Fig. 206.—Dunfermline Abbey. From North Side of Western Doorway.
was destroyed to a considerable extent at the Reformation,[161] along with the upper part of the adjoining gable. In its present state it was designed and built by William Schaw, and is a very effective example of the architecture of his time (see Figs. 202 and 204). The bold corbelling at the top of the tower recalls the somewhat similar treatment of the towers of St. Machar’s, Aberdeen, and other examples derived from domestic architecture. The south-west tower appears to have escaped the fury of the Reformers, and to have remained intact, although in a ruinous state, till 1807, when it fell, having been struck by lightning. Three years later the present top was put on the old walls. The Lady Chapel at the east end, built to receive Queen Margaret’s shrine, is now reduced to a small fragment (see Plan), consisting of part of the south and east walls, which remain to the height of about 2 or 3 feet. It has been a small structure of about 26 feet 9 inches by 22 feet, of delicate and refined first pointed work, as is apparent from the bases of the wall arcading and the edge of the surrounding seat, enriched with nail-head ornaments, which still exist ([Fig. 214]). The Lady Chapel appears from an old view[162] to have been a low structure, reaching only to the sill of the great east window of the choir, and it was evidently vaulted in two compartments.
Of the choir of the thirteenth century (shown on the Ground Plan, see [Fig. 198.]) not a single stone exists, having been removed to make room for a modern church; but before the latter was built (begun in 1818), considerable remains of the choir and apparently the whole of the foundations were standing. These ruins were measured and drawn by Mr. J. Baine, C.E., Edinburgh, in 1790, and by the Rev. Mr. Syme in 1805. From their
Fig. 207.—Dunfermline Abbey. Northern Doorway.
labours the author of the Annals (Mr. E. Henderson) made a complete plan of the church in 1827, and from it the ground plan of the choir now