Fig. 600.—St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Sacristy, looking North-East.
The shield of Bishop Lauder is also inserted on the exterior of the west side of the chapter house. It is shown on a slab in Fig. 600, and is a characteristic piece of heraldic decoration. [Fig. 600] shows the upper apartment or sacristy.
The completion of this wing was carried out by Bishop Cameron, who built the upper story, or sacristy, and vaulted the building. It is not quite clear whether the vaulting of the lower story was executed by Bishop Cameron or Bishop Lauder. The central pillar ([Fig. 601]) is late, and the boss of the north-west compartment seems to contain the Cameron arms. The groin ribs (A) are of early form, while those of the sacristy (B) are of a late section. The vaulting springers of the chapter house may have been built at the same time as the chapter house shafts—i.e., in the thirteenth century—and completed in the fifteenth century with the same section as they were begun with; while the groins of the sacristy, being entirely of fifteenth century work, are of the section of that period.
Fig. 601.—St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Details of Central Pillar, &c., in Chapter House.
The shields in the bosses of the chapter house are somewhat difficult to decipher; but that in the south-east bay may possibly represent the royal arms of Scotland and England impaled, and stand for James I. and his wife, Margaret Tudor.[68] King James returned to Scotland in 1424, about which time the chapter house vault may have been built.
The upper chamber is undoubtedly the work of Bishop Cameron. The central pillar has two shields in the capital. That fronting a person entering contains the royal arms, surmounted by a crown (see [Fig. 600]); and the shield on the opposite side contains Bishop Cameron’s arms. There is here an analogy with the central pillar of the chapter house of Elgin Cathedral, where the royal arms and those of the bishop by whom it was completed are carved on the capital. The Cameron arms also occur in the cap of the wall shaft opposite the coat above referred to, and likewise over the fireplace (see [Fig. 600]).