Chapter VI · SCOTTISH MONASTICISM (continued 2)

Prior to the Reformation the monastery consisted of a church, the cloister and conventual buildings. The church comprised a long aisleless choir, a nave with aisles, a north transept, a south transept, with St. Mirin's Chapel attached to the south of it, and a tower and spire over the crossing.[386]

The choir walls, containing an elegant sedilia and piscina, remain standing to the height of 9 feet, and it is questioned whether the choir was ever finished during the restoration. There is a string-course all round; the building is of fifteenth century work, and occupies the place of an earlier choir, which has been demolished. The wall at the east end of the nave, which separates it from the transept, may have been erected during the restoration of the fifteenth century, with the intention of rendering the nave a complete church until the transept and choir were restored. This seems to have been in progress when the Reformation interrupted the work. The design of the sedilia resembles that at St. Monans, Fife, and adjoining the sedilia is the piscina, the aperture of which is still visible.

The north transept is in ruins, but the north wall, with the remains of a fine traceried window, still exists, as well as a traceried window in the west wall. The south transept is also in ruins, while the tower and spire have disappeared. St. Mirin's Chapel is well preserved, but the openings connecting it with the south transept are built up.

The nave survives as a whole, and contains six bays, divided by massive piers, and surmounted by a triforium and clerestory. There is a north porch, and two doorways from the cloister on the south side.

The oldest portion of the building is pronounced to be the eastern part of the south wall of the south aisle of the nave, where it adjoins the transept. This portion of the wall consists of three bays, containing the S.E. doorway from the cloister to the nave, and three pointed windows in the upper part. The doorway is of the transition style, and the windows above are simple in style, and are early pointed work—this part of the building probably dating from the first half of the thirteenth century.[387] The western portion of the south aisle of the nave and the whole of the south clerestory are evidently portions of the restored church of the fifteenth century.[388] The south aisle wall contains the S.W. and S.E. doors from the nave to the cloister.

The west end of the nave is in part amongst the ancient portions of the structure, and the western entrance doorway is thirteenth century work.[389] The aisle windows of the west front belong to the first pointed period. The upper portion of the west front above the two large windows is of considerably later date.[390] "The design of the west front, which contains above the door-piece two large windows, with pointed niches and small circles inserted between the arch-heads, is probably original, but the upper portion and gable, including the large traceried window, are doubtless part of the restoration of the fifteenth century. The tracery of the two central windows is peculiar, and may possibly be of the fourteenth century, but that of the large upper window is later, probably of the same period as the restoration of the interior of the nave. The tracery of the large upper window is a specimen of the late kind of design employed in Scotland in the fifteenth century."[391]

The interior of the west end of the nave exhibits the change of style caused by the restoration of the fifteenth century. The first or western bay of the main arcade is original, including the first arches (one on each side), the first pillars, and the arches between them, and the aisle responds. "These pillars and arches are of large dimensions and first pointed section, and appear to have been designed to carry western towers, but a part of their thickness has been cut off next the choir. A portion of the triforium wall, a piece of the string-course over the main arcade, and the corbelled vaulting shaft in the angle as high as the top of the triforium, are also parts of the original structure. The later work has been joined to the above old parts in a very awkward manner."[392] The cap of the west pier on the north side belongs to the first pointed work, while the corresponding cap on the south side and all the other caps belong to the fifteenth century restoration.[393] Except the west piers, the piers of the nave are of the clustered form, common in late Scottish work, and might be about the same date as the restoration of St. Giles, Edinburgh (which they resemble), in the early part of the fifteenth century.[394]

The triforium design consists of large segmental arches, the same width as the main arches, springing from short clustered piers introduced between them. It somewhat resembles the triforium of the nave at Dunkeld Cathedral. The clerestory is probably designed in imitation of that of Glasgow Cathedral, and is divided into two pointed arches in each bay. They spring from a series of clustered shafts with round moulded caps that are late imitations of early work.[395] The earlier part of the nave restoration, including the main piers and arches, and perhaps the tracery of the two lower windows of the west front, were possibly executed by Bishop Lithgow, who built the north porch, and the completion of the nave (the upper portions) was carried out in the time of Abbot Tervas—the middle of the fifteenth century. A peculiarity of the nave interior is a series of large corbels, which project from the spandrils of the triforium arcade, and the object of which was to enable a passage to be carried round the solid piers introduced between the windows. Each of the large corbels springs at its lowest point from the sculptured grotesque figure of a man or animal. They were mostly the work of Thomas Hector, a sculptor, who lived at Crossflat,[396] and whom the abbot retained for his skill in the art.[397] The employment of such grotesque figures was very much affected by the monks of Clugny, and was the occasion of a rebuke from St. Bernard. "What business had these devils and monstrosities in Christian churches, taking off the attention of the monks from their prayers." One of these figures near the west gable represents a man in a kilt, and Dr. Lees thinks that many worshippers in the Abbey in more modern times have in the midst of long sermons found relief in the contemplation of those curious carvings which the saint thus vigorously denounced.[398]

St. Mirin's Aisle was erected in 1499, and there is a large pointed window in the east end, having jambs with single shafts. It is divided into four lights, and the arch-head is filled with good simple tracery. Beneath the eastern window is a frieze of one foot eight inches deep between two cornices of eight inches deep, which were intended for sculpture. Three compartments, measuring four feet, at the north or right side, and seven compartments, measuring ten feet, at the south or left side, are carved and filled with sculpture. Dr. Lees says the reference of them to Mirin is clear beyond all doubt: "In the one on the extreme left we see Mirin's mother bringing him to St. Congal. In the next St. Congal putting the religious habit on Mirin. In the next Mirin taking oversight of the monastery of Banchor. There is after this a blank, and then we have certain sculptures relating to Mirin's encounter with the Irish king, who wears a crown on his head. In the first we have the servant of the King driving Mirin away from the door of the palace. In the next the King roaring with pain and held by his servants. In the next the Queen lying in bed with a picture of the Virgin on the wall, it being the custom to hang such before women during confinement. Then we have the King on his knees before Mirin, and afterwards Mirin received by him with joy. The next two sculptures represent the last two acts of the Saint—the brother looking through the keyhole and seeing Mirin illuminated by a celestial light, and the Saint restoring to life the dead man in the Valley of Colpdasch.... As they are evidently earlier than the date of the erection of the chapel, they have probably been transferred with the relics of the Saint from an older shrine. They look like twelfth-century work, but it is possible they may be even earlier."[399] The ceiling of the chapel is beautifully groined, and the east end, where the altar stood, is raised four steps above the western part. The west wall contains an outer doorway from the cloister court, and there is a traceried window above it. A large ambry adjoins the door in the outer wall. The chapel was connected with the south transept by two wide archways, now built up, and near the east end is a piscina, with three-sided head, like that in the choir.

