Fig. 239.—Kirkwall Cathedral.
same time, and the triforium carried up. The latter consists of three orders of plain arches, with chamfer on edge, except some on the north side, which have a bead and fillet on edge, thus indicating a somewhat advanced date.
It is not easy to say when the clerestory and vaulting of the nave were executed; but, from the circumstance that the clerestory is built with whitish stone, similar to the raised part of the clerestory of the choir, we are inclined to believe that it was carried out about the same period as the heightening and vaulting of the choir, to be afterwards referred to.
Steps are introduced at the bottom of the nave triforium arches, which, however, can scarcely be seen from below. Their object is to raise the floor of the triforium, so as to give height for the aisle vaults.
The next alteration of the cathedral effected a complete revolution in the eastern portion of the edifice. The apse was taken down, and the choir, with its aisles, was extended by three bays to the eastward. (See [Fig. 234.]) The junction of the extended work with the old is quite apparent in the large pier on the left.
The style of this extension of the choir has in many points a strong resemblance to advanced first pointed work, but it exhibits some peculiarities of detail. The piers of the new bays consist of clustered shafts, but the arrangement of the shafts is peculiar, having rounds and hollows passing into one another, and with fillets on edge, more like decorated work than first pointed. The bases are of early form, and the caps, which generally resemble first pointed work, have also features which recall the French “Crochet caps” of the period.
Possibly some of the Frenchmen engaged at Upsala or Throndhjeim may have been brought over to the work at St. Magnus’, and have here left the mark of their French extraction. Some of the caps, which have a square abacus, have small leaves introduced at the junction of the circle with the square—an arrangement common in bases, but very unusual in capitals. (See Main Pier, Fig. 240.)
The main arches over the piers (see [Fig. 234.]) are not pointed, but semi-circular (a form of common occurrence in Scotland). Otherwise the sections of the mouldings, and the arrangement of the orders in distinct divisions, are quite first pointed in style.
The triforium consists of plain chamfered semi-circular arches and jambs in three orders, with plain impost mouldings, being a continuation of the design of the triforium of the earlier part of the choir.
The clerestory has simple pointed windows, moulded on sconsion, but without cusps, at the same level as the Norman windows in the western part of the choir.