Fig. 401.—Coldingham Priory. Plan of Upper Gallery.
The upper story consists of a detached arcade, having a passage behind it in the thickness of the wall ([Fig. 401]). The arcade comprises an alternation of high and low pointed arches, two of the latter occurring between every two of the former. The shafts are alternately cinquefoil and double in section, as shown in the geometrical drawing ([Fig. 402]). All these details are prominently first pointed in style, the caps being elaborately carved with foliage of that period, and the mouldings being bold and distinct ([Fig. 403]). The little bits of foliage introduced at the points of the arches and ends of the labels and strings are also characteristic of early first pointed work.
That the design is late transition or very early pointed work is apparent from all the details. The lower story of the exterior having refined Norman ornaments, and the early date of the first pointed work being emphasised by the whole of the abaci of the caps being square in form, possibly this portion of the edifice may be due to restorations executed after the fire of 1216.
The portions of the south transept still left are very fragmentary, and there are now no traces of a north transept, although in Mr. Hunter’s plan some indications of such a structure are shown. At the north-west angle of the south transept there is an arch, which has been rebuilt, being partly made up of old fragments, but the lower part seems to be ancient. The lower portions of two piers on the east side of the transept still survive ([Fig. 404]), and exhibit good mouldings. These seem to have formed the piers between the transept and an eastern aisle. When
Fig. 402.—Coldingham Priory. Elevation of part of West Side.
Grose’s views were drawn in 1789, one of the pier arches still stood, and a corresponding arch of the north transept is also shown as then existing. Part of the west and south walls of the transept, with the shafts (or at least the bases of the shafts) of an arcade, similar to that of the choir, is also still preserved. This building shows a doorway in the south-west angle.