There is a dormitory above the chapel, arched by stone, and the entrance is by a doorway in the middle of the south side of the arch. The apartment is lighted by two windows—one in the east gable, and the other in the west. In the west gable there is a private stair leading from the dormitory to the chapel, and the priest, who was bound by the charter to live at the chapel, doubtless occupied the sleeping-place above it.[400] The chapel at the Reformation was converted into a family burying-place by Claud Hamilton, the commendator, and various members of the Abercorn family lie buried in the vault below, the chapel belonging to the present Duke, and being under his control.

On the floor of this chapel there now stands an ornamental altar tomb, which was found lying in fragments near the Abbey by the Rev. Dr. Boog, one of the Abbey ministers, and who in 1817 had it brought within the chapel and erected again. It supports a recumbent figure, believed to be the effigy of Marjory Bruce, the daughter of Robert I. and the mother of Robert II. "The head of the figure is surmounted by a large cusped canopy, placed in a horizontal position, on the end of which is carved a crucifixion. The pedestal is carved with a series of Gothic compartments, in each of which there is carved a shield, enriched with heraldic blazons and figures of ecclesiastics. The panels at the west end contain—the first the fess chequé of the Stewarts between three roses; the third the fess chequé, surmounted of a lion rampant, and the central one, two keys saltierwise, between two crosiers in pale."[401] The chapel is famed for an echo, described by Pennant in his Tour Through Scotland,[402] but Dr. Lees regards the description of the far-famed traveller as either much exaggerated, or the strength of the echo has become diminished since his time. "When any number of persons are within the building, an echo is scarcely audible at all. It is amusing sometimes to see a group of people expending the strength of their lungs in vain by attempting to evoke it."[403]

Crosses seem to have been placed at intervals on the roads leading to the church. One of the south piers of the nave is called the Cathcart pillar, and has carved upon it a shield bearing the Cathcart arms. This is believed to be a memorial of Sir Allan Cathcart, who has thus been described by Barbour:—

King Robert the Bruce died in 1329, and Sir Allan of Cathcart and Sir James of Douglass sailed in 1330 for the Holy Land with the King's heart. Sir James was killed in Spain in conflict with the Moors, and Sir Allan came back with the heart of the King, which was buried in Melrose Abbey. The pillar commemorates his safe return.

On the west buttress of the north transept, at 21 feet in height, is the shield of the Stewarts, with a pastoral staff, and the word "Stewart."

The first central tower erected over the crossing seems to have been of inferior workmanship and to have given way. Another is believed to have been erected by Abbot Tervas, which probably fell during the siege by Lennox and Glencairn, and may have destroyed much of the choir and transept in its fall. Western towers appear to have been contemplated.

"We are only able," says Dr. Cameron Lees, "to conjecture what was the position of the conventual buildings. But after comparing the plan of Wenlock, from which the monks originally came, with that of Crosraguel, which they afterwards erected, we think it is probable that the chapter-house, with Saint Mirin's Chapel, occupied the east side of the cloister court, the refectory the south side, and the dormitory the west. The Abbot's house probably stood at the south end of what is called Cotton Street. There were buildings also between the Abbey and the river Cart attached to the monastery, portions of the foundations of which are occasionally uncovered."[404] "The shape of the cloister court has been partially retained. The conventual buildings were almost all converted after the Reformation into dwelling-houses, and though fragments of the old houses, such as an occasional pillar or arch, are to be found, there is little to remind one of dormitory, parlour, or refectory."[405]

The nave is still used as the parish church. About 1782 it was in a dreadful condition. The roof was full of holes, through which the birds obtained free access, "distracting the attention of the worshippers in time of sermon." They built their nests and reared their young under the arches of the clerestory. A few of the gentry had "lofts" or galleries, but the bulk of the worshippers brought their seats to church with them, while the poorest sat upon stones on the earthen floor.[406] Things had become so bad that the heritors thought of pulling down the abbey, and building a "commodious kirk" with the stones.[407] This insane proposal was averted from execution by the energy and wisdom of the Rev. Dr. Boog, minister of the First Charge in 1782, and to him the country owes the credit of preserving all that now remains. "He received much assistance from the Dowager Countess of Glasgow, who resided at Hawkhead, and through their joint exertions the Abbey was not only saved from destruction, but was repaired in a way which, considering the ignorance of that time on the subject of restoration, was highly creditable."[408] Dr. Lees describes the condition of the building at his induction in 1859 as dreadful: "The interior was like a vault in a churchyard."[409] But thanks to the exertions of the Rev. Mr. Wilson and Dr. Lees himself, several thousand pounds were collected and spent in remedying this state of affairs. The church was made seemly as a venerable temple for prayer ought to be. "The unsightly galleries were taken down, the floor cleared of the accumulated rubbish of centuries, the body of the church re-seated, the clerestory windows opened up, the transept walls and windows restored, and the turrets rebuilt. Men of all creeds contributed to the work, and when the Abbey, on the 27th April 1862, was re-opened for public worship, it could scarcely be recognised, so changed was it from its former condition."[410] In closing his splendid volume Dr. Lees adds, "We trust the time is not far distant when the Abbey of the first Stewart will stand forth again in all its pristine beauty—with transept, and choir, and tower, as in the days of the founder." That hope will soon pass into a reality, and Scotland will have a completely restored abbey church used as a parish church.

Kelso Abbey (Roxburghshire).—In 1113 David, Earl of Huntingdon, and heir-presumptive to the Scottish throne, introduced a colony of thirteen Reformed Benedictine monks from the newly founded abbey of Tiron in Picardy, and planted it near his forest castle of Selkirk. He endowed it with large possessions in Scotland, and a valuable territory in his southern earldom of Huntingdon, but the French monks were dissatisfied with their position on the banks of the Ettrick, and on David's accession to the throne of his brother he removed them from Selkirk—"a place unsuitable for an abbey"—and established the monastery "at the Church of the Blessed Virgin on the bank of the Tweed, beside Roxburgh, in the place called Calkow."[411] The abbey was dedicated to the Virgin and St. John the Baptist. Its first abbot was Ralph, one of the French monks, and the Scotch chronicles state that he succeeded St. Bernard, the reformer of the order, in his abbacy at Tiron, on his death in 1116, but Dr. Cosmo Innes thinks this can scarcely be reconciled with the succession of abbots as given by the French writers.[412] The monastery soon became the richest and most powerful in Scotland, and in 1165 the Pope granted permission to the abbot to wear the mitre, and the abbot claimed precedence of all the superiors of monasteries in Scotland. In 1420 this precedence was decided by James I. in favour of the prior of St. Andrews.[413] Many of the abbots were distinguished men, who were employed in the affairs of the kingdom, and several were promoted to bishoprics.[414] Foremost in rank and power, the monks of Kelso also vindicated their place by the practice of the monastic virtues, and a copy of Wyntoun's Chronicle is supposed to have been written at Kelso.[415] They seem to have recalled the saying, claustrum sine lîteratura vivi hominis est sepultura ("the cloister without literature is the grave of a living man"), and Dr. Cosmo Innes remarks

