this seems very doubtful. The three shafts referred to doubtless indicate a change in the design at the date of the restoration in the fifteenth century. The choir appears to have been erected, and a chapter house contemplated (if not actually carried out) immediately to the south of it, in the position formerly occupied by the south transept. The three shafts were apparently erected at that time (say before 1450). The bases of the shafts correspond in design with the bases of the choir, and are clearly fifteenth century work. The walls of the chapter house (afterwards changed into the sacristy) were evidently erected at this time, as the usual stone seat of the chapter house still runs round two of the sides. At a later date (towards the end of the fifteenth century) a new range of buildings was erected on the east side of the cloister. These consisted of a new chapter house, while that first erected was converted into the sacristy. The new range was of less width than the chapter house originally contemplated, and, therefore, new vaulting shafts, spaced so as to suit the vaulting of the new width, were introduced; and three of the old vaulting shafts were allowed to remain, although two of them were no longer of use.
The architecture of the interior of the choir ([Fig. 815]) is peculiar, and clearly indicates a structure of the fifteenth century. The three-sided eastern apse is characteristic of the fifteenth century, and is among the earliest examples of that form then introduced into Scotland. Crosraguel obtained its great charter in 1404, and was, no doubt, then in a very flourishing condition; and it seems likely that the church was rebuilt soon after that period. The style of the architecture corresponds with other buildings of that date in Scotland. The windows, which have been filled with tracery (now, unfortunately, all destroyed), show, in their remaining jambs, shafts, and arch mouldings (especially in the apse), a character resembling Scottish decorated work. The triple wall shafts which divide the bays are carried down to decorated bases in the sanctuary only, the others being stopped on a corbel at the level of the central string course (see [Fig. 815]). The sedilia ([Fig. 816]) and piscina of the choir (see [Fig. 815]) are also beautiful specimens of the decorated style. The buttresses of the choir and apse ([Fig. 817]) are simple, and of an early type. The nave ([Fig. 818]) has windows on the north side only. Here, as already observed, a few traces of the original church are found in the early forms of the base mouldings and the shafts of the north doorway. The arch supported by these shafts, and forming the upper part of the doorway, is of very inferior design, and is evidently a very late restoration. The shafts are sloped off at top, so as to fit a straight impost. The buttresses also show relics of older work. One of the nave windows is filled with tracery; but it is of peculiar design, having been constructed in connection with the erection of a monument to Egidia Blair, Lady Row, a benefactress of the abbey, who died in 1530. The engraved recumbent stone over her grave, bearing her arms and name, still exists; but scarcely a trace of the monument survives.
Fig. 816.—Crosraguel Abbey. Sedilia.
The nave is divided from the choir by a wall, which has been erected in the sixteenth century (the upper part is seen in [Fig. 819]), probably when the monks required protection, or owing to their number having become diminished, when so large a church was unnecessary. This central wall partly blocks up one of the nave windows, thus showing that it was an afterthought. It seems, however, to have been substituted for an older wall, which may have contained an arch between the nave and
Fig. 817.—Crosraguel Abbey. Choir and Apse, from South-East.