THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY RUDE
St John's Street, STIRLING FK8 1ED
Tel: 01786 475275
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RCAHMS (1963) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Stirlingshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments, 2v, Edinburgh, 129-40, No.131, Crown Copyright: RCAHMS. Used with permission. Page 129 131. The Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling. INTRODUCTORY. The Burgh of Stirling no doubt possessed its own church from the earliest times,1 but while the site of the present building may have been in use since the 12th century the structure itself is not older than the 15th century. Of the earlier churches that may have occupied the site, very little is known and no fragments survive. In 1414 mention is made of a grant to the work of the parish church of Stirling, which had been burnt,2 but, as the architectural evidence suggests that the earliest portion of the present fabric is on the whole more likely to date from the later than from the 1. By the middle of the 12th century the abbey of Dunfermline was in possession of two churches in the "vill" of Stirling, one of which was no doubt a predecessor of the present building (Lawrie, Charters, No. ccix). Page 129 Page 130
early part of the 15th century, this entry presumably refers to the repair and restoration of an older church rather than to the erection of a new one. In 1455, however, much destruction was done in the burgh during disorders that attended the fall of the Douglases, and the church may well have been damaged or destroyed at this time; certainly there is record of a grant made by James II in the following year for the building of the parish church of the burgh,1 and the heraldic evidence (p. 135) confirms that the oldest portion of the present structure is of this period. The scheme for the rebuilding of the church was an ambitious one, and perhaps because of this it was decided to complete the work in two stages, the first being devoted to the erection of a new nave with a W. tower, and the second to the completion of a new choir and crossing. Both the architectural and the historical evidence become more abundant after the middle of the 15th century, and the history of the church from that period up to the present day may be followed in some detail.2 The nave and W. tower were probably begun soon after 1450 and the nave was probably completed within about twenty years; it is of five bays and has N. and S. aisles of the same length. At the E. end an extra bay was added to the nave to serve as a temporary chancel until the erection of the new choir. The W. tower was not completed, being carried up only to the height of the nave roof. Almost before the nave was finished wealthy burgesses began to erect chantry chapels, which took the form of small rectangular projections from the N. and S. aisles. The oldest of these chapels, St. Andrew's Aisle, appears to have been built by Matthew Forestar some time before 1483, while in 1484 St. Mary's Aisle was erected by Adam Cosour.3 Both these chapels stand on the N. side of the nave; a third chapel, known as Bowye's Aisle, was added to the S. side of the church, but the date of its erection is not known. Soon after the beginning of the 16th century the second stage of the building programme was begun. In 1507 an indenture was made between the provost, baillies and council of Stirling and the Abbey of Dunfermline, to which the church was appropriated, by which the burgh undertook to build "ane gud and sufficient queyr conformand to the body of the peroch kirk".4 The Abbey contributed to the scheme, but the bulk of the cost was borne by the burgh. The construction of the choir was probably begun soon after 1507, but work proceeded slowly; in 1523 there is mention of a payment for timber for the choir of the church, perhaps for the roof, but six years later John Couttis, master mason to the burgh, was still employed upon the "Rud wark…in the parocht kirk".5 It is uncertain when work stopped, but the choir and the presbytery were probably completed by the time of the constitution of a college of secular canons in the church some time before 1546.6 The W. tower, too, which had been left unfinished in about 1470, was by now raised to its full height. It is clear, however, that the second stage in the rebuilding of the church was never completed. There is evidence to show that the builders contemplated the erection of a substantial tower above the crossing, and the two massive eastern piers were actually begun; they may also have intended to build transepts. Work came to a standstill, however, before the piers were completed and the crossing itself remained unfinished; in consequence the temporary chancel of the first building period remained standing and the junction between nave and choir was at best a makeshift one. The church remained in this condition for about a century although the internal arrangements were no doubt much altered at the Reformation; in addition it is known that a number of lofts and galleries were erected within the building during the 17th century. In about 1656 the congregation was divided by a controversy about the appointment of the second minister, and this led to the erection of a partition wall between the nave and the choir,7 and to the formation of separate congregations-the nave and choir coming to be known as the West Church and the East Church respectively. A number of alterations were made to the structure in the course of the 18th century, some of which are noted at the appropriate place in the description (pp. 132 ff.), while at the beginning of the 19th century both East and West Churches underwent extensive modifications which further altered the character of the building. In 1803 the internal arrangements of the East Church were altered under the direction of James Miller, a local architect, while in 1818 the West Church was restored by James Gillespie Graham. Graham removed the old S. porch of the nave together with Bowye's Aisle and the greater part of St. Mary's Aisle. He also blocked up the W. doorway and covered the timber roof of the nave with an expensive but unconvincing plaster vault. In 1869, James Collie, architect, Bridge of Allan, modified the internal arrangements of the East Church, lowered the aisle roofs and converted the triforium openings on either side into clearstoreys. Towards the end of the 19th century local antiquarians began to take an informed interest in the structure, and alterations were undertaken with the object of restoring the fabric to the condition in which it had stood in the middle of the 16th century and of fulfilling in some measure the original intentions of the builders with regard to the crossing. In 1911-4,the West Church was restored by Dr. Thomas Ross, who removed Gillespie Graham's plaster vault to expose the fine open timber roof, and repaired the nave arcades 1 Stirling Charters, No. xxiii. Page 130 Page 131
