In 1530 Abbot Robert Reid of Kinloss received a gift of the Abbey of Beauly in commendam.[89] It is recorded by Ferrerius that many new buildings were erected and old ones repaired by this abbot. He is stated to have collected materials in 1537 and to have rebuilt the nave in 1540, and the structure bears evidence of his operations. He also restored the bell tower, which had been destroyed by lightning; but in 1541 that work was demolished, and the bells destroyed by a violent storm, which also did much damage throughout the country.
In 1544 Bishop Reid (being now promoted to the See of Orkney) removed the ruinous house of the prior, and erected a new and spacious house, with six vaults on the basement; but of this structure there is now no trace.
Robert Reid was succeeded, as commendator, by his nephew, Walter Reid, who was also his successor in the abbacy of Kinloss. The possessions of the Priory of Beauly were alienated, in 1571, by Walter, the new commendator, as were also those of Kinloss. The lands thus became the property of the Lovat family. On the forfeiture of Lord Lovat, in 1516, the abbey reverted to the Crown.
The priory consisted of the church, with a cloister to the south, which was, in all probability, surrounded by the usual monastic buildings; but the latter, including the spacious prior’s house erected by Bishop Reid, have almost entirely disappeared. The walls of the church ([Fig. 648]) survive, but even these have been sadly abused. The buttresses have all been torn down, apparently for the sake of the freestone dressings, and the tracery of the windows has been greatly demolished.
The church consists of a single long aisleless chamber, a little over 150 feet in length by 24 feet 6 inches in width (within the walls). The eastern part formed the presbytery and choir, and the western part the nave, but there is no architectural feature to mark the divisions. About the place where a transept might have been there are two projections, which break the long line of the exterior. These projecting chambers or chapels are shut off from the main church by solid walls containing doorways and monuments. They thus formed separate chapels, or one of them may have been a sacristy. The architecture of the choir and presbytery ([Fig. 649]) is remarkably fine, and is of first pointed character. Although in this remote region its date may probably be later than usual, it can scarcely be, as Mr. Muir suggests, so late as the beginning of the fourteenth century.
The details are very simple, the jambs and arches having plain splays. The caps of the shafts adjoining the windows in the interior are moulded and have round abaci, but the shafts, which were detached in the early manner, have disappeared. The arrangement of the arches is different on the two opposite sides. The east window was very wide, and, doubtless, was filled with tracery, which had several mullions. This may have been a later addition; the tracery has entirely disappeared. The lower portions of the buttresses of the choir have been rebuilt within recent years, probably in consequence of an agreement entered into between Lord Lovat and the Crown, whereby the former undertakes to keep the buildings in good repair.
Fig. 648.—Beauly Priory. Plan.
The most striking feature of the nave is the row of triangular pointed windows running along the south side ([Fig. 650]). These have evidently been curtailed in height in the design, so as to admit of the roof of the cloister walk resting against the south wall of the church, the corbels for its support being yet visible. The west end of this wall has evidently had domestic buildings of a high and substantial character erected against it, some fragments of which still remain, showing a fireplace, portions of a staircase, &c. (see [Fig. 650]).