Fig. 197.—St. Margaret’s Chapel, Edinburgh Castle. Chancel Arch.
has a very new look, as if it had been rewrought or renewed; but we have no reason to doubt but that it faithfully represents the original piscina. It has the usual drain.
The chancel arch ([Fig. 195]), while quite in proportion to the chapel, is little larger than an ordinary doorway. Its opening measures 5 feet 1 inch wide by 6 feet 4 inches to the springing of the arch, and 9 feet in height, measuring from the nave floor to the soffit of the arch, and there is a step up to the chancel. Each jamb ([Fig. 196]) has two monolithic shafts, set in nooks, with cushion cups. The arch, which is in two corresponding orders, is decorated with the ordinary chevron design. ([Fig. 197.]) Enclosing the arch is a label moulding, enriched with a lozenge pattern. The arch on the chancel side is quite plain.
The arched roof of the nave, which is built with carefully-dressed stones, seems to be of a later date than the walls, the masonry being finer, and of a different and lighter coloured stone.
The existence of this chapel was long lost sight of, till the late Sir Daniel Wilson, in the course of his explorations in Old Edinburgh, discovered the true nature of the building. He thinks that it is in all probability the chapel used by Queen Margaret during her residence in the Castle before her death in 1093, and that it is probably the most ancient chapel in Scotland. It does not, however, appear to be a very early specimen of Norman work, but rather a fairly-advanced example of the style, both in plan and decoration. Had the chapel been erected in the eleventh century, it would certainly have been of a much ruder style of architecture. No Norman building of that period can be shown to exist in Scotland. Sir Daniel supposes it to be earlier than the Norman part of Holyrood, which was founded in 1128; though probably no part was erected till a considerable time thereafter. Now, the doorway on the south side of Holyrood (the only Norman portion of that building remaining) is not unlike the chancel arch here. The caps of the shafts, the chevron decoration of the arches, and the enriched label are all similar in design, and there is no reason whatever for supposing the one to be older than the other.
After the chapel was discovered, it was intended to be used for its original purpose; a font was gifted to it, and the windows were filled with stained glass. It has now, however, degenerated into a shop for the sale of nicknacks to tourists.
DUNFERMLINE ABBEY, Fifeshire.
Situated north of the Forth, or “Scots Water,” in the heart of the old Pictish kingdom, Dunfermline was from an early period occupied as a secure and pleasant site by the kings of Scotland. Here Malcolm Canmore had his tower (of which a few crumbling remains still survive), and here he entertained the royal fugitives from England, and married the Princess Margaret, one of these refugees, in 1070.