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where they had been mutilated or hacked away to give access to pews and galleries. Finally, between 1936 and 1940 an extensive programme of restoration was carried out under the direction of James Miller, the most important features of which were the removal of the dividing wall between the East and West Churches, the linking up of choir and nave by the completion of the crossing and the erection of transepts. The central tower, which it was the intention of the 16th-century builders to erect, is still absent, but in other respects it may be said that the church now embodies the ideas of its original designers in a way which its condition of a century ago might have been thought to preclude entirely. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION. The church, which is oriented almost exactly E. and W., comprises, as has been said, a W. tower, a nave of five bays, transepts, a choir of three bays, and an apsidal presbytery, the nave and the choir having both N. and S. aisles. The external length of the whole building, over tower and apse, is 208 ft., of which the tower, which projects 18 ft. 1 in., and the nave jointly account for 104 ft. 6 in., the crossing for 25 ft., the choir for 52 ft. and the apse for 26 ft. 6 in. In external breadth the tower measures 30 ft. 7 in., the nave with its aisles 62 ft. 3 in., the choir with its aisles 63 ft. 5 in. (average), and the presbytery 36 ft. 9 in. Walls vary in thickness from 5 ft. 3 in. to 3 ft. 8 in.; they rise from a plinth for which the same section has been kept at all the building-periods, and which is stepped downwards as required to suit the fall of the ground. In the re-entrant angle W. of the N. transept stands St. Andrew's Chapel (supra), and at the W. end of the N. side the foundations of St. Mary's Chapel (supra), now demolished. The present main entrance-door is in the S. transept; the one ordinarily used is situated near the W. end of the S. side of the nave and is covered by a porch of recent construction. As a result of a change in the original intentions of the builders (p. 133), the nave now lies like a saddle between the higher transepts and choir on the one hand and the rather tall W. tower on the other. The central tower that formed part of the original scheme was never constructed. THE TOWER. The tower is 85 ft. high to the top of the parapet, a pinnacled cap-house rising above the parapet in the NW. corner. It is built of ashlar brought to courses, a few of the stones being snecked. It is divided into three stages, the lowermost of which is defined by a hollow-moulded string-course immediately below the sill of the first-floor window. This stringcourse marks the division between the two phases of construction (p. 130), the part below it belonging to the period of c. 1450-70 and the remainder to that of 1507-40. The second and third stages of the tower are divided by a continuous corbel-course of three members, which supports an external gallery on N. and S. and on which the uppermost stage oversails on E. and W. These galleries carry parapets standing 4 ft. 6 in. above the flagged walks; the parapets are not crenellated, and the coping and the uppermost three or four courses have been renewed. The uppermost stage of the tower is tipped by a second corbel-course, similar to the one below, which carries a crenellated parapet with moulded and splayed coping, and water spouts. The parapet-walk is 25 ft. above the walks of the galleries. Both corbel-courses are interrupted at the NW. corner of the tower, which contains the stair, their line being continued round the corner by a hollow-moulded string-course. A similarly moulded string-course servers as an eaves-course to the cap-house, which finishes in an octagonal, hollow spire about 11 ft. high Page 132 Page 133
with an ornamental string-course round it at half its height; at each of the corners of the cap-house there is a crocketed finial. The roof of the tower is slated. The roof of the nave joins the E. face of the tower in a raggle, and its ridge interrupts the string-course that divides the first and second stages. Above the string-course there can be seen a raking water-table intended to receive a nave roof, which was never constructed, at a height of 7 ft. 8 in. above the existing one; in accord with this arrangement mural passages were originally constructed to lead from the first-floor room of the tower to a wall-head walk on either side of the projected high nave, but with the change of plan these were replaced by similar openings broken out below the level of the string-course. Traces of this change are seen in the facts that the down-going steps of the mural passages, leading to the low-level doorways, are not bonded into the walls; that the soffits of the passages are stepped upwards instead of downwards, indicating that the passages were originally intended to rise, not to descend; and that the heads of the lower openings are formed of ashlar blocks as they occur in their courses, and are not provided with lintels. Another result of placing the nave roof at its present level has been that a small opening in the E. wall of the first-floor room, originally intended to look into the upper part of the nave, has had to be built up and used for housing the end of the ridge-timber of the nave and one of the roof-struts. At the base of the W. face of the tower can be seen some traces of the original main entrance to the church; this was built up in 1818, and the large W. window extended downwards into a part of its space, but the moulded bases of its jambs are still in place and the edges of the jambs can be seen, to a height of 6 ft., in race-bond with the infilling. Beside it on the N. is an inserted door to the stair-tower, originally reached internally (infra). The W. window has a splayed sill and a pointed head with a label moulding which finishes on carved stops. The tracery has been renewed. On the first and second floors1 there are lancet windows with cusped heads and label mouldings finishing on stops, those of the first-floor room having stone seats in their embrasures. The third-floor windows, which are square-headed, have been slightly widened; they may originally have been lancets. The stair-windows