"That the arts were cultivated within the Abbey walls we may conclude without much extrinsic evidence. The beautiful and somewhat singular architecture of the ruined church itself still gives proof of taste and skill and some science in the builders, at a period which the confidence of modern times has proclaimed dark and degraded; and if we could call up to the fancy the magnificent Abbey and its interior decorations, to correspond with what remains of that ruined pile, we should find works of art that might well exercise the talents of high masters. The erection of such a structure often extended over several hundred years. Kelso bears mark of having been a full century in building; and during all that time at least, perhaps for long afterwards, the carver of wood, the sculptor in stone and marble, the tile-maker and the lead and iron-worker, the painter, whether of scripture stories or of heraldic blazonings, the designer and the worker in stained glass for those gorgeous windows which we now vainly try to imitate—must each have been in requisition, and each, in the exercise of his art, contributed to raise the taste and cultivate the minds of the inmates of the cloister. Of many of these works the monks themselves were the artists and artisans, and it would be a grievous mistake to suppose that the effect was merely that of living and working in an artist's shop. The interest and honour of the convent, the honest rivalry with neighbouring houses and other orders; above all, the zeal for religion which was honoured by their efforts, the strong desire to render its rites magnificent, and to set forth in a worthy manner the worship of the Deity—all these gave to the works of the old monks a principle and a feeling above what modern art must ever hope to reach."[416]

Situated as it was near the Border, the abbey suffered severely during the War of Independence. The monastery was laid waste and the monks were supported by contributions from the other houses of their own order. In 1344 the abbey buildings were destroyed by fire, and David II. granted permission to the monks to cut wood in Selkirk and Jedwart Forest to enable them to carry out the necessary repairs.

In 1511 the Bishop of Caithness was appointed commendator, and decline of the abbey soon followed. After the battle of Flodden in 1513, David Ker of Cessford took possession of the abbey, and his brother was appointed abbot. In 1522 and 1523 invasion and havoc spread over Teviotdale; Lords Ross and Dacre pillaged the town, sparing the abbey; but in 1523 Lord Dacre sacked and burned it. The abbot's house and buildings surrounding it, the chapel of the Virgin, and the cells of the dormitory were all reduced to ashes; the lead was stripped from the roof, and the abbey rendered uninhabitable. All religious services were stopped, and the monks had to retire in want and poverty to a village near. From 1536 to 1538 James Stewart, natural son of James V., was abbot, and drew the revenues. In 1542 the Duke of Norfolk, and in 1545 the Earl of Hertford, again attacked and further destroyed the abbey. On the latter occasion the garrison of the abbey—numbering 100, of whom 12 were monks—refused the summons of the Herald to surrender, and succeeded in repulsing the Spanish mercenaries, who were the first to attack the building. It was then bombarded and the monastery captured; but the garrison still held out in the strong square tower of the church, whence some of them, though strictly watched, escaped by means of ropes during the night. The next day the assault was resumed, the tower carried, and the defenders were put to the sword. The buildings were then sacked and destroyed, the order being given to "breik them" and "thake of the leied, and outer myen the towres and strong places, and to owaier trowe all." By the following Sunday this had been strictly carried out; the abbey was razed, and "all put to royen, howsses, and towres, and stypeles." The removal of the lead to Wark alone occupied the carts of the army for several days. After this the abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, and Jedburgh shared in the fate of Kelso,[417] but, unlike it, they did not resist. Kelso Abbey was still further reduced by Lord Eure in 1546; and finally in 1560, when a few monks still remained, the buildings were attacked by the mob, and all the remaining fittings and furnishings destroyed. In 1559 the revenues and property of the abbey were taken possession of by the Lords of the Congregation in the name of the Crown. The temporalities were afterwards distributed amongst the favourites of James VI., and were finally conferred on Sir Robert Ker of Cessford, who was created Lord Roxburgh in 1599. The abbey still belongs to his successor, the Duke of Roxburgh, and the remains of the late duke are buried in the south transept.[418] In 1649 a vault was thrown over the transept so as to convert it into a parish church, and above this another vault served as a prison! This is seen in Grose's view, made about a century ago.

"During service on a Sunday in 1771 a panic was caused by the fall of a fragment of cement, and the church was thereafter abandoned. The ruins were partly disencumbered by the Duke of Roxburgh, 1805-16, and in 1823 the buildings were repaired by the noblemen and gentlemen of the county."[419]

Referring to the modern town, Dr. Cosmo Innes says:—

"Reposing on the sunny bank of its own beautiful river, the modern town of Kelso looks a fitting rural capital for 'pleasant Teviotdale.' It has little of the air of an old monastic burgh, and still less calls up any recollection of the heaps of ruins that impeded the plans of the English engineers. There is not much knowledge or tradition of its former state, and but few memorials of its old inhabitants. Last year (1845) a worthy burgher, who had dug up in his garden under the abbey walls what seemed to him a rare coin of a Scotch king, was scarcely well pleased to learn that it was a leaden bulla of Pope Alexander III., bronzed with the oxidising of seven centuries.

In the midst of the modern town the abbey church stands alone, like some antique Titan predominating over the dwarfs of a later world."[420]

Considering all the dangers and neglect of the centuries, it is astonishing that so many of the ruins still exist.

The building has consisted of choir or chancel of considerable length, with north and south aisles, and of a transept and nave without aisles. The north and south divisions of the transept and nave form three arms of equal length round the three sides of the crossing, above which rises the massive square tower.[421] The church was originally constructed in the late Norman style of about the end of the twelfth century, passing into the transition style—the upper part of the tower having been rebuilt at a later period.[422] Of the chancel only a fragment remains—two of the south main piers with arches and two stories of arcades above, which represent the triforium and clerestory. The chancel only had aisles.

