Fig. 111.—Church at Orphir. Plan and Section through Apse.
It is evident that the east wall of the parish church could not have co-existed with the old nave, for the new church stands on part of it.
From these several statements we must infer that part of the old church was pulled down before 1758 to build or enlarge, not to repair, the parish church, and possibly a farther portion pulled down in 1829.
We must understand the “cupola” to be a conical roof, and “the open for the light” to be a glazed lantern on it, which, however, was probably not original. ([Fig. 112.]) “Open at top,” in Sinclair, must refer to this lantern. The framework of it must have been of wood, as at Ely.
The curvature of the two parts of the nave wall still remaining gives an interior diameter of about 19 feet, thus corroborating the diameters given by Pope and Sinclair. Neither of these persons had seen the church perfect; and the differences in the measures given by them show that their informants did not speak from exact data. The “61 feet perpendicular wall” is a gross mistake either of printer, or translator, or his informant. Even the “20 feet high” seems over the mark, though this may be a loose approximation to the height of the side walls.
Fig. 112.—Church at Orphir. Elevation of Apse, and Details.
Supposing the preceding conjectures as to the shape of the roof to be correct, the top of the “fleche” surmounting the lantern would be about 40 feet. Then, supposing that Pope was told that the height was 41 feet, and the height of the side walls 20 feet, he might have added them together.