are high, narrow loops, chamfered outside and splayed inside; they are set one above another, six facing W. and five N. A final external feature of the tower, which often attracts notice, is the pitting of the masonry as if by musketry or grapeshot; it is locally believed that these marks are the result of firing from the Castle, but as it is only the N. side of the tower that directly faces the Castle, and these marks occur on all four sides and the W. end of the N. aisle as well, where they are particularly heave, this theory can hardly be accepted as a full explanation. The interior of the tower at ground level is divided from the nave by a lofty, pointed arch rising from clustered responds. The bases of the responds resemble those of the W. doorway, while their capitals are of a compressed bell-shaped section; the abaci are straight-sided. There is a groined and ribbed vault in which the ribs radiate from a central aperture left for the hoisting of bells. The existing external door to the stair is a late insertion; its head has no lintel, but is formed of the longish blocks of the original ashlar. The original stair-entrance must have opened from the NW. corner of the ground floor, but this corner was evidently squared off, and the internal eliminated, at some time in the 19th century to permit of the erection, on the W. wall, of seven marble panels commemorating some noted benefactors of the burgh. The stair rises to the cap-house and parapet, giving access to all the floors. It provides clear evidence of the tower's having been built in two successive phases, with an appreciable period between them when the completed part stood open, as, up to the height of the first floor, the ashlar of the inner face is considerable weathered while at the higher levels it shows almost no weathering. At first-floor level, too, the character of the steps changes, the lower ones running straight out from the newel and the upper ones showing a cavetto cut in the riser at their inner ends; and on the first-floor doors and windows there are masons' marks similar to those on second-period work in the N. choir-aisle(p. 137). The N. and S. walls of the first-floor room are intaken on pointed arches; at their E. ends are the entrances of the mural passages that lead to the parapets of the nave, 1 The second floor occupies the lower part of the uppermost stage of the tower. Page 133 Page 134
while in the centre of the E. wall is the filled-up opening to the nave roof (p. 133). The ceiling, like those of the rooms above, is joisted on corbels; trap-doors are provided for the raising of bells to the third floor, which is the bell-chamber. From the second-floor room doorways give N. and S. on to the lower gallery. THE NAVE. The nave and its aisles are contemporary with the lower part of the tower, belonging, apart from alterations, to the first building-period. Their main external features show the equilateral, traceried aisle-windows, with label mouldings, separated by buttresses with sloping heads which finish below cavetto string-courses; above these are low parapets with a row of water-spouts at their bases, and, above the low-pitched aisle-roofs, the upper parts of the nave-walls, again with stringcourses, gargoyles and parapets. At the W. end of each aisle there is a further window, pointed and traceried like the rest. An original angle-buttress at the SW. corner bears a crocketed finial; on the NW. corner there stands another of which mention will be made shortly. The S. nave-wall alone has a clearstorey; it consists of small, round-headed windows finished with label mouldings outside and inside, but the external labels have been cut away and the tops of the windows have been encroached on by the parapet in a manner which suggests that this latter was originally intended to be set at a higher level. The aisle roofs were originally flat and were probably covered with lead, but they were subsequently raised to accommodate the present slated roof, which conceals the water-table of the earlier roof.1 During the alterations of 1911-4 there was found, immediately below this water-table on the S. side of the church and 38 ft. E. of the outer face of the W. wall of the S. aisle, a crudely incised shield bearing a saltire. Above the shield is incised in Gothic characters: WIL JONSON. As Dr. Ross suggests,2 this is probably the work of one of the masons employed on the fabric; the saltire forms part of the heraldic achievement of the Johnstons. The original arrangement has been altered on both sides of the church. On the S. side the second bay from the W. originally contained a doorway, which was covered by a porch; but in 1818 the porch was removed and the doorway was converted into a window.3 During the alterations of 1936-40 the original arrangement was restored and the present porch and doorway are of this date; traces of the earlier window-sill are visible on either door-jamb. There is record evidence for the former existence of a chapel, known as Bowye's Aisle, in the E. bay on the S. side, but no structural remains are now visible apart from what may be footings at and around the E. buttress. The origin of the name "Bowye's Aisle" is not known, but the structure was probably built as a chantry chapel in pre-Reformation times; its external appearance, as evidenced by an old print reproduced by Ronald,4 suggests that it was about the same size as the former St. Mary's Aisle (p. 135) on the N. side of the nave. In 1632 the aisle was acquired as a burial-place by the Earl of Stirling, the owner of the nearby mansion that is known today as Argyll's Lodging (No. 227). During the alterations of 1818 it was largely demolished, the walls being reduced to a height of about 3 ft.5, while at a later period these fragments were themselves removed. The window that now occupies the bay probably dates from 1818. On the N., the alterations have been more far-reaching. Before 1483 a small chapel known as St. Andrew's Aisle (16 ft. by 12 ft.) was thrown out in front of the easternmost bay. Its E. wall now coalesces with the W. wall of the 20th-century N. transept, but appears in part to be older than the N. and W. walls of the chapel. So much at least is suggested by the portion of splayed plinth that may be seen at the N. end of the wall. It seems likely, therefore, that this wall is contemporary with the main body of the nave and may originally have been intended to form part of a N. transept. In the event this transept was not completed until 1936-40. At some time during the intervening period a doorway was inserted6 in the centre of the wall to give external access to the