The main piers consist of a circular column, five feet in diameter, with smaller attached half-columns on three sides to carry the moulded arches between the main piers and the arches between the latter and the aisles.[423] "The piers have caps of the usual Norman modified cushion pattern, and the arches were moulded and arranged in several orders. The arcade immediately over the main arches has a row of single round shafts, with spreading Norman caps, which carry a series of moulded arches, occupying the position of the triforium. The upper arcade, which takes the place of the clerestory, has shafts of triple form, with wide spreading bases and caps of Norman and transition design. On the latter rest the round boldly-moulded arches. The arches opposite the windows in the outer wall are slightly larger than the others. It will be observed that there is no main vaulting shaft carried up over the main piers, as is almost invariably the case, for the purpose of strengthening the wall. On the contrary, the triforium arcade is continuous, and no provision is made to support the side wall, except the single shafts of the running arcade, which have a very weak effect. In the usual arrangement, the triforium arches are separated by a substantial piece of wall, including a vaulting shaft, and the triforium arch, which is generally subdivided into several subordinate arches, is introduced between the vaulting shafts. That is a much more substantial form of construction, and also more satisfactory to the eye, than the plan adopted here of a simple continuous arcade." In the exterior of this portion of the choir the outside of the clerestory windows is visible, being simple round-headed openings, with flat buttresses between them. The remainder of the wall is plain, but, judging from the level of the triforium window, the vaulting of the aisle, which was very high and partly covered the windows, seems to have been added at a later date. The crossing is square; the piers are about nine feet square—that at the south-east angle standing detached in consequence of the opening into the south aisle, while those at the north-west and south-west angles are incorporated with the walls. The piers are designed as a series of shafts, set in square nooks (four on each of the complete sides), with a large semicircular shaft at each angle. The shafts are all built in courses with the piers, and have transition bases and caps. From the latter spring large pointed arches, with plain chamfered orders. The pointed arch indicates the transitional character of this part of the building, and was probably introduced in this position to give strength to sustain the tower. The three arms of the cross branching to the north, south, and west from the crossing are of equal size—an unusual arrangement, as the nave is generally the longest division of the church. This was part of the original design, as the western doorway is one of the most prominently Norman portions of the edifice, and no satisfactory explanation has yet been given of the shortness of the Kelso nave. The upper portion of the west front has been in the transitional style, and the Norman arcading, which runs round the interior of the nave, was continued across the west end.

The nave, north and south transepts, contain each four stories in height, consisting of an interlacing arcade of Norman work in the interior of the ground level, and three stories of windows above. The upper arcades of the choir do not extend round the nave and transepts, except in a portion of the south transept. The windows in the different stories have all round arches, both inside and outside, and the exterior is marked at each angle by broad and shallow Norman buttresses, with nook shafts in the angles, and an interlacing arcade round the lower story, both internally and externally. In the façades of the west end and north transept the windows of the different stories have been grouped so as to form distinct designs. "In the west end, over the great west doorway, there has been an arrangement of tall windows of apparently lancet form, having on either side an interlacing arcade of round arches, supported on tall, bended shafts. This is now, unfortunately, greatly destroyed. Above the arcade there runs a horizontal flat cornice, enriched with several rows of carved ornaments, and this was surmounted by a large opening of quatrefoil shape, surrounded with numerous mouldings and enrichments. The angle buttresses have been crowned with octagonal turrets."[424]

The north wall of the north transept has a fine transitional door-piece, occupying the two lower stories. The next two stories have each two windows, separated by a small buttress, and the upper story has three arches in the interior. "Above these stories is a small circular window with a curious saving arch over it, and the whole is crowned with a top story, containing three round-headed openings, and a gable with a small circular aperture. The buttresses at the angles are crowned with circular turrets, which have been finished with a projecting parapet, the corbels for carrying which still survive. The upper part of the gable shows signs of having been altered."[425]

The west doorway and the north door-piece are interesting; the former, the south half of which has perished, and which was finished with a sloping gable and stone roof, is regarded as a rich specimen of the elaborate carved work that characterised the late Norman period. "The jambs contained five detached shafts set in nooks, and having Norman bases and carved caps. Over each of these shafts there springs a circular order, carved with rich Norman ornament, now, however, very much decayed. The jambs of the doorway also formed moulded shafts, supporting their order in the arch."[426] The door-piece of the north transept wall is a prominent feature, projects 4 feet 6 inches from the main wall, has two stories, and is roofed with a sloping stone roof. The shafts have the usual Norman caps and bases, and the mouldings of the arch are pronounced to be peculiar in their profile. The outer one is enriched with small medallions, the central with the billet, and the inner one with rosettes. Above the archway there is an arcade of interlacing round shafts—the shafts, which were destroyed, having Norman caps. "The tympanum of the gable is covered with a reticulation of round beads or rolls."[427] The south and west sides and a small portion of the north and east sides of the tower remain. It is 35 feet square over the walls, and "is carried up with plain masonry externally, but the interior has immediately over the great arches of the crossing an arcade of round moulded arches, supported on triple shafts similar to those of the choir. Above this arcade is another story containing simple round arched openings, which are lighted on the exterior by circular windows containing quatrefoils. Over this tier is the upper story, which contains three pointed and deeply-recessed windows on each side of the tower. Broad, flat buttresses are placed at each angle of the tower, similar to those of the main building, and these were, no doubt, originally finished with turrets like those of the transepts.... The upper part of the tower is later than the lower part. This is apparent from the pointed windows of the top story and the quatrefoiled circular windows of the story beneath. The lower story immediately over the great arches is, without doubt, of about the same date as the choir."[428] There were probably similar staircases in other parts of the structure now removed, but the approach to the upper floors is now by one staircase in the N.W. angle of the transept. Passages between the arcades and the outer walls went round the building on every floor, and in the angles of the tower there are small wheel stairs leading to every floor, and passages running round the tower on every story. These arcades and passages have tended to weaken the structure, and it has been found necessary to strengthen it with numerous iron tie-rods, iron beams, etc.[429]

There was an outer door in the S.W. angle of the transept, and another in the north wall of the nave adjoining the crossing. A tomb recess is in the south transept wall, and in the recess beneath are two ambries or lockers and a piscina, the only one remaining in the building. To the south of the transept there is a vaulted chamber that may have been the sacristy.[430]

Arbroath Abbey (Forfarshire).—This abbey was founded in 1178 by William the Lion, and dedicated to S.S. Mary and Thomas à Becket. Becket had been martyred at the high altar of Canterbury Cathedral only seven years before, and William the Lion had recently suffered defeat and capture by the English at Alnwick. William had been personally acquainted with Becket, and is supposed to have regarded him as a private friend.

"Was this the cause," asks Dr. Cosmo Innes, "or was it the natural propensity to extol him who, living and dead, had humbled the crown of England, that led William to take St. Thomas as his patron saint, and to entreat his intercession when he was in greatest trouble? Or may we consider the dedication of his new abbey, and his invocation of the martyr of Canterbury, as nothing more than the signs of the rapid spreading of the veneration for the new saint of the high church party, from which his old opponent himself, Henry of England, was not exempt?"

