Fig. 906.—Balmerino Abbey. Details of Piers of Chapter House.
It is quite possible that the present farmhouse is on the site, if it did not form a part, of the north-west corner of the cloister. To the north of this house there still remains a portion of the old granary, now part of the modern farm-steading. It contains two doorways, one with a splayed and pointed arch, and the other much wider, having a rounded top. The west gable, as seen above a modern roof, is constructed as a dovecot with nests, similar to what is found at Cambuskenneth. On the skew putt at the north side of the gable there is a coat of arms ([Fig. 907]), two bars embattled. There is no known coat quite similar to this. A richly moulded and embattled finial terminates this gable, but it is broken and mutilated. Another coat of arms, built into the modern walls of the farm-steading, and shown by Fig. 908, is also unknown, as likewise are the initials.
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Fig. 907.—Balmerino Abbey. Arms on Skew Putt of Barn. |
Fig. 908.—Balmerino Abbey. Dormer in Farm Building. |
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Fig. 909.—Balmerino Abbey. Figure of Ecclesiastic. |
Fig. 910.—Balmerino Abbey. Figure in Armour. |
To the east of the chapter house, at a distance of about 90 feet, are the ruins of what is called on the Plan the abbot’s house. What remains consists of a vaulted cellar, measuring on the inside about 18 feet 2 inches by 15 feet 7 inches, and separated by a thick wall from a similar apartment on the north, which only in part survives. How far this structure extended it is impossible to say. It is constructed of good masonry, the doorway between the apartments being finely wrought; and it evidently was an important building.