THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF DALKEITH,Mid-Lothian.

Fig. 1125.—Collegiate Church of St. Salvator.Bishop Kennedy’s Arms in Tower.

Fig. 1125.—Collegiate Church of St. Salvator.

Bishop Kennedy’s Arms in Tower.

These windows are pointed and cusped, and a broad cusped transome divides them in their height. The angles of this story are splayed, and it is finished with a new plain parapet resting on a simple corbel course. The tower is surmounted by an octagonal spire of the stunted kind common at this time, and with a very marked entasis. It is divided by two string courses in the height, and has two tiers of lucarnes.

In the interior of the north wall, close to the apse, stand the remains of the splendid monument erected by Bishop Kennedy (Fig.1126). It forms in appearance the interior of an apse with five sides, elaborately carved with minute niches and recesses, and is covered with vaulting (now broken). This apse is spanned by a moulded and pointed arch carried on clustered shafts. Beside these, and over the arch, there is a succession of niches and figures, interspersed with tall much subdivided windows. Unfortunately this monument was greatly damaged by the fall of the roof, which occurred last century. According to tradition six splendid silver maces were found within the tomb, one of which is preserved in the college, and the others were distributed amongst the other Scottish universities. But it has been shown by Mr. Alex. J. S. Brooke, F.S.A. Scot., in a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (seeProceedings, 1892, in which these and other Scottish maces are fully illustrated), that this tradition is erroneous, and that the maces of Glasgow,

Fig. 1126.—Collegiate Church of St. Salvator. Monument of Bishop Kennedy.

Aberdeen, and Edinburgh Universities are of different dates, and were made expressly for these universities. The three maces belonging to St. Andrews are:—1, The mace of the Faculty of Arts; 2, the mace of the Faculty of Canon Law, now the Theological Faculty; and 3, the mace of St. Salvator’s College—all of St. Andrews. No. 1 has a beautiful knop or head of tabernacle work, in three stages. It probably dates from early in the fifteenth century, and is of French workmanship. No. 2 is of a somewhat similar design, but is probably of Scottish manufacture. No. 3 is the most beautiful of the three St. Andrews maces. It bears the arms and initials of Bishop Kennedy, and the knop is of elaborate tabernacle work, containing allegorical and other figures. The style of workmanship of the mace of St. Leonard’s, which is still preserved at the College, corresponds with that of the tomb. The inscription on the mace states that it was made in Paris, by John Maiel, in the year 1461. It seems not improbable that the tomb was also designed in France. To the right of the monument there is a very effectively designed sacrament house, having the royal arms, and those of Bishop Kennedy above it. The shield of the latter, with his mitre, is also seen to the left of the monument. This sacrament house is somewhat earlier in date than several others given below, and is of superior design. In this case the pyx, supported by two angels, is carved on the corbel beneath. Shafts, with cap and base on each side of the ambry, support a pointed arch above, ornamented with crockets and finial. A crocketed pinnacle encloses the composition on each side. The whole design is good and is well carried out.

The town of Dalkeith stands between the rivers North and South Esk, about six miles south from Edinburgh. A church dedicated to St. Nicholas existed here from an early period. It was raised into a collegiate church in the fifteenth century, and since the Reformation has been the church of the parish.

This church (Fig.1127) consults of a nave of three bays with aisles, and a western tower, north and south transepts, and an aisleless choir of three bays, with an eastern apse. The western part of the church and a portion of the choir extending as far as the south doorway (at which point a wall has been erected across the building, as indicated by dotted lines) are used as the Parish Church. About 1854 this church underwent a thorough restoration. Much of the interest attached to it as an ancient building was thus effaced, but the original plan has not been greatly altered. The appearance of the building before the above date is shown by Fig.1128, which is reproduced from a drawing in the Hutton Collection in theAdvocates’ Library.[94]The steeple shown in this view is said to have been built in 1762.[95]It resembles somewhat the old steeple of Glasgow College,[96]and is much more likely to have been built, as the latter was, in the seventeenth century than in the eighteenth. The tower was probably repaired at the latter date, when, as we are informed, the church itself was so treated. The walls of the tower, where they have been left unrestored, and the staircase turret adjoining are undoubtedly older than the eighteenth century.

