GOGAR CHURCH FONT, Mid-Lothian.
Scarcely a vestige remains of the old Church of Gogar, but the burial ground still survives. It is situated about five to six miles west from Edinburgh. The church was ancient, but after the Reformation the parish was divided amongst the three adjoining ones. The bowl of the old font still exists in the churchyard. It is very simple in design ([Fig. 736]), and would appear from its mouldings to be of first pointed date. The stand on which it is set is modern.
Fig. 736.—Gogar Church. Font, with Section.
THE ABBEY OF INCHCOLM, Fifeshire.
An account of this abbey is given in The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland,[121] in connection with its occupation by the English, in the time of Henry VIII., as a fortification. But being an important ecclesiastical structure, and in some respects a unique one, it is thought desirable to give it a place in this volume, with some additional particulars and illustrations.
The Island of Inchcolm, or Æmonia, as it was originally called, is believed to have formed the cradle of religion in the East of Scotland, as the more famous Iona did in the West; and it is thought that the first seeds of religion were implanted in it by St. Columba himself. In early times the founders of Christianity loved to establish themselves on islands, and in the Frith of Forth ecclesiastical remains are found not only at Inchcolm, but also on Inchkeith, the Bass, the Isle of May, and the Island of Fidra.
Like Iona, the Island of Inchcolm became especially celebrated as a place of burial, and large sums were paid for the privilege of interment on the island. This circumstance is referred to in Macbeth,[122] in connection with the defeat of “Sweno, Norway’s King”—
“Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed at St. Colm’s Inch
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.”