Fig. 422.—Dryburgh Abbey. Choir-Aisle and North Transept.
thirteenth century work, but, unfortunately, only a few detached portions remain. These include (see [Fig. 412.]) the very picturesque gable of the south transept, with its large window filled with simple pointed tracery, rising in steps above the roof of the dormitory ([Fig. 420]). The arch through which the stair to the dormitory passed is visible in this wall. (See [Fig. 420.])
To the east of the transept is a choir of two bays, with aisles, beyond which is an aisleless presbytery, 42 feet long by 24 feet wide, now almost reduced to foundations. The buttresses and base course are traceable, and a doorway in the north-east angle, which probably led to a small staircase. The portion of the structure still preserved to the north is a part of the north transept wall, with the eastern aisle of the transept and the two north bays of the choir ([Fig. 421]).
These portions are of very beautiful design, both internally and externally. The exterior ([Fig. 422]) is of very simple, but elegant, first pointed work, while the interior shows symptoms of somewhat more advanced design. The angle pier of the crossing and the piers of the choir consist of round shafts with fillets, divided by square angles. These are surmounted by moulded caps, with round abacus and first pointed mouldings. From these spring the pier arches, composed of three orders of plain splays, with hood moulding. Over the main arches is a low triforium marked by string courses above and below. It has flat arched openings filled in with circles having six cusps.
The clerestory is of beautiful design. Each bay contains an arcade of three arches, the central one, which is opposite the window, being larger than the side arches. The arches are supported on detached piers, behind which runs a gallery. These piers each consist of two shafts, with central fillet. They have first pointed round caps, over which a round block receives the arch mouldings as they descend.
A small portion of the north end of the transept adjoins the above, which shows that the structure has been carried up in two stories of richly moulded windows (see [Fig. 420.]), all in the same style as the adjoining portion of the choir. The remaining portion of the aisle is vaulted with moulded ribs springing from responds and corbels corresponding in style with the choir.
The whole of this part of the church is of very fine design and workmanship, but it is, unfortunately, a mere fragment. Additional interest attaches to it from its forming the last resting-place of Sir Walter Scott and members of his family.
AIRTH CHURCH.[197]
This ruined church adjoins the old Castle of Airth, which lies half a mile from the Forth and eight miles south-east of Stirling. The church is in part a building of considerable antiquity, dating from the transition period about the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century, but it has undergone many alterations, and only a small part of the early structure remains. The building as it now stands ([Fig. 423]) consists of a