About half a mile westwards from the town of Rothesay, and approached by an avenue of fine old trees, there stands in the ancient burial-ground the choir of the Abbey Church of St. Mary. The west end has been built up with a wall containing a wide gateway, but otherwise the chancel remains in fair preservation, although roofless. A modern church has been erected beside it, but with an interval of a few inches between the new and old structures.
The ancient chancel (Fig. [1355]) now measures 27 feet in length by 18 feet in width internally. The east wall, with its gable (Fig. [1356]), still survives, and contains a large three-light window, of which the tracery has been of the simple intersecting kind. The east ends of the side walls had each a single pointed light with pointed rear arches. Near the west end of the north wall is a plain pointed doorway, and a small window with square lintel. The west end of the south wall contained a doorway, now built up.
Opposite one another, in the centre of the north and south walls, are erected two more than usually interesting monuments. Both are recessed in the wall, and are covered with an arched canopy, and in each the effigy of the person commemorated is preserved. The monument in the south wall (Fig. [1357]) is the larger and finer of the two. It measures nearly 11 feet over the side buttresses. The ogee arch in which it is enclosed contains bold, but late, mouldings. The arch has been ornamented with large crockets, but they are now much wasted away. The monument has doubtless been erected in memory of one of the Stewarts of Bute, who buried here, but its heraldry is peculiar. At the apex there is a shield, which appears to contain the royal arms, but has two lions for supporters, instead of the usual unicorns. There is also on the base or pedestal of the monument a coat of arms, containing quarterly first and fourth the Stewart arms, and second and third the royal arms. The shield is supported by two angels. In a paper by Mr. John Mackinlay,[165] written in 1825, these arms are fully described and illustrated. They were then doubtless better preserved than they now are, but the arms can still be deciphered. Mr. Mackinlay tries to explain the remarkable circumstance of the Stewart arms having precedence in the lower shield over the royal arms, by supposing that they are placed on the tomb of the chief of the
Fig. 1355.—St. Mary’s Abbey, Rothesay. Plan.
Clan. But the name of the person whose monument this is has not been discovered.[166] As the bearings in quartered shields are often reversed by mistake, the same may have happened here.
The effigy is that of a knight in complete plate armour. The head rests on a tilting helmet, with a dog’s head for crest, which is attached to a cap put on over the helmet. The round hollow visible to the spectator represents the inside of the helmet. The feet rest upon a lion. The figure is considerably worn, but the plate armour and the gauntlets are still distinctly seen. The bottom of the shirt of mail worn under the cuirass and the jewelled sword belt and hilt of the sword are also clearly visible. A coat of arms, similar to that on the pedestal, is carved on the breast, being intended to represent the arms wrought in embroidery on the surcoat.
The lower part of the monument has been divided into panels, each containing a quatrefoil, and between the panels there were at one time small
Fig. 1356.—St. Mary’s Abbey, Rothesay. View from South-East.