The eastern portion of the choir (Fig.1129) has stood for centuries in a roofless and ruinous condition. It has originally been vaulted, probably with a pointed barrel vault supporting a stone roof. As much

Fig. 1127.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith. Plan.

of the vault remains (Fig.1130) as is self-supporting, and has on the surface and in the angles of the apse moulded ribs at intervals springing from corbels. The east end terminates in an apse of three bays, in each of which, and in the bays of the south wall, are windows of three lights, filled with plain looped tracery. The windows of the apse have been partially built up (see Fig.1129). The apse windows are built at the same level as the other windows, thus leaving a great height of plain wall above them. This height of wall over the windows was

Fig. 1128.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith. View from South-East. (From a Drawing by Charles Sanderson in the Hutton Collection in the Advocates’ Library.)

rendered unavoidable by the barrel vault of the interior, which required the arches of the windows to be kept below the springing of the main vault, as may be observed at Ladykirk, Seton Church, and elsewhere. In the churches of Linlithgow and Stirling the central window of the apse is larger than the others, but in those cases the vaulting is different, and allows greater height for the windows. The parapet above the walls of the choir is plain and rests on a string course, which has been carved with foliage. The doorway in the south side (Fig.1131) is round arched, and in the freedom of the treatment of its details very much resembles what is found in the neighbouring Church of Rosslyn.

Fig. 1129.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith. The Eastern Apse.

The buttresses (Fig.1132), like those of Rosslyn, are massive, and although they have five or six stages, they do not recede at these stages till the wall head is nearly reached, where they are finished with a gablet beneath which a large gargoyle is projected. The buttresses were crowned with square pinnacles, finished with crockets and finials, only two of which now remain, in a very ruinous state. They have been carefully wrought on the inside, so as to adjust themselves to the sloping flanks of the stone roof, the water from which was conveyed through the buttresses by the projecting gargoyles to the ground. There is a canopied niche on the face of all the buttresses, as well as those on each side of the south doorway.

A monument in the choir (Fig.1133) contains two recumbent figures, a husband and wife side by side. The effigies (Fig.1134) are not recessed, as is frequently the case in an arched tomb in the wall, but lie in the open church where shown on the ground Plan, and they appear to be

Fig. 1130.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith. Interior of Apse.

in their original position. From the heraldic coats on the monument (see Fig.1133) it is obvious that the knight was a Douglas, and that the lady was of royal descent. On a lozenge at the head of the knight are the

Fig. 1131.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith. South Doorway.

arms of Douglas of Dalkeith, viz., two stars on a chief. And on a similar lozenge at the head of the lady are the same arms impaled with those of Scotland (Fig.1135). The same arms are also repeated at the sides of

Fig. 1132.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith. North-East Side of Apse.

the monument (see Fig.1133), with what appear like coronets above them, from which Mr. James Drummond[97]gives it as his opinion that the persons represented are James, 4th Lord of Dalkeith, who was created Earl of Morton in 1457, and his wife Johan, third daughter of King James I. The former died about 1498. Mr. Drummond supposes the lady survived her husband, but the Lady Johanna must have died before the year 1490.[98]The facts on which that view is founded are the presence of the royal and Douglas arms impaled, and “the male figure being sculptured with an earl’s coronet, to which none of the previous lords of Dalkeith had a right, although they were allied to royalty.”[99]

Fig. 1133.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith. Monument in Choir.

The monument is in a very dilapidated condition, the base and lower half of the pedestal being buried in earth and rubbish, the accumulation of centuries. The arms on the pedestal (see Fig.1133) are the same as those already referred to as carved at the heads of the figures. They are repeated on the opposite side of the pedestal, but in inverse order. The canopied work along the top of the pedestal is similar to what is seen surmounting a fragment of royal arms at Dunfermline (see Fig. 218), which fragment may also have been part of a tomb.

The precise date of the founding of the Chapel of St. Nicholas does not appear to be known, but since 1372, when Robert II. granted a licence to James of Douglas to endow a chaplainry therein, frequent notices of it appear.[100]

In 1390 Sir James Douglas, first Lord of Dalkeith (already referred to), “bequeathed, besides a cup and a missal, a sum of money for the reparation and roofing of the Chapel of St. Nicholas at Dalkeith;” and by another

Fig.1134.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith. Effigies on Monument in Choir.

deed two years later, “he assigns the residue of his goods to the fabric and ornament of the said chapel,”[101]and for other purposes. Before his death, in 1420, he raised the chapel to the rank of a Collegiate Church, and is supposed to have finished the building, endowing it with “stipends and manses for a provest and five prebendaries, as perpetual chaplains.”[102]

In 1467 St. Nicholas was disjoined from Lasswade, and Dalkeith was made a separate parish, and in 1477 the church was enlarged by the

Fig. 1135.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith.Shield at Head of Lady.

