century, long after other and more developed forms of castles had been introduced.
The tendency in churches, however, seems to have been to adhere to the chancel plan after its introduction, and even to alter older simple churches by the addition of a chancel to one-chambered structures. Of this we have mentioned an instance in Ireland at St. Kevin’s oratory at Glendalough, and we shall meet with examples in Scotland as we proceed. In other instances, primitive oratories have been converted into churches with chancels by the addition of a nave, the original oratory being retained as the chancel. We have thus a transitional plan forming the link which connects these primitive single-chambered churches with the more advanced type of church with nave and chancel. In most of these early churches the chancel forms a separate apartment from the nave, the entrance to the chancel being by a doorway only, generally similar in size and form to that of the western entrance to the nave.