As showing the eagerness with which King William pushed on the buildings, Hollinshed mentions that

"The King came by the Abbey of Aberbrothoc to view the work of that house, how it went forward, commanding them that were overseers and masters of the works to spare for no cost, but to bring it up to perfection, and that with magnificence."[431]

The abbey received great endowments from King William and from many subsequent princes and barons; acquired in 1204 a charter of privileges from King John of England and was one of the foremost and richest in Scotland. Its monks were Tyronenses, and the first were brought from Kelso Abbey.

"By the year 1178 part of the church was ready for dedication. William the Lion died in 1214, and was buried in the east end of the edifice, which was then finished. Shortly afterwards the south transept was sufficiently well advanced to admit of the burial within it, before the altar of St. Catherine, of Gilchrist, Earl of Angus. On the 18th of March 1233, during the time of Abbot Ralph de Lamley, the church was dedicated. The time occupied in the erection and completion of the structure was thus a little over fifty-five years, and when its dimensions are considered, it will be found in comparison with other churches to have been carried on with great rapidity."[432]

The abbots had several special privileges; they were exempted from assisting at the yearly synods; they had the custody of the Brecbennach, or consecrated banner of St. Columba; they acquired from Pope Benedict, by Bull, dated at Avignon, the right to wear a mitre, and were in some instances the foremost churchmen of the Kingdom. The abbey was toll-free, i.e. protected against the local impositions which of old beset all merchandise.

"But," says Dr. Cosmo Innes, "the privilege the abbot most valued (and intrinsically the most valuable) was the tenure of all his lands, 'in free regality,' i.e. with sovereign power over his people, and the unlimited emoluments of criminal jurisdiction.... Even after the Reformation had passed over abbot and monk, the lord of regality had still the same power, and the Commendator of Arbroath was able to rescue from the King's Justiciar and to 'repledge' into his own court four men accused of the slaughter of William Sibbald of Cair—as dwelling within his bounds (quasi infra bondas ejusdem commorantes). The officer who administered this formidable jurisdiction was the Bailie of the Regality, or 'Justiciar Chamberlain and Bailie'—the Bailiary had become virtually hereditary in the family of Airlie.[433] ... The mair and the coroner of the abbey were the executors of the law within the bounds of the regality, and the best thought it no degradation to hold their lands as vassals of the great abbey."[434]

The monks made a harbour and fixed a bell on the Inchcape Rock as a warning to sailors; the abbey was burnt in 1272 and 1380.

Referring to its chartulary as a record of the names of the old Scottish families Dr. Cosmo Innes says:—

"Many of our ancient families went down in the War of Independence, and few of our present aristocracy trace back beyond the revolution of families and property which took place under Bruce. The Earls of Angus, Fife, and Strathearn are little more than mythological personages to the modern genealogist.... It is the common case all over Scotland."[435]

In connection with the monks he has the following interesting note:—

"It is to be remarked that in Scotland, as in other countries, while the secular or parochial clergy were often the younger sons of good families, the convents of monk and friars were recruited wholly from the lower classes; and yet—not to speak of the daily bread, the freedom from daily care, all the vulgar temptations of such a life in hard times—the career of a monk opened no mean path to the ambitious spirit. The offices of the monastery alone might well seem prizes to be contended for by the son of the peasant or burgess, and the highest of these placed its holder on a level with the greatest of the nobility."[436]

The last abbot was Cardinal Beaton, at the same time Archbishop of St. Andrews. The abbey suffered after the Reformation from the revenues having become the property of the Hamiltons, and as they were appropriated to the private use of that family, there were no funds to keep up the buildings, which fell gradually into decay, and were freely used by the magistrates and townspeople as a quarry. The property was converted into a temporal lordship in favour of Lord Claude Hamilton, third son of the Duke of Chatelherault.

In sketching the history of this famous abbey, the "Aberbrothock Manifesto" of 1320 must be recalled, in which it becomes manifest that the Scottish Church was never a complaisant vassal of Rome.[437] There breathes in it a spirit of freedom and natural independence, and a refusal to accept the interference of Rome in the affairs of the State. The Scottish nobles protest against the papal countenance given to the English aggressions, and distinctly tell Pope John XXII. that "not for glory, riches, or honour we fight, but for liberty alone, which no good man loses but with his life."[438]

The abbey church consisted of a choir of three bays, with side aisles and an aisleless presbytery; a nave of nine bays, with aisles and north and south transepts with eastern aisles; two western towers and one large central tower. Considerable portions of these divisions still remain, but the greater part of the north side of the choir, the north transept and nave, and almost all the piers and pillars have been swept away. Beginning at the east end, the eastern wall is entire for nearly half its height, having an arcade below and three lancet windows above, with the lower portions of an upper row of similar windows. Somewhat less of the return wall of the south side of the presbytery, comprising two bays, remains, and adjoining it is the sacristy, a late building fairly well preserved. The end wall of the south transept is almost complete, along with a considerable portion of the west wall of the transept, which gives a good idea of the grandeur of the church. The whole of the nave south wall remains, showing a row of windows and indications of the groining of the aisle. The central aisle was not vaulted, but covered with a wooden roof. Most of the bases of the nave pillars are in position, as are also the foundations of the north transept. The west end fragment and the two towers left standing, are striking and impressive in their vigorous work.[439] Bold, vigorous work, with refinement of detail, is seen in the western doorway. It is round arched, and its outer order, if it may be so called, extends inwards for about five feet, unadorned as a bold and plain tunnel arch, having a pointed arch in each ingoing. It then becomes shafted and richly moulded, after the transition manner. This arrangement, while it gives a fine shadow under the arch, has a feeling of rudeness, which, to a considerable extent, characterises the whole west front. "There is a remarkable resemblance in the decoration of this doorway to that of the doorway in the porch of Lerida Cathedral, Spain, supposing the tunnel arch of Arbroath away, and the moulded part brought forward to the face of the wall, as is the case at Lerida.... A similar ring ornament, on a large scale, is also to be seen in a doorway at Lamington, Lanarkshire, where it is likewise used along with the zig-zag, but there the ringed order is the outer enrichment."[440]

