The existing portions of the cathedral are very fragmentary. The greater part of the church and the houses of the bishop and chapter have entirely disappeared. All that now remains consists of the south aisle of the nave and the sacristy or undercroft of the chapter house. So completely have the nave and choir of the church been swept away, that Mr. Muir was led to imagine that the existing south transept was the main body of the cathedral, and that it had only had an aisle on the north side.[152] But the excavations undertaken, about twenty-five years ago, by the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Woods and Forests, laid bare the foundations of the choir and nave, and showed that the cathedral had been a complete structure, with a choir 85 feet in length, and a nave 100 feet in length, the width of both being 25 feet.
What the style of the edifice was we have now no means of knowing; but it may be assumed that, like the sacristy, it was built in the first pointed style, which prevailed in the thirteenth century, when the see is believed to have been removed from Rosemarkie to Fortrose.
Mr. Muir may well have been deceived with regard to the existing south aisle, for it is a structure of unusual size and splendour, and, in its present solitary condition, presents rather the appearance of a complete church, with distinct choir and nave, than that of a nave aisle. It is composed of two parts ([Fig. 807]), an eastern portion, which measures 41 feet 6 inches in length by 21 feet broad, and a western portion, 56 feet 6 inches long by 14 feet 9 inches broad, with a bell turret projecting at the angle where the two parts meet.
Fig. 807.—Fortrose Cathedral. Plan.
Both of the divisions are elegantly vaulted in the English style, with ridge ribs and tiercerons or intermediate ribs. On the north side is a range of clustered pillars and arches, forming five bays, which separated the aisle from the nave. Some of the arch openings are enriched with canopied monuments.
The east end ([Fig. 808]) contained a large traceried window of five lights, and some fragments of the tracery still cling to the arch. The window is rather short for its width, being kept high, so as to admit of an altar and reredos. The south wall has also been pierced with traceried windows, now, unfortunately, mutilated. The other division towards the west end contains a doorway, formerly sheltered by a large porch, now demolished.
The exterior ([Fig. 809]) presents, at the east and west ends, the appearance of complete gables, with a span roof, not a lean-to roof, as is usual over aisles. The buttresses are of good form, and the enriched cornice still survives. The parapet is gone, but at the west end a wide stone gutter, or alure, supported on corbels and roofed in, still remains. The windows of the western portion are less elaborate than those of the eastern portion.