chapel; but this doorway is now blocked up. In the N. wall of the chapel there is an original three-light window with basket tracery and a hood-moulding, and in its W. wall a heavily splayed window with a straight arch on the inside, the external lintel of which bears the initials D F in relief. This latter window shows traces of alteration and it may have been partially rebuilt during the reconstruction of 1911-4, before which it is known to have been blocked up.7 In a description of the chapel written about 1900 it is stated8 that the window is an insertion, and certainly the character of the lettering of the inscription suggests a date in the late 16th or early 17th rather than in the 15th century. The initials are evidently those of a member of the Forestar family, perhaps David Forestar of Denovan, or Duncan, son of Sir Alexander Forestar of Garden, on whom see below (pp. 138 f.). A very small ogival-headed recess in the E. wall may be a credence; a consecration cross is cut on the N. wall, and along the W. wall there runs a bench. The four tomb-slabs in the floor are described later along with other carved details in the chapel. The roof is a tierceron vault, the ribs rising from moulded corbels. There are no wall-ribs, and the stonework of the webbing is French in character. The central boss bears, within foliaceous ornamentation, a shield, charged presumably for Forestar9 (supra): A saltire; in base a hunting horn. Of the other bosses one bears a petalled flower, deeply 1 Dr. Ross in T.S.N.H.A.S. (19:3-4), 119 f. Page 134 Page 135
sunk, another what is probably a star, and a third five roses set crosswise within an interlaced border; the decoration of the fourth cannot be made out. Further modifications of the N. aisle resulted from the construction, in 1484, of St. Mary's Aisle. This chapel, which measured internally 17 ft. 9 in, by 17 ft. 6 in., projected from the W. bay of the aisle, above which its pitched roof-raggle can be seen cut into the wall of the nave above the aisle roof. Its walls were reduced to a height of 8 ft. 6 in, above their original foundation- level in 1818 (p. 130), while the ground outside has been raised to this extent, so that the interior of the chapel now appears as sunken. Its floor lay 1 ft. 6 in. above that of the nave. The chapel was entered, presumably by steps, through a wide doorway in the W. bay, originally a window and now once more converted to a window. The N. side of the inner order of the arch is wrought with a rose and a thistle, both in relief. This window has a label finishing on stops, but the E. stop was destroyed by the construction of a buttress in 1818. Both this buttress and its counterpart to the W. are founded on the reduced walls of the chapel, and the W. one, which has a crocketed finial, shows on its outer edge the jamb of what must have been the W. window of the chapel. The only surviving internal features of the chapel are a broken piscina and an ogival-headed credence, with a small edge-roll moulding, both near the S. end of the E. wall. The upper part of the W. wall of the aisle, and the small door that can be seen in it near its junction with the tower, must date from after the chapel's demolition and the restoration of this part of the aisle roof to penthouse form, though the string-course interrupted by the door is probably older. In the bay E. of St. Mary's Aisle a small door was closed during the restorations of 1818, and a window, similar to the others in the N. aisle, was inserted. This alteration necessitated the removal of the door-head. The outer faces of the door-jambs, below the window-sill, show roll-and-hollow mouldings, the outlines of which have been preserved in the jointing of the stones of the sill, and likewise the flat faces of the inner jambs are preserved to a height of 5 ft. 2 in. As in the case of St. Mary's Aisle, the door-sill must have been reached from the interior by steps, as it is seen on the outside to have been at the same level as that of the chapel. The benatura immediately E. of the door is an insertion, though it is probably in the position of an original one. Along the inner face of the wall, between the blocked door and St. Andrew's Aisle, there was originally a stone bench; this has been cut away, but traces of it can be seen on the wall-face. The tracery of the aisle windows has been renewed. The vaults of the aisle are quad-ripartite, and it can be seen that the curvature of the ribs was altered after the tas-de-charge had been carved. The tas-de-charge on the wall side rest on moulded corbels; wall-ribs are present except at the W. end of the W. bay, and all the ribs are of the same section. The stonework of the webbing is French in style. At each intersection of the diagonal ribs there is a plain round boss bearing, on a sunk centre, a slightly raised heater-shaped shield; none of these is carved with armorial bearings, but they may originally have been painted. The vaulting and bosses of the S. aisle are similar to those on the N., and the vaulting likewise shows evidence for a change in the curvature of the ribs and provision, in the W. bay, for a wall-rib which was never built. The centre boss of the vaulting of the W. bay is carved with a shield parted per pale and charged, for Adam Cosour and his wife Katherine Fotheringham1: Dexter, three coursers' heads, bridled, couped; sinister, three bars. Adam Cosour, a prominent Stirling burgess, seems to appear on record first in 14462 and was still alive in 1484, in which year, as already mentioned (cf. p. 130), he was responsible for the erection of St. Mary's Aisle; in 1471 and 1473 he is known to have founded altars in the S. aisle of the church.3 Cosour's wife, Katherine Fotheringham, was living in 15004 and their marriage is therefore unlikely to have taken place before 1450. The appearance of their coat of arms in the S. nave-aisle thus confirms that the nave was in course of erection during the third quarter of the 15th century. On the wall side the tas-de-charge rest on moulded and decorated corbels, and on the other directly on the capitals of the arcade piers. As in the N. aisle, a stone bench once ran along the wall under the windows, but this has been cut away; the tracery of the windows has been renewed. The floor of the W. part of the nave is slightly higher than the rest, a downward step traversing the whole width of the church just E. of the westernmost piers of the nave arcades. There is a further descent, of two steps, from the nave and aisles into the crossing. Apart from the easternmost piers the nave arcades are uniform. The columns, which are circular in section, measure 