Scottish Cathedrals and Abbeys

by Dugald Butler

David I., after introducing the Benedictine order, probably added the Norman nave to the then existing church erected by his royal parents, and it was evidently resolved at no distant time from this to rebuild the early church and form a new choir and transept worthy of the new settlement. This was done, and between 1216 and 1226 the choir, aisles, transept, and presbytery were erected, and Abbot Patrick, formerly Dean and Prior of Canterbury, presided at Dunfermline during the whole of the above time. Appeals were made to the Popes Honorius III. and Gregory IX. on account of the expenses incurred by church erection and the increase of the number of canons from thirty to fifty.

In the dispute of 1249 regarding the consecration of the new choir, Pope Honorious IV. decided that a new consecration was not necessary, as the consecrated walls of the oldest part (the nave) continued in use. In that year Queen Margaret was canonised, and in 1250 her body was transferred from the old church to the new lady chapel in presence of all the chief men of the kingdom. "The translation of the saintly foundress," says Professor Innes, "was probably arranged to give solemnity to the opening of the new church."[336] This is known in history as the "Translation of S. Margaret," and the "grate companie" of king, nobles, bishops, abbots, and dignitaries in procession kept time "to the sound of the organ and the melodious notes of the choir singing in parts." Soon after this, describing what it had become towards the close of the thirteenth century, Matthew of Westminster wrote: "Its boundaries were so ample, containing within its precincts three carrucates of land, and having so many princely buildings, that three potent sovereigns, with their retinues, might have been accommodated with lodgings here at the same time without incommoding one another." In 1244 it had become a mitred abbey, Pope Innocent IV. having, at the request of Alexander II., empowered and authorised the abbot to assume the mitre, the ring, and other pontifical ornaments; and in the same year, in consideration of the excessive coldness of the climate, he granted to the monks the privilege of wearing caps suitable to their order; but they were, notwithstanding, enjoined to show proper reverence at the Elevation of the Host and other ceremonies.[337]

"This sumptuous pile," says Professor Innes, "was destroyed and levelled with the ground by the soldiers of Edward in 1303, excepting only the church and a few dwellings for the monks[338]—Edward I. of England having occupied it from 6th November 1303 to 10th February 1304. It was restored, probably in much less than its former magnificence, after Bruce was settled on the Scottish throne, and it evidently remained in that condition until 28th March 1560, when the choir, transepts, and belfry were, with the monastic buildings, "cast down.""

It was a very wealthy abbey, and the greater part of the lands in the western, southern, and eastern districts of Fife, as well as in other counties, belonged to it. The abbey also possessed many rights, and the abbot was Superior of lands—the property of others—and received the resignation of his vassals sitting on their bended knees, and testifying all due humility. The abbot and convent were invested with the power of enforcing their rights by excommunication, and they exercised it on several occasions. The abbey possessed the right of a free regality, with civil jurisdiction equivalent to that of a sheriff over the occupiers of the lands belonging to it, and with a criminal jurisdiction equivalent to that of the Crown, wielding the power of life and death. A bailie of regality, appointed by the abbot, and officiating in his name, resided in an edifice called the Bailie House, near the Queen's House, and presided in the regality courts.

The abbey church succeeded Iona as a place of royal sepulture, and kings, queens, and princes were buried within it. Gordon gives the list of eight kings, five queens, seven princes, and two princesses, besides other notable persons,[339] so that it may well be called the "Scottish Westminster."

The abbey church, when complete, was cruciform, and comprised a seven-bayed nave, with side aisles, a transept, a choir with a lady chapel, and three towers, two western ones terminating the aisles and flanking the gable of the nave, and the great central tower rising from the crossing. The monastic buildings were also on a magnificent scale, but of the church and monastic structures there only now remain the Norman nave, the base of the Lady Chapel, and part of the refectory and kitchen.

The nave is well preserved and the piers are circular. The plan of these with that of the wall responds shows that the original intention was to groin the aisles. The two eastern bays between the eastern pillars are built up with solid masonry, and only a portion of the arches is visible. The two western bays and the triforium arches above them have also been filled up with solid building to strengthen the western towers.[340] "The pillars which support the west towers are of greater size than the others, and are of a different section. One of the pillars and the corresponding arch of the north arcade are of late Gothic work, and may be part of the repairs ordered by the Privy Council in 1563, or of the work done in 1594 under the direction of William Schaw, Master of Works, who at that time built the north-west tower and steeple, as well as the porch on the north side of the nave. At the same time, also, certain great buttresses were built against the outer walls, which are now conspicuous features of the structure."[341]

