PULPIT FROM ST. CUTHBERT’S CHURCH, Edinburgh.
The annexed sketch (Fig. [1537]) shows the old pulpit of St. Cuthbert’s Church as it stood in St. Cuthbert’s Poorhouse, Lothian Road, Edinburgh, before that building was removed in 1868. It appears[233] that when St. Cuthbert’s Church was demolished in 1773, the pulpit was transferred to the Poorhouse. Its date can be pretty well ascertained. From a minute of the kirk-session of 15th August 1651, we find that Cromwell’s soldiers had so completely sacked the church that there was “nayther pulpit, loft, nor seat left therein,” all doors and windows having been broken, and the roof by cannon shot completely ruined. Steps were immediately taken to repair the damage, and in April 1652 the church was reopened for public worship. This pulpit was doubtless made between the above dates, and its style is characteristic of the time. It is of oak, and probably in the old church it stood on a loftier base than is shown in the sketch.
FETTERESSO CHURCH, Kincardineshire.
The parish of Fetteresso included a considerable part of the town of Stonehaven on the east coast of Kincardineshire. The old church, the ruins of which stand in a large churchyard, is situated near the Carron Water, about one mile and a half south-west from Stonehaven. The structure probably occupies the site of a very ancient church, dedicated to St. Cavan, which stood at the Hamlet of Fetteresso. It is beautifully situated amongst fine old trees.
Fig. 1537.—Pulpit from St. Cuthbert’s Church, Edinburgh.
The existing edifice, which is roofless, appears, from the style of its architecture, to be chiefly post-Reformation. The walls and gables are well preserved and much covered with ivy.
Fig. 1538.—Fetteresso Church. Plan.