Mr. Chisholm-Batten has detected the arms of Leslie, her first husband (on a bend three buckles), on one of the bosses of the vaulting of the western division; while on another boss is carved a bull’s-head caboshed, the arms of Bishop Bulloch, who occupied the see from 1420 to 1439.
As the style of the architecture accords with these dates, the inference is that the western part of the aisle was erected either by the countess or her son, Alexander Leslie, Earl of Ross, and completed during the episcopate of Bishop Bulloch, and that the monument to the countess was erected by her son in the noble aisle which she had built, and in which she, no doubt, took great pride. The death of the countess took place before 1398. The aisle would thus date about the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century, and must be regarded as a splendid example of Scottish architecture of that period. Possibly some portions of the western division are older; but, if so, it has been remodelled and vaulted at the above date. The piers next the nave ([Fig. 810]) have the peculiar feature of a square plinth (somewhat like the small buttresses which enclose the adjoining tombs) running up the inner side to form a support for the springing of the vaulting ([Fig. 810]). This feature has the appearance of being an addition to the piers, thus suggesting that the aisle and its vaulting are of later date than the nave of the cathedral. The piers are clustered, and have moulded caps with round abaci.
The monument in the western division of the aisle (see [Fig. 810]) is believed to be that of Bishop Fraser, who occupied the see from 1498 to 1507;
Fig. 810.—Fortrose Cathedral. West End of South Aisle.
and the style of the work confirms this view. The arched canopy, with its ogee head, and the third pointed carved work of its crockets and finial are in good preservation. The figure of the bishop is also well preserved. The fragments of a third tomb still exist under the arch, between the two already described (see [Fig. 808]). This has evidently been a late structure, with a canopy supported on a series of arches; but it is now so mutilated that its features cannot be distinctly made out. It is believed to be the tomb of Bishop Cairncross (1539-45).
It is thought that the western division of the nave was the chapel of St. Boniface;[154] for when Bishop Tulloch, about 1460, presented the bell (which still hangs in the south turret) to the church, he dedicated it to St. Mary and St. Boniface, probably because the chapels adjoining the bell turret were dedicated to these saints.