The removal of the outer part of a gallery, which existed over this doorway, has increased the rude appearance of the west front, but the inner part of this gallery still remains. Within the great thickness of the wall a chamber of considerable size was obtained, and it opens into the nave by six pointed arches, and to the outside over the doorway by three arches. It is regarded as obvious that three gablets projected outwards from the wall for a distance of about four feet, supported on two intermediate shafts, and that the gallery was closed in at each end with walls or haffits, both of which still remain in part. We now see the west front robbed of its most unique features; the gallery was reached by a long passage at each end from stairs in the angle-buttresses. It probably was a gallery for an orchestra, and may have also been used as a pulpit to address an open-air audience.[441]

Above this gallery was an immense circular window, a portion of which still survives. "It is probable that this part of the building was erected at two different times, the west doorway and some of the pillars of the gallery being in the early transition style, while the triple windows to the front and the six-light arcade towards the interior are in the first pointed style. When the gallery was completed in the first pointed period, the floor space was enlarged by extending it to the front, hence the necessity for the deep tunnel arch over the west doorway. The pointed arches in the ingoing also indicate this first pointed period."[442]

The western towers opened with arches into the north, south, and central aisles, but only the north tower retains its massive pier and arches, while of the south tower nothing but the foundation of the pier exists. The south wall of the transept is externally plain, the upper part being visible above the dormitory roof. The façade has two plain lancet windows, one shorter than the other, and above them is a large wheel window. The interior of the transept is a very grand design in the early pointed style.[443] Beneath the splayed lancets there is a round arched open arcade, with a passage behind it, and beneath this, two tiers of wall arcades with pointed arches, the central arcade being very acutely pointed, the lower one not so decidedly, and with trefoil cusps in the arches. A staircase in the S.E. angle of the transept gave access to the dormitory by the door, seen built up on the outside.[444] This staircase also leads to the various passages in the thickness of the walls, and the church doorway leading to this stair is round arched and ranges with the lower pointed arcade. The lower arcade of the south end is continued along the west wall, and above this rise two widely-splayed windows. All the lofty south transept windows have passages on two floors, and the transepts had chapels on the east side. "The respond of the great arcade against the south wall is beautiful in detail. Above this there exist fragments of the responds of the triforium story and the clerestory. All the above features of this part of the abbey point plainly to its having some lingering remains of transition style, retaining, as it does, some round arches along with the general features of the design."[445]

The vestry or sacristy was built by Abbot Walter Painter between 1411 and 1433, and is a two-storied building, the ground floor having a groined ceiling, still entire, and the upper room being roofless. Its features are of fifteenth-century work, and the building is in good preservation.

Only fragments of the conventual buildings remain. "An octagonal turret marks the south-east corner of the chapter-house with the south and east return walls, and adjoining the south transept is the slype, the walls of which determine the other walls of the chapter-house. On the wall of the south transept is clearly seen the mark of the dormitory roof, with the door between the church and dormitory now built up."[446] The north wall and a portion of the west wall proceeding southward from it are all that remain of the extensive enclosure of the abbey. The enclosure was said to have been of great height and to have extended 1150 feet on the east and west, 760 feet on the north, and 480 feet on the south. There were great towers at the angles and entrance gateways on the north and at the south-east angle. In the centre of the north wall is the portcullis entrance gatehouse. The front wall is almost entire, and the upper floor window is crossed by the corbels which carried the movable wooden hoarding that was erected over the gateway when required for its defence.[447] At the western extremity of the north enclosing wall there is a large square tower, three stories in height in the inside, and four stories on the outside, owing to the fall of the ground. The two lower floors are round-vaulted, and the cape-house on top is said to have been removed during this century.[448] The building adjoining the tower to the east was called the Regality Court-house, and had a groined ceiling. The abbot's house is on the south side of the cloister, and is the best preserved abbot's house in Scotland. It is three stories high, and the two upper floors have been converted into a modern private dwelling-house. It has been altered externally and spoiled of its ancient internal fittings, with the exception of two fine carved panels, one representing the Virgin, and the other a large Scotch thistle. The kitchen has central pillars supporting a groined roof,[449] and the other offices connected with the kitchen are all vaulted. The abbey suffered from fire in 1272 and in 1380, while in 1350 it was injured "from the frequent assaults of the English ships."[450] Service was up to 1590 conducted in the lady chapel "stripped of its altars and images."

Melrose Abbey (Roxburghshire).—The editor of the Liber de Melros has said in reference to this abbey:—

"The incidental mention of the condition of the abbey itself at different times strongly illustrates the history of the district and the age. At one time powerful and prosperous, accumulating property, procuring privileges, commanding the support of the most powerful, and proudly contending against the slightest encroachment; at another, impoverished and ruined by continual wars, obliged to seek protection from the foreign invader: in either situation it reflects back faithfully the political condition of the country.

But the political events of a country of so narrow bounds and small resources as Scotland are insignificant unless they are associated with the development of principles and feelings that know no limits of place or power. How rich Scotland has been in such associations is testified by the general sympathy which attends her history and her literature, and gives a pride to her children that forms not the weakest safeguard of their virtue. It is in recalling freshly the memory of times in which the proud and virtuous character of her people was formed, and which it is their delight and their duty to look back upon, that such studies as the present are most useful. Every local association, every faint illustration of antiquity, each indication of the bygone manners of a simple age, are in this view to be treasured, not only as filling a page of a meagre history, but as so many moral ties to bind us closer in affection to the country of our fathers."[451]

This abbey has a charming site in the hill-girt hollow known as the vale of Melrose, occupying one of those peaceful situations near a river which the Cistercians delighted to choose and colonise. An ancient monastery of Melrose had existed since the seventh century, on a broad meadow nearly surrounded by a "loop" of the Tweed, about 2½ miles lower down the river. It was established about 650 by St. Aidan, the missionary from Iona, who preached in Northumbria, and founded the abbey of Lindisfarne. Eata was the first abbot we hear of, and he was a disciple of St. Aidan. St. Cuthbert spent much of his early life at this monastery of old Melrose, and afterwards chose as the scene of his labours Hexham and Lindisfarne. The monks of Lindisfarne, when expelled by the Danes, took refuge at Melrose, and brought with them St. Cuthbert's body, which afterwards found its resting-place at Durham. In the eleventh century this old monastery of Melrose had become a ruined and desolate place. It afterwards became the retreat of a few monks, amongst whom was the celebrated Turgot, the confessor of Queen Margaret. A chapel was erected and dedicated to St. Cuthbert, which at first belonged to Coldingham, but was gifted finally by David I. to the new abbey of Melrose.

