Not a fragment remains to show how the cloister walk was enclosed. The roof has evidently been of wood, from the corbels for the wall plate and the holes cut in the wall to receive the timbers (see [Fig. 795]). These probably rested on a series of pillars and arches running round the outer side of the cloister walk, but whether of stone or timber cannot now be determined. It seems not unlikely, from its entire disappearance, that the outer arcade may have been of timber.
Fig. 794.—Melrose Abbey.
Royal Arms on West Buttress.
It is stated in Wade’s History of Melrose Abbey[135] that the arcade of the cloister formerly extended 150 feet each way. The wall of the cloister is now reduced to the portions which abut against the nave and transept, being 50 feet on the east side and 80 feet on the south side. The former side contains a wall arcade of seven arches (see [Fig. 795]). These are of the form called drop arches, with crocketed ogee hood moulding, and have plain spandrils above, over which there runs a straight cornice, enriched with flowers and shells of all descriptions, very beautifully carved. It is of these Sir Walter truly says—
“Nor herb nor floweret glistened there
But was carved in the cloister arches as fair.”
Of the tower (see [Fig. 766]) over the crossing, which is 84 feet high, only the western wall, with small portions of the north and south walls, now exists. It rises one story in height above the nave roof, and is