4 ft. 1 in. in diameter and have moulded capitals decorated with carved foliage; the plain moulded bases rest on chamfered octagonal plinths. The two easternmost piers, which are of slighter proportions, are square in section, each side measuring 2 ft. 10 in. They are composed of clustered shafts, which rise from high bases to plain moulded capitals; the piers differ from each other slightly in the sections both of their shafts and of their capitals. The arches of the arcades are of two orders, each with a broad splay, and have label mouldings; immediately above them there runs a string-course, the one on the S. wall forming the sills of the clearstorey windows (p. 134). The hood-moulds of these windows terminate in stops, which are carved in the form of heater-shaped shields, except in the case of the easternmost window where the stops are foliaceous, The shields flanking the owesternmost window are carved in relief, and the arms, as far as can be seen, were correctly 1 Dr. Ross in T.S.N.H.A.S. (1913-4), 118. Illustrated in one of the unnumbered plates at the end of the volume. Page 135 Page 136
ascribed by Ross1 to the Nairn family; they may represent either Robert Nairn or Thomas Nairn, both of whom appear in the burgh records in the period during which the nave was under construction.2 The roof, which contains nine main trusses, is one of the few mediaeval timber roofs still surviving in Scotland. It is of comparatively rough workmanship. The trusses comprise tie-beam, king-post, struts and principal rafters, supporting purlins and ridge-piece. Extra rigidity is afforded by short longitudinal struts which further support the ridge-piece and the adjacent pair of purlins, while the ends of the trusses are supported on wall-posts, alternate trusses being further strengthened by stout curved brackets. These latter trusses, which form the main structural members of the roof, have long wall-posts supported on moulded corbels. The intermediate trusses have only short wall-posts, which rest, on the N., upon carved corbels, and on the S., upon the labels of the clearstorey windows. THE CROSSING AND TRANSEPTS. As has been said, the central tower that formed part of the original scheme was never constructed, and, though the arches to the choir and aisles were built, it was only in the course of the restorations of 1936-40 that the crossing-piers were completed and the crossing arched over. It is not now known how the two W. crossing-piers were finished on their E. faces. They are shown as squared by MacGibbon and Ross,3 but a later plan,4 prepared about 1912 and now in the Commission's archives, shows them as being obscured on the E. by the cross-wall that will be mentioned shortly, and they are now obscured by the 20th-century restorations. In these the W. piers were given the same appearance as the E. ones on N., E. and S., while their W. faces retain the original half-round responds of the nave arcade. The two E. piers, however, are of 16th-century date apart from restoration in their W. portions; they are composed of clustered shafts contained within capitals and bases which are square on plan, each side measuring 6 ft. 6 in. Before the restorations the church was divided into two by a screen-wall, which was built about 1656 (cf. p. 130) and which is known to have been repaired in 1731.5 Transepts may have been contemplated as early as the 15th century (cf. p. 134), but were not erected until 1936-40. THE CHOIR. The choir is divided into three bays, and has a N. and a S. aisle. Its external appearance differs from that of the nave in that it stands much higher and that the aisle windows are consequently taller; the buttresses, too, of which the end ones are set obliquely, are carried up to the end in crocketed finials, and are intaken in steps. There is also a double string-course at the bases of both upper and lower parapets as well as one at window-sill level; while the parapet of the N. aisle preserves, near its centre, an original crenellated portion, the uppermost courses of the rest having been rebuilt. Differences in the copings of the crenellated and uncrenellated parapets suggest that those on the S., which today are plain, may likewise have been crenellated originally and have been renewed. The aisle windows are equilateral and have stopped label-mouldings; all have four lights except the W. one on the N. side, which has three, and which also has its sill at a higher level; the tracery m all appears to have been renewed. The three-light window seems to have been designed to leave room, immediately to the W. of it, for a doorway, now filled up (p. 137). Below the sill of the E. window on the S. an opening has at some time been broken through the wall and subsequently filled up; this is unlikely to have been a door as its head would have been too low.6 Raggles for a penthouse roof have been cut on the buttresses on each side of this bay. Each wall of the choir, above the aisle roof, now has three clearstorey windows, but these are not original (p. 137). In the W. gable, above the roof of the nave, there is a vesica window; its jambs are splayed both inside and outside. At window-sill level the buttresses incorporate canopied niches, which are borne on carved corbels. Many of the corbels are now rather worn, but those on the N. side of the choir have evidently been carved with human masks. The corbels on the S. side of the choir are carved with shields, the one on the central buttress being charged: A saltire, on a chief two mullets, within a bordure. These appear to be the arms of Bruce of Stenhouse and Airth and may perhaps represent Robert Bruce of Airth, who became a burgess of Stirling in 1520.7 The other two shields, which are now very much worn, were recorded by Dr. Ross about 1912.8 The westernmost one appears to have been charged: A bull's head cabossed, in chief a cinquefoil. It may represent a member of the Bully family, which frequently appears in the burgh records in the early 16th century.9 The easternmost shield was charged: On a bend between two mullets, two [? roses], within a bordure, but this coat has not been identified. On the new buttress at the NE. corner of the new N. transept an old canopy and shield have been inserted to form the top and bottom of a niche.10 Two mullets in chief can be seen on the shield, and the main charge was a saltire; the arms appear to be those of the family of Bruce of Stenhouse and Airth (supra). The aisles now have flat roofs of lead, but they were originally of penthouse form and were covered with stone slabs; evidence 1 T.S.N.H.A.S. (1913-4), 119; "parted per pale, sable and argent, on a chaplet, 4 quarterfoils, all counterchanged". Illustration ibid, on an unnumbered plate. Page 136 Page 137