This abbey was founded in 1136 at a place then called Fordell, and was endowed by David I. and his nobles with extensive lands. The monks were of the Cistercian order, and were brought from Rievalle in Yorkshire. The original buildings were not finished till 1146, and on the 28th of July in that year the church was solemnly consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is thought that such buildings with an oratory were probably the residence of the monks, and their period would suggest the Norman style, like that of the abbeys of Kelso, Jedburgh, and Dryburgh. Every trace of these early buildings has disappeared, and, situated as it was on the border-country, Melrose Abbey was exposed to danger, and frequently suffered in the wars between the two countries. It was in the chapter-house at Melrose that the Yorkshire barons united against King John and swore fealty to Alexander II. in 1215. In 1295 Edward I. gave formal protection to its monks, and in 1296 he issued a writ ordering a restitution to them of all the property they had lost in the preceding struggle. In 1321 or 1322 the original structure was destroyed by the English under Edward II., and the abbot, with a number of the monks, was killed. In 1326 Robert I. gave a grant of £2000 to be applied to the rebuilding of the church, and in 1329, a few months before his death, he wrote a letter to his son David, requesting that his heart should be buried at Melrose and commending the monastery and the church to his successor's favour. His wish was granted, and so late as 1369 we hear of King David II. renewing his father's gift, and it is to this grant we owe a considerable part of the present building. In 1328 Edward III. ordered the restoration to the abbey of pensions and lands which it had held in England, and which had been seized by Edward II. In 1334 the same king granted a protection to Melrose in common with the other Border abbeys, and in 1341 he came to Melrose to spend Christmas. In 1385 Richard II., exasperated by his fruitless expedition into Scotland, spent a night in the abbey and caused it to be burned. Notwithstanding these disasters, the abbey increased in wealth and architectural splendour, and it was not till more severe damage and dilapidations befell it during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI. and Elizabeth, that ruin began finally to impend. The approach of the Reformation influenced its downfall, and though donations for rebuilding were given by various individuals, the abbey never recovered the damage then suffered. In 1541 James V. obtained from the Pope the abbeys of Melrose and Kelso, to be held in commendam by his illegitimate son James, who died in 1558. In 1560 all the "abbacie" was annexed to the Crown, and in 1566 Mary granted the lands to James, Earl of Bothwell, with the title of Commendator. After passing through the hands of Douglas of Lochleven and Sir John Ramsay, the estates were ultimately acquired by the Scotts of Buccleuch. The abbey gradually fell into decay through neglect. The materials were used for the erection of other structures, and Douglas built from the ruins a house which still stands to the north of the cloisters and bears the date 1590. The masonry also formed a quarry for the neighbourhood, and in 1618 the remaining portion of the structure was fitted up as the parish church, "and in order to render it secure, a plain pointed barrel vault was thrown across the nave, and was supported by plain square piers built against the old piers on the north side. The original vaulting seems to have been previously demolished."[452] A great number of the stone images of saints which filled the numerous wall niches were left untouched till 1649, when they were almost all cast down and destroyed, but by whose order is unknown. Of the abbey there now only remain the ruins of the church, and of it the most competent authorities say:—

"No building in Scotland affords such an extensive and almost inexhaustible field for minute investigation and enjoyment of detail such as this. Whether we consider the great variety of the beautifully sculptured figures of monks and angels playing on musical instruments, or displaying 'the scrolls which teach us to live and die,' or turn to the elaborate canopies and beautiful pinnacles of the buttresses, or examine the rich variety of foliage and other sculptures on the capitals of the nave and the doorway and arches of the cloisters; or if, again, we take a more general view of the different parts of the edifice from the numerous fine standpoints from which it can be so advantageously contemplated, we know of no Scottish building which surpasses Melrose either in the picturesqueness of its general aspect or in the profusion or value of its details. It occupies an important position also historically, and it in part supplies an admirable example of that decorated architecture, the existence of which in this country has been so often denied, but of which, we trust, a sufficient number of examples are now provided to render that reproach to Scottish architecture no longer justifiable. We have to thank the fine red sandstone of the district, of which the church is built, for the perfect preservation of all the details of the structure. These remain, even in the minutest carving, as perfect and complete as the day they were executed."[453]

The cloister and domestic buildings, including the hall of Abbot Matthew, were situated on the north side of the church. They have now entirely disappeared, leaving only a portion of the cloister which indicates their position. The church is cruciform, and the choir is unusually short and the nave unusually long. The aisled choir extends only two bays eastwards from the crossing, beyond which point the presbytery is carried one bay farther, without aisles, and is lighted by large north and south windows as well as by the great eastern window.

The shortness of the choir rendered it necessary that part of the nave should be appropriated for the monks, and the enclosing screen wall of this portion of the "choir" extended to the fourth pier west from the crossing, where it was carried across the nave and formed the rood screen. The screen was wide and contained a gallery, on the top of which stood the rood.[454] The nave extends to eight bays, but it has been intended to be longer—the west end being incomplete. Extending southwards, beyond the south aisle, is a series of eight chapels, which produced externally, along with the south aisle, the appearance of a double aisle.[455] The north aisle is narrower than the south aisle, and the position of the cloister may have hampered the design.

This difference may have arisen from the plan of the original abbey of the twelfth century being adhered to in the later construction.[456]

The transepts contain the usual eastern aisle only, in which are situated four chapels.

The superstructure of the church has severely suffered and the western part is greatly demolished. The portion eastwards from the rood screen is in better preservation. The vaulting of the aisles is well-preserved, but that of the centre aisle is demolished—a pointed tunnel vault having been constructed in 1618. The eight chapels are well preserved, but some parts of the three furthest west ones are damaged and have lost their vaulting. The tracery in the chapel windows is lovely; the vaulting of the nave, south aisle and chapels, is supported by a series of flying buttresses, "which form one of the most prominent and beautiful elements of the building. No church in Scotland retains such a striking example of that important feature of Gothic architecture."[457]

The eastern piers of the crossing were demolished probably in Henry VIII.'s time, and their destruction entailed that of the central tower, of which the western wall only remains. The transepts have suffered by the fall of the tower, but fortunately the south wall of the transept with its finely decorated window is still preserved. From the south transept access is obtained to the roof of the nave aisle and to the uppermost parts of the structure by a turnpike stair, which also forms the only mode of approach to the tower.[458] "The choir, so far as the east is concerned, is well preserved, the buttresses and gable, the celebrated eastern window, and the remarkable vaulting of the presbytery being all in good order. The remainder of the choir, however, has been greatly wrecked by the fall of the central tower; but many of the windows of the choir and transept with their perpendicular tracery have escaped destruction, and afford the best example in Scotland of that form of design."[459]

The building, as it now stands, is, generally speaking,[460] of a date subsequent to Bruce's time, and much of it is later than the destruction which occurred under Richard II. in 1385.[461] "The nave, from the crossing to the rood loft, and part of the transepts are, undoubtedly, the oldest portions of the existing edifice. The work in these is, for the most part, of the Scottish decorated period. The nave piers, with their beautifully carved caps, and the mouldings of the arches are distinctly decorated work; and the flying buttresses and pinnacles on the south side of the nave are, without doubt, of the same period. So also is the south wall of the transept, with its magnificent window and tracery and its buttresses, enriched with fine canopies and quaint figures carved as corbels.