The great western doorway, a good example of Norman work, remains unaltered, and consists of five orders, having alternately round and octagonal shafts, chiefly with cushion caps, but some are ornamented with scrolls. The abacus is heavy, and is carved with sunk diapers. The orders are continued round the arches, and contain chevron ornaments (much decayed), rosettes, and diapers.[342] The outer order contains large heads and geometric figures in the alternate voussoirs—an arrangement similar to that of Whithorn and Dalmeny, where the geometric figures also resemble those adopted here.[343] The original north doorway, partly concealed by Schaw's porch, is similar in design, with the addition of an arcade above the arch, resembling but still plainer than that over the doorway of Dalmeny Church. The south doorway of the church is of late work, and there appears to have been another south doorway at the east end of the nave, but it is now built up.[344] The whole of the aisle walls are arcaded in the interior up to the height of the window sills, but the arcade has been partly cut away for monuments. The general design of the nave recalls that of Durham Cathedral, and Dr. Joseph Robertson remarks, "Though not of great size, the sombre masses of the (nave) interior are impressive. The English visitor will remark more than one point of resemblance to Durham and Lindisfarne; and there is no violence in the conjecture that the same head may have planned, or the same hands have hewn, part of all the three. We know that when the foundations of Durham were laid in 1093 by the confessor and biographer of St. Margaret, her husband Malcolm was present; and when the new church received the relics of St. Cuthbert in 1104, her son Alexander witnessed the rites.[345] Both at Durham and Dunfermline there are the same circular piers with zig-zag ornaments, and massive cushion caps and clustered piers occur in each. The small circular bases, resting on great square plinths, are also common to both. The triforium and clerestory are simple in design, and the aisles are vaulted and groined. The windows of the aisles are single round-headed lights, having plain sconsions, with one recessed shaft on each side, and the arch enriched with chevron mouldings.[346] Internally and externally they are of similar design.

From the existence of the large west end pillars, it was evidently intended from the first to have two western towers. The northern one, along with the upper part of the adjoining gable, was destroyed to a considerable extent at the Reformation, and in its present state it was designed and built up by William Schaw. The bold corbelling at the top recalls the similar treatment of the towers of St. Machar's, Aberdeen, and other examples derived from domestic architecture.[347] The south-west tower seems to have remained intact, although in a ruinous condition, till 1807, when it fell, having been struck with lightning. Three years later the present top was put on the old walls.[348] The Lady Chapel at the east end was built to receive Queen Margaret's shrine, and is now reduced to a small fragment, consisting of part of the south and east walls, which remain to the height of about 2 or 3 feet. "It has been a small structure of about 26 feet 9 inches by 22 feet, of delicate and refined pointed work, as is apparent from the bases of the wall arcading and the edge of the surrounding seat, enriched with nail-head ornaments, which still exist. The Lady Chapel appears from an old view to have been a low structure, reaching only to the sill of the great east window of the choir, and it was evidently vaulted in two compartments."[349]

No stones now remain of the thirteenth century choir, as they were all removed to make room for the modern church, begun in 1818; before this, however, considerable remains of the choir and the whole of the foundations were standing.[350] The choir was a prolongation of the present nave, having transepts and a great aisle on the north side. There was a lofty central tower of two stories, with three windows in each storey facing the four sides, and it was this part of the structure which suffered on the 28th March 1560, when "the wholl lordis and barnis that were on thys syde of Forth passed to Stirling, and be the way kest doun the Abbey of Dunfermling."[351] The nave was used as a parish church till 1821, when the new choir was opened. In the south transept of it are three much-admired white marble monuments: General Bruce's by Foley (1868), the Hon. Dashwood Preston Bruce's by Noble (1870), and Lady Augusta Stanley's by Miss Grant of Kilgraston (1876). The remains of King Robert the Bruce were discovered in 1818 at the digging for the foundation of the new parish church. They were found wrapped in a pall of cloth of gold, thrown apparently over two coverings of sheet lead, in which the body was encased, all being enclosed in a stone coffin. "There was strong internal evidence of the remains being those of Robert Bruce, and after a cast of the skull had been taken, they were replaced in the coffin, immersed in melted pitch, and reinterred under mason work in front of the pulpit of the new parish church. An inlaid monumental brass was in 1889 inserted in the floor over his tomb." Near the east end of the church is a square tower, with terminals showing an open hewn stone-work, in place of a Gothic balustrade, having in capitals on the four sides of the tower's summit the words "King Robert the Bruce," and at each corner of the tower there is a lofty pinnacle.