Fig. 241.—Kirkwall Cathedral. West Doorways.
of the square with the nave walls. It is supposed to have been erected outside the church, with the view of lengthening it, while the original west front stood at a point distant one bay from it. The new west wall seems to have been left unfinished for a considerable time, the upper part of the west front having, from its style, evidently been built at a much later period than the doorways. When the new west wall was completed, the old west front would be removed. This necessitated the building of the westmost pair of piers. While this operation was in progress, the next pair of piers and arch above have yielded, and the piers remain much inclined to the west.
Fig. 242.—Kirkwall Cathedral. Interior of West Doorways.
The three west doorways and that in the south transept are specially remarkable from their presenting probably the finest examples in Great Britain of the use of coloured stones in the construction. This is chiefly observable in the exterior, but is also carried out in the interior of these doorways ([Fig. 242]). The north doorway ([Fig. 245]) and central doorway ([Fig. 244]) of the west front have the colours arranged in concentric rings in the arches, red and yellow alternating. In the south doorway ([Fig. 243]) the same colours radiate and alternate, and in the doorway of the south transept the red and yellow stones are arranged chequerwise. (See [Fig. 231.]) [Fig. 246] shows the plan of the central doorway.
Fig. 243.—Kirkwall Cathedral. Plan and Elevation of South Doorway of West End.