Fig. 822.—Crosraguel Abbey. Corbels in Sacristy.
at the angles and at intervals; the springing of a diagonal arch survives in the north-west angle. A well exists in the centre of the cloister garth, with stone steps leading down to it. The chapter house enters by a doorway only, without side windows, from the east alley (see [Fig. 819]). The jambs and pointed arch are moulded, but there are no caps. The chapter house is square, and has a central pillar, which carries fine vaulting ([Fig. 823]). The vaulting is divided into four square bays, each with cross ribs, resting on the central pillar and on responds against the walls, which have bases set on the stone bench. The bosses have been carved with coats of arms, now obliterated. One of them has a mitre; another shows indications of an apsidal building. The abbot’s seat occupies the centre of the east side, between the two windows; and a stone bench is carried round the walls.
The upper floor, which still survives, above the chapter house and sacristy (see [Figs. 819] and [820]) contained the scriptorium and library, the latter having had a good mullioned window, overlooking the cloister, now nearly destroyed. Following the ruins which continue the east side of the cloister southwards, we come first to a vaulted chamber, which may have been a parlour; then to the slype leading to the eastern garth, which has a stone bench on each side, and is covered with a segmental barrel vault. Beyond this are vaulted ruins of an indeterminate character. On the south side of the cloister garth are the refectory and part of the buttery, with a hatch which led from the one to the other. Between these apartments a wide scale staircase formed the day access to the dormitories above. This range of buildings is evidently of late date, and may have been the work of Abbot Gilbert M‘Brayar, above referred to. The refectory has been covered with a barrel vault, and had a fireplace in the north wall. The windows in the south wall are low, horizontal openings. The west side of the cloister is believed to have contained a large common room, but it is now much ruined; the pointed doorway at the north end, however, still remains.
The eastern courtyard is triangular in form. The ruin on the east side is probably a fragment of the infirmary. On the south side is a range of ruined vaults, over which was probably the abbot’s hall. At the south-east angle stand the ruins of what was the abbot’s keep, or place of strength, erected apparently in the sixteenth century. It is of the ordinary form of the lay keeps of the period, having thick walls, with chambers formed in their thickness and a corbelled parapet for defence. It no doubt communicated with the abbot’s hall adjoining. It is built over the stream which bounds the convent on the south, and passes under the lower story, where it had an archway, grated at each end. The principal floor contains a good fireplace, with ambry adjoining, and a small stair leading to the water below. The upper floors contained the usual bedrooms, one of which still shows the remains of a carved fireplace. The
Fig. 823.—Crosraguel Abbey. Chapter House, looking North-West.