"All these features bear a close affinity to the decorated work of the nave of York Minster, erected about 1400. The flying buttresses, with pinnacles enriched with crockets and foliaged finials; the niches, with their elaborate canopies and corbels composed of figures of monks and angels; the statues which formerly filled the niches, of which very few now remain; the decorated tracery of the south transept window, and the whole character of the work, both in its general scope and in its details, is of fine decorated design, and vividly recalls that of York, Beverley, and other English examples. It is not improbable that some parts of the nave and transept were erected during the period between the death of King Robert Bruce and the invasion of Richard II. It should be mentioned that Bruce's bequest was not all received till 1399, and the operations also probably proceeded slowly. The doorway in the south wall of the south transept is apparently an insertion in older work."[462] The south chapels of the nave have apparently been added during the repairs in the earlier part of the fifteenth century; the buttresses were probably executed towards the middle of that century, and the east one contains the arms of Abbot Hunter.[463] There is a distinct change in the transept's design from that of the nave, as if the former had been added to the latter at a later period.[464] The east wall and the other eastern parts of the choir are more recent than the nave, and probably this portion of the church had been more damaged by Richard II. than the nave, and required to be almost wholly rebuilt. The style here corresponds closely with the "perpendicular" of England which prevailed in the fifteenth century.[465] The great eastern window is exceptional and unique, and has more of the character of perpendicular than any other style. Scott, referring to it, has described the moon as shining

The design of the west wall of the north transept is different from that of the other parts of the building, but the clerestory windows are of the same design as the rest of the older church. "The wall ribs of the vaulting include two windows in each; and the space between the windows is occupied by two niches, each carried up from a shaft—with late canopies, containing statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, the former having the keys and the latter holding his sword. These are the best preserved statues in the church, but they are not of very remarkable workmanship."[466] The building or restoration of the eastern part of the edifice is regarded as indicating, from its style, work of the middle of the fifteenth century, and the vaulting of the south transept appears to have been erected by Abbot Hunter about the same time,[467] probably from 1450 to 1460. More of the vaulting in the eastern part of the nave may have been carried out at that epoch. The vaults all contain, besides the main and ridge ribs, subsidiary ribs, or tiercerons, indicating a similarity to English examples.[468]

The vaulting of the presbytery is peculiar, and points to a somewhat later time; examples of vaulting similar to that of the presbytery of Melrose may be seen at Winchester Cathedral, and other English examples of the fifteenth century.[469]

The south chapels to the west of the fifth buttress west from the transept, on which buttress another specimen of Abbot Hunter's arms is engraved, are of comparatively late date.[470] "This buttress belongs to the earlier part of the nave, and the chapel seems to have been repaired when the additional chapels to the west were erected. Besides the three hunting horns in the shield of Abbot Hunter in the examples above mentioned, the arms engraved on the fifth buttress contain two crosiers, saltierwise, and the initials A. H. on the right and left; also, in chief a rose, and in base a mason's mell for Melrose. The work in the chapels to the west is inferior to that of those to the eastward, although copied from them. The chapels each contain an enriched piscina, and these are so inferior in style of workmanship as to lead to the belief that they were inserted after the chapels were built. One of them contains the initials of Abbot William Turnbull, whose date is the beginning of the sixteenth century. A late piscina has also been inserted in the south transept.

"Work in the nave and in the south chapels was apparently in progress during the reign of James IV., as the royal arms, with the letters I. Q. (Jacobus Quartus) and the date 1505 on the westmost buttress testify."[471] On the south side of the cloister is a very lovely doorway that leads into the church. To the right of this and along the east wall of the cloister, are arched recesses of a late style, and in the south wall is an arcade of trefoil form, with nail-head enrichments. The latter is an example of the late revival of early forms which prevailed towards the close of the Gothic epoch.[472]

It has been stated that the arcade of the cloister formerly extended 150 feet each way. The cloister wall is now reduced to the portions which abut against the nave and transept—50 feet on the east side and 80 feet on the south side. "The former side contains a wall arcade of seven arches. These are of the form called drop arches, with crocketed ogee hood moulding, and have plain spandrils above, over which there runs a straight cornice, enriched with flowers and shells of all descriptions very beautifully carved."[473] Of these Sir Walter Scott said:—

The tower was doubtless erected about the same time as the transept.[474] In the south transept are two inscriptions that have given rise to much speculation and continue to exercise Border antiquaries. One of these is carved over the doorway in the west wall which gives access to the wheel stair, and part of the inscription is carried down one side for want of room. It is the following:—

The other inscription is carved on a tablet in the wall on the south side of the same door:—

In the centre of the former inscription is a sunk panel containing a shield with two masons' compasses, arranged somewhat like a saltier, and beneath a figure resembling a fleur-de-lys.

The late Dr. John Smith, in the Proceedings of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, considers these inscriptions as applying to one man, who may have been the master mason of the building. But Mr. Pinches, in his account of the abbey, mentions that John Murdo, or Morow, was engaged in building a church in Galloway in 1508. It thus seems likely that these inscriptions are not earlier than that date, and have been added to the building after its completion.[476]

An interesting view regarding John Morow will be found in A Mediæval Architect, by Mr. P. MacGregor Chalmers. He believes that the south chapel of the transept was that of St. John, and as John Morrow's tablet is opposite this chapel, his prayer to "sweet St. John" is most appropriate. Mr. Chalmers also points out that the chapels at the east end of Glasgow Cathedral are dedicated to the same saints and in the same order as those in the east aisle of the transept at Melrose.[477]

Immediately beneath the site of the high altar at Melrose is the resting-place of the heart of Robert Bruce, and to the south of it is a dark-coloured polished slab of encrinital limestone said to mark the grave of Alexander II., who was buried near the high altar in 1249. Others maintain, however, that it marks the burial-place of St. Waltheof or Waldeve, who was the second abbot of the monastery founded by King David, and that it is the slab placed here by Ingram, Bishop of Glasgow (1164-1174).

The chancel was also the burial-place of the Douglases. The Douglas tombs were all defaced by Sir Ralph Evers in 1544. At the northern end of the north transept a small doorway leads into the sacristy, in which is the tombstone of Johanna, Queen of Alexander II., with the inscription "Hic jacet Johanna d. Ross." Melrose is the Kennaquhair of the Abbot and the Monastery.