Fig. 327.—St. Martin’s, Haddington. View from South-East.
the jambs of the north doorway still exist in a mutilated state. The sconsion arch is segmental.
The vault is lofty, and there has evidently been a story above it, as is apparent from the windows in the west gable. The gables are very steep and lofty, and are so constructed in order to admit of rooms in the top
Fig. 328.—St. Martin’s, Haddington. View from South-West.
story. The plan of having an upper story of this kind was not uncommon in early churches.
The window in the west gable is pointed, and it and the gables themselves may be of later date than the original Norman church.
As already mentioned, three buttresses have been built against each of the side walls. These are entirely constructed with ashlar work of a white freestone, and those at the east and west ends have the ashlar work let irregularly into the old walls, as would undoubtedly be the case in an addition. Besides, they have steep water-tables, such as were introduced in the first pointed style, but were not used in the Norman period. The old walls are built with irregularly-coursed brown freestone, which is greatly worn away, and presents quite a marked contrast to the buttresses, which have stood the weather well. A peculiarity of the old walls is that they have numerous holes, about 10 inches square in three courses in the height, running right through the wall. These may have been putlog holes, used for scaffolding; but the extraordinary thing is that they should all be left open. Possibly they were only closed with a stone on the outside and inside, so as to be easily made available at any time if required, and these stones may now have fallen out. Similar rows of holes may be observed in the walls at St. Helen’s and elsewhere.