Fig. 1135.—The Collegiate Church of Dalkeith.

Shield at Head of Lady.

addition of three canonries, endowed by the Earl of Morton. At the Reformation, St. Nicholas’ was settled as the Presbyterian church of the parish.

In 1686 the minister reported the church to be ruinous, and the Presbytery ordered it to be made wind and water tight.

On the north side of the church there is a vault occupied as the funeral vault of the Buccleuch family.

This church is situated near the well known castle of the same name in the south-east part of the county, and about nine miles from Edinburgh. With the exception of the south aisle or chapel, the church (Fig.1136) was entirely rebuilt about forty years ago.[103]To judge from what of the old plan can now be made out, the structure has originally been a Norman one, with aisleless nave and choir, and a circular eastern apse. The reconstruction of the edifice included that of the apse and the south wall of the chancel, which, although not entirely new, are yet practically so, none of the ancient architectural features being left, but only, at most, some of the walling. The apse is about 16 feet wide by about 10 feet 6 inches deep, and was lighted by three narrow widely splayed windows. The chancel was about 16 feet 6 inches long by 22 feet wide. The south wall contained two windows, and apparently a piscina, but all these features have disappeared, as well as the more important arches which formed the entrance to the chancel and the apse.

A south aisle or chapel (see Fig.1136) has been added to the church. It is entire and is a good example of Scottish Gothic of the latter half of the fifteenth century, having in all probability been built about the sametime as the castle, the licence for the erection of which is dated 1430. William de Borthwick, a man of some eminence, was created Lord Borthwick shortly before that date, and the aisle is believed to have been erected by him. This aisle is vaulted with a pointed barrel vault, covered on the

Fig. 1136.—St. Mungo’s Church. Plan.

outside with a stone roof (Fig.1137), to resist the thrusts of which massive buttresses are provided. The roof consists of overlapping stone flags, carefully wrought, and the cornice at the wall head (Fig.1138) is ornamented with carved heads and leaves alternately. The chapel contains in thesouth wall a recess for a monument, and the remains of two piscinas and a locker in the south and west walls. There is a small pointed window in

Fig. 1137.—St. Mungo’s Church. South Aisle, from South-West.

the west side, and a larger one in the south end. The tracery of the latter is probably modern, as is the west doorway. The wide arch which

Fig. 1138.—St. Mungo’s Church. Cornice of Aisle.

formerly opened into the church has been built up.

A stately monument (Fig.1139), containing two recumbent figures, is built against the east wall of the aisle. The statues are supposed to be those of the founder of the castle and the aisle, the first Lord Borthwick and his wife, who was a Douglas. The monument is not now in its original position. Before the time of the rebuildingit stood in the inside of the wall of the apse, and it was then removed and placed in its present position, where it has apparently suffered from

Fig. 1139.—St. Mungo’s Church. Monument of Lord Borthwick and his Wife.

over restoration. The effigies, which are remarkably well preserved, have been entirely coloured, and considerable traces of the colour still remain. The length of the arched recess in which the figures lieis 7 feet, and the depth of the recess 3 feet 8½ inches. The height to the arched recess is about 3 feet 6½ inches, and the total height of the monument is 10 feet 3 inches, and the width over the buttresses 8 feet 11 inches. The design is of a usual form, and the enrichments indicate a late date in the fifteenth century.

The Church of Borthwick was annexed by Chancellor Crichton to his newly erected College of Crichton. After the Reformation Borthwick was united to Heriot and Stow, and served by a reader, but in 1596 James VI. erected it into a separate parish. In 1606 the kirk-session complained that the church was falling into ruin for want of proper repair. Commissioners from the Presbytery met the complainers, and after deliberation they refused to “stent” themselves for the repair of the church, but offered instead to sell the vestry (see Plan) “as a family burial-place to any gentleman who would pay such a price as would enable them to repair the choir.”[104]An offer of the building was made to Sir James Dundas of Arniston, who ultimately purchased it, and with the money thus raised the church appears to have been repