It is conjectured from the following inscription on the vaulting, “This is ye ile of Car Fergus,” that this structure was begun at an early period, and that it was completed by Archbishop Blackadder, whose arms, surmounted by his mitre, are carved on the central buttress at the south end, and also on the corbel of a niche at the north-west angle. It is difficult to decide either the date or the purpose of this structure. It
Fig. 606.—St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Monument to the Barons of the House of Mynto.
has evidently been intended to be carried higher, and probably may have been meant to form an extension of the transept. Although the work in the interior has considerable resemblance to that in the lower church, it is decidedly later, and has been copied from it. The work on the exterior is very much inferior, and the carving of the caps, which seems also to be imitated from that of the choir, is evidently late and debased. The groin ribs, too, are coarse, and point to about the time of Bishop Blackadder.
Fig. 607.—St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Part of Monument, enlarged.
The western towers or adjuncts, already mentioned (see [Fig. 567]), were structures of considerable importance, that on the south-west being a very strong keep, about 34 feet by 32 feet, with walls 9 to 10 feet thick, strengthened by great buttresses. It was about 54 feet in height to the parapet, and 70 feet to the cape house roof. This structure is believed to have been built about the middle of the fourteenth century. Those who know anything of our pele towers can easily understand how much the cathedral was marred by the loss of such a characteristic feature.
The other structure which stood at the north-west angle was of about the same size, but was considerably higher, being 118 feet to the parapet, and was surmounted by a lead-covered spire. Both the above adjuncts were taken down in 1846.