Fig. 727.—Buittle Church. Plan.
The building is peculiar in form ([Fig. 727]), the choir being wider than the nave—the former measuring 26 feet 6 inches, and the latter 22 feet in width over the walls. The choir is about 30 feet and the nave 44 feet in length internally. The walls and gables are well preserved ([Fig. 728]), but the whole building is so completely covered with ivy that any architectural features which may exist are concealed. There is a pointed chancel arch between the nave and choir, and the latter part of the church is lighted with three lancet windows in the east gable.
To judge from the appearance of the building the nave and its belfry were, doubtless, the parts erected shortly before the Reformation, and the choir is the more ancient portion. It is probably of first pointed date.
Fig. 728.—Buittle Church. View from South-East.
The straight lintelled doorway in the east end, under the three pointed windows, is part of the work done in Presbyterian times.
TUNGLAND ABBEY, Kirkcudbrightshire.
Of this ancient and important abbey there now remains only one doorway ([Fig. 729]). The abbey stood on a level piece of ground at some height above the rocky bed of the River Dee, about two miles from Kirkcudbright. The situation is a fine one, and the modern manse is yet surrounded with splendid old trees. The abbey was founded by Fergus, first Lord of Galloway, in the twelfth century, and occupied by Premonstratensian Monks from Cokersand Abbey, in Lancashire. The abbot sat in the Parliament summoned at Brigham, in 1290, to settle the succession to the Crown of Scotland. Robert I. and David II. both enriched it with endowments.
In 1503 James IV. appointed Damiane, an Italian, to be abbot. He was an alchemist, and professed to be able to fly; but in endeavouring to carry out his scheme from the walls of Stirling Castle, his wings gave way, and he fell and broke his leg.[118]