of this earlier arrangement is given by several surviving features—the sloping heads of the end walls of the aisles, the heavy splayed raggles of the penthouse roof appearing on these, the square-headed windows in the E. pair, which once lighted the roof-space, and the weathered raggle of the penthouse roof which shows above the clearstorey windows. The floor of the choir lies higher than those of the crossing and of its own aisles, and sets of three steps rise respectively under the choir arch and under both the E. arches of the arcades. The piers of the arcades are square on plan, each side measuring 2 ft. 8½ in. They consist of clustered, filleted shafts, the sections of which correspond with the mouldings of capitals and bases. The capitals comprise a compressed bell and a heavy upper member consisting of multiple rolls and fillets; the bases are high. The capitals of the S. arcade differ somewhat from those of the N. arcade and incorporate carved foliage. The arches have pronounced hollow mouldings and incorporate labels, those of the S. arcade finishing on carved stops while those of the N. arcade die into the pier capitals. Immediately above the apices of the labels, which on the S. side are decorated with carved heads, there runs a string-course, which forms a base to what must originally have been three triforium openings in either wall; these are round-headed, chamfered on the outside but heavily moulded inside, and each now contains a round-headed two-light window. This alteration has resulted from the substitution of flat for penthouse roofs on the aisles (supra}. The four roof trusses rest on moulded corbels, the E. and W. ones on both arcades having spiral shafts with stops set above the string-course; the other corbels have shafts which descend below the string-course, those on the N. dying into the capitals of the main arcade, and those on the S. finishing on carved stops. The present wooden lining of the roof, which dates from 1867, is said to cover old "oak rafters, six inches square, about sixteen inches apart, having angle struts, forming five angles".1 The first internal feature encountered at the W. end of the N. choir-aisle is the filled-up doorway in the W. bay, mentioned above. Its rear jambs are moulded, and originally a spiral stair opened off its W. jamb to give access to a room over the crossing, known as the King's Room, which was destroyed about the middle of the 19th century.2 Just E. of this door there is a broken benatura with an ogival head, chamfered on the arrises. Further E. there is an Easter Sepulchre; it is 3 ft. high, stands 1 ft. 10 in. above the floor and has a moulded edge, much restored. The stair at the NE. corner, which, leads down, to the vestry and offices under the choir floor, dates only from the most recent restoration, when these underground apartments were built in an excavated space. The vaulting of the N. aisle springs from the capitals of the choir arcade on one side and from moulded corbels on the other. It resembles that of the N. nave-aisle, and has similar bosses with shields; but in addition there are small decorations at all the intersections of ridge and transverse ribs, a feature which occurs only here and there in the nave vaults. The treatment of the S. aisle is again similar, but here the tas-de-charge spring on both sides from corbels; those on the S. side finish with short, twisted wall-shafts, which terminate in carved stops. The corbels on the choir side are set slightly above the capitals of the pier arcade; one of them is carved with a human mask, and the other three are floriated. In the SE. corner of the S. aisle there is a small ogival-headed credence with a chamfered arris. THE PRESBYTERY. As the site of the church slopes downwards from W. to E., the easternmost footings of the presbytery are much below the internal floor levels, and the aspect of the high E, end, as seen from the lower level of St. John Street, is most impressive. It has five sides separated by stepped buttresses which are topped by crocketed finials; the E. face is much the widest, and the intermediate faces slightly wider than the westernmost pair. The lower part of the wall is intaken above the plinth and a string-course runs round just below the windows, rising and falling to suit the levels of their sills. The windows are similar to those in the rest of the church; the E. one has six lights and the remainder three, but only the two W. ones have kept their original tracery which is of a crude curvilinear form. At the wall-head a crenellated parapet with a splayed coping is corbelled out on a continuous corbel-course above which is set a row of water-spouts. The parapet-walk, like those of the aisles, is flagged. The E, end finishes in a crow-stepped gable, and the roof, which is pitched lower than that of the choir, is covered with stone slabs. The series of canopied niches noted on the choir buttresses continues on those of the apse, but here the niches are below the level of the window-sills. The following details can be made out—N. and NE., worn stops showing what were probably heads; SE., apparently a head instead of a shield; S., traces of a saltire on the shield.3 Under the E. window there is a further niche, with a tapering stop below it. Below this niche there is a panel in a moulded frame; this appears to be an insertion, and whatever inscription it once bore is now illegible. The raggle of a lean-to roof appears on walls arid buttresses in the re-entrant angle between the presbytery and the N. aisle of the choir. Internally a lofty pointed arch at the E. end of the choir opens into the presbytery, which is two steps higher than the choir. The arch mouldings die into the wall-faces immediately above a short string-course, from which a shaft descends on either side to the level of the capitals of the choir arcade and finishes in a carved stop. On each side of the presbytery, above the side-windows, two squinch-arches have been formed to make a square springing for the vaulted ceiling, which is a pointed barrel-vault; these arches are segmental and heavily moulded, the mouldings finishing on stops of which one is a human face. The barrel-vault 1 T.S.N.H.A.S. (1889-90), 13, 60. Page 137 Page 138
has five moulded ribs and a moulded ridge-rib; the former rise from moulded stops set on a string-course at the springing-line. On the S. respond of the apse arch, about 5 ft. above the level of the present floor and some 8 in. below a consecration cross, there are faint traces of a shield painted in red and black outline. The painting has been greatly damaged by the cutting-out of a hole for a beam, which is now filled up with cement, and no details can be made out. Ten consecration crosses can be seen at various points in the church. PULPIT AND DETAILS. The pulpit was made during the alterations of 1911-4 to the West Church, but it incorporates parts of an older one dating from the 17th century. Its circular body, in which the old work appears, is divided into four main parts by fluted pilasters with composite capitals, and these parts are in turn subdivided transversely by mid-rails. The four upper panels are sunk, fielded and carved with arabesque ornamentation; the lower ones are sunk but not fielded, and show a variant of the square-and-cypher pattern with a carved foliated centre. The mid-rails have a simple intertwined border enclosing a floral centre and, at each end, a leaf. The top rail shows a band divided into rectangles by vertical ribs. Some carved masonry details are preserved in St. Andrew's Aisle; they include a stone decorated with geometrical tracery and now hollowed out on one side to form a basin, This was found in 1913 "in the foundations of a garden dyke of one of the cottages in the northmost row from Cambuskenneth Abbey".1 No. doubt it once formed part of the Abbey buildings. In addition, the chapel contains a corbel bearing a crudely carved human head, part of a stone carved with what may have been the hilt of a sword, and an object resembling a mortar. Some further carved fragments are to be seen on the rockery on the E. side of Cowane's Hospital. BELLS. Four bells hang in the tower, and have recently been fully described, with an account of their history, by Mr. R. W. M. Clouston.2 The main facts regarding them are given by him as follows. The treble bell {3¾ cwt.) was bought new in 1781, and is inscribed 1781 / WM. CHAPMAN OF LONDON FECIT. The second bell (5½ cwt.) is probably of 15th-century date and may be of local manufacture; it is inscribed in Gothic character + AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINUS TECUM BENEDICTA TU INMULIERIBUS ET BENEDICTU(S) ("Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed"). An extra vertical stroke has been added before IN, which has been run into MULIERIBUS, and ET is represented by a single crossed stroke, read by Clouston as T. The third bell (4¾ cwt.) was originally bought from Lord Madertie in 1631, but appears to have become cracked by 1657 and was recast by Ouderogge of Rotterdam. It is inscribed + SOLI DEO GLORIA + CORNELIS OVDEROGGE FECIT ROTTERDAM ANNO DOMINI 1657 / TO STERLING TOWN I DOE BELONG. The tenor bell (8 cwt.) was made by William Chapman in 1781, but had to be recast, by David Burges, at the Gorbals Foundry, in 1853. It is inscribed DAVID BURGES FOUNDER GLASGOW. 1853. NO. 391. The frame in which the bells hang dates from 1781. GRAVE-MONUMENTS, ETC. In St. Andrew's Aisle. The following four memorials lie in the floor of St. Andrew's Aisle, which was for long the burial-place of the Forestar family. All are now somewhat wasted and, in the account that follows, the details of the inscriptions and heraldry shown in square brackets have been supplied from records of the carvings made by W, Rae Macdonald in 1896, and now preserved in the Commission's archives, (1) A slab inscribed HEIR LYETH / AGNES L[EI]SHMAN / WHO DEPAIRTED / THE LAST OF / MAIRCH 1633 / HIR AIG 77. Below the inscription is an incised shield dividing the initials D [F] and charged, for Forestar: A hunting horn. Below this again there is another, dividing ME and charged, for Erskine differenced from Stirling or Leslie: On a pale, a buckle. Agnes Leishman appears to have been a daughter of John Leishman of Waltoun and wife of Duncan Forestar of Arngibbon.3 The attribution of the shields and initials that appear upon the lower part of the stone is uncertain, but they may represent David Forestar of Denovan and his first wife Marie Erskine, who died about 1657.4 The proprietorship of the chapel seems to have passed from the Forestars of Garden to the Forestars of Denovan in the third quarter of the 17th century.5 (2) A badly wasted slab bearing two shields, the upper one having a label above it [bearing the date 1584]. The upper shield, which divides the initials A D, is charged: [On a fess three mullets], in base a crescent. The lower shield, which divides the initials A D / [E] M, is [parted per pale and charged: Dexter, on a fess three mullets, in base a crescent; sinister, a hunting horn, three mullets in chief]. These are evidently the arms of Alexander Durham of Mollet and of his wife Elizabeth Murray6; Alexander Durham was Argentar7 to Mary, Queen of Scots, and to James VI. (3) A large slab (6 ft. by 3 ft. 10 in.) in good preservation. A marginal inscription reads + HEIR LYIS ANE HONORABIL MANE CALIT ALEXANDER FOSTER LAERD OF GARDEN QVHA DEIT THE 13 OF IANVARE 1598; and below the top line of this, with its own ends returned downwards, runs the motto SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA ("Honour and glory to God alone"). Below there is a shield dividing the initials A F / D F, the lower pair being cut large on a sunk panel. The shield is charged, for 1 T.S.N.H.A.S. (1913-4), 134. Page 138 Page 139
Forestar: Three hunting-horns. In the lower part of the slab there is a second shield, dividing the initials I E and charged for Erskine of the Shielfield branch: On a pale, a cross-crosslet fitchée; and below this the initials M E carved in the same manner as the D F above. The slab appears to have commemorated, in the first instance, Sir Alexander Forestar, Provost of Stirling, and his wife Jean Erskine,1 the initials in the sunk panels, which are the same as those appearing on No. (1) above (q.v.), having been added later. (4) This slab, which is much worn, now shows no inscription but bears two incised shields, side by side. The charges were in relief, but those on the dexter shield have been obliterated; the sinister one is charged, presumably for Forestar: A saltire, in base a hunting horn. These same arms appear on one of the bosses in the roof of the aisle (p. 134). Macdonald's drawing of 1896 shows that the stone originally bore six shields and that upon the dexter shield at the top of the stone there was carved a saltire-shaped device which may have been intended as a mill-rind and pick. A similar device appears upon a panel set over the passageway of No. 41 Broad Street (cf. No. 234). The two shields at the foot of the stone are said to have been "simple incised lines in the form of shields".2 In the Graveyard. The following are the only monuments bearing legible dates earlier than 1707, though it may be taken as certain that a number of other slabs, on which no design or lettering can now be made out, must date from the 17th century, (1) The Sconce family memorial. This is a Renaissance wall-monument comprising base, body and pediment, measuring 13 ft. in height, 14 ft. in width across the base and 8 ft. 6 in. across the body. From pedestals set out from the base, which is flanked by ornate consoles, there rise two double columns to support a shaped pediment with a moulded cornice and, in its centre, a cherub with swags of fruit and flowers dividing the date 16[89]3. Between the columns there is an inscribed panel with a moulded margin, flanked by decorative strap-work and emblems of mortality. Above are two angels. Much of the original inscription on the panel has perished, but it can be restored as follows with the help of a metal plaque4 which was fixed to the side of the monument, for purposes of record, in 1936: [HERE LIES THE CORPSE OF / IOHN MCCULLOCH LEAT PROVO]ST OF STIRLING / [WHO] DIED THE 5 OF OCTOBER / 1689 YEARS OF ACE [54 / REVELATIONS 14 VERSE 13] / BLESED (sic) ARE THE DEAD WHO / DIE IN THE LORD THAT THEY / MAY REST FROM THEIR LABOUR[S] / AND THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM / ULTIMA SEMPER / EXPECTANDA DIES HOMINI / DICIQUE BEATUS / ANTE OBITUM NEMO SUPREMA[QUE] / FUNERA DEBET ("We must always await life's last day, and no one should be called happy until he is dead and buried".)5 Below the original inscription there has been added, in large cursive script, 1729 / JOHN SCONCE / CHRISTIAN LUCKISON; 19th-century inscriptions appear on the base of the monument. (2) A large ornate headstone dated 1701 and commemorating IOHN PATON IANET / PARK IOHN PATON / ALEXR PATON / IANET TOUAR, (3) A slab, bearing in high relief a shield-shaped panel and, below this, trade emblems which suggest a miner or quarryman--pick, mallet and chisel. The panel bears a shield charged, for Gibb: In chief, a broken spear chevronwise, held by a hand issuing from the sinister ; in base a spur. Above the shield is incised the date 1579. The original dedication appears to have been erased, and on the cut-down surface there is now an incised inscription commemorating James Gibb, who died in 1810. (4) A headstone, the top of which has been reshaped in such a way that part of the date has been removed. The inscription now reads [1]67[?3] / I W M C / I W B G / R W I C / R W C D. (5) A similar headstone, reshaped in the same way and bearing the same initials as (4). (6) An ornate headstone dated 1698 and commemorating T T and I G. A later inscription appears on the other side. (7) A large slab inscribed at the top HERE LIES THE CORPS OF / ANDREW BAIRD BAILLIE IN / STIRLING WHO DIED 24 IUNE 1692 / AGED 77. MARGARAT SWORD HIS / SPOUSE DIED 28 MARCH 1677. Initials follow, and then an 18th-century inscription containing names which correspond with some of them, and this fact suggests that the whole may actually date from after 1707 notwithstanding the early appearance of the original inscription as recorded. (8) A headstone bearing the date 1705, divided by the crowned rounding-knife of the Cordiners, and commemorating P D M D. Below are funerary emblems with the motto SURGITE VENITE ("Arise, come"). (9) A slab bearing, on a shield, the date 1699 and the initials I S [?] M over a merchant's mark. The name Stevenson occurs in later inscriptions. (10) A large ornate headstone inscribed 1700 / I C J D. (11) A slab on which the primary inscription consists of the date 1700 above a shield, the initials W M / M H divided by the shield, and below it W F E K / W M M W / W S J H. The shield is charged: A weaver's shuttle. (12) A headstone with, a primary date 1696 in relief. Other dates, later than 1707, and names which follow are incised. (13) A table-tomb dated 1687 with a contemporary merchant's mark, but "renewed", according to a later inscription, in 1848. (14) A large ornate headstone, partly earthed up. On the exposed part can be read I F 1703 D F / I C I F. (15) A large headstone set in a masonry base, and with a separate semicircular top, the latter damaged. Both faces show bullet-marks, and the E. one bears a central panel flanked by fluted strips decorated with 1 Fleming, op. cit., 48. Page 139 Page 140
mason's tools and, at the top, what seems to be a reversing monogram. On the panel there is an assemblage of drapery and strap-work, with a figure seated on a crescent or scroll in the centre. Above the assemblage there is a weathered and damaged inscription of which little can now be deciphered. The first four lines were probably pious verse, and these are followed by IOHN SERVICE OBIIT . . . [S]EP[TEM]BER ANNO DOM(INI) 16[?97] / AETATIS VERO 74 / HIS SPOVS BE[?SSI]]E BVINE. In the later 19th century the date seems to have been read as 1629,1 but 1697 is almost certainly correct. A second inscription, below the assemblage, is illegible. The separate top portion bears, on this face, an archangel with a trumpet, rising from clouds, and on the other a shield, dividing the initials I S and bearing what seems to be a monogram. The main decoration on the W. face is a cartouche formed by a snake with its tail in its mouth and containing a group of three figures, one of them haloed, and a tree.2 Illegible texts issue from the mouths of two of them. The following monuments, though of later date than 1707, also deserve to be mentioned as being typical of the taste and sentiments of their day. (1) A group of marble figures comprising two girls and an angel, protected by a casing of glass and iron, with the inscription MARGARET / VIRGIN MARTYR OF THE OCEAN WAVE / WITH HER LIKE-MINDED SISTER / AGNES. On the evidence of her tombstone in Wigtown Churchyard,3 Margaret Wilson was martyred by drowning, as a Covenanter, in 1685; but the whole episode has been the subject of controversy. The monument was erected by the late William Drummond, Stirling, about 1870. (2) A life-sized statue of the Reverend Ebenezer Erskine, erected in 18584 and bearing his name only. (3) A pyramid of grey ashlar bearing Biblical texts and white marble decorations. This is a memorial to all those who suffered martyrdom in Scotland in the cause of civil and religious liberty,5 and was erected by the same William Drummond mentioned above.
1 P.S.A.S., xxxvi (1901-2), 367. Page 140 RCAHMS (1963) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Stirlingshire: an inventory of the ancient monuments, 2v, Edinburgh, 129-40, No.131, Crown Copyright: RCAHMS. Used with permission. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
