About half a century after the above restoration, great extensions and improvements were undertaken. It is believed, from the internal evidence of the architecture, that the extensions of St. Giles’ were carried out under the auspices of Queen Mary of Gueldres, by whom also Trinity College Church, Edinburgh, was founded in 1462.
During the fifteenth century St. Giles’ received many endowments, chiefly from merchants of Edinburgh, and increased considerably in wealth, so that funds would thus be forthcoming for the new work. Money was also contributed by the Town Council, who raised it by fines and otherwise.
The extensions undertaken at this time consisted of (1) the lengthening of the choir by one bay; (2) the heightening of the central aisle of the choir and vaulting it anew, together with the introduction of a new clerestory; (3) the lengthening of the transepts.
It is thus apparent that the edifice was to a great extent remodelled—the north and south aisles of the choir, and the central and recently renewed side aisles and chapels of the nave, being the only portions left untouched. The south aisle of the nave had (as above mentioned) been remodelled some fifty years before, when the five chapels were added to the south of it. The south wall of the south aisle had then been removed, and its place supplied by the pillars which connected it with the five added chapels ([Fig. 829]); while at the same time both aisle and chapels had been vaulted with finely groined vaults, having numerous moulded ribs springing from corbels inserted above the capitals.
1. The first of the alterations of about 1460, above mentioned, is the lengthening of the choir by one bay. The original east wall, no doubt,
Fig. 829.—St. Giles’ Collegiate Church. South Aisle of Nave and South Chapels.
stood where the two eastern free pillars now stand; and, the wall having to be removed, the two new pillars ([Fig. 830]) were substituted for it. These pillars and the two responds against the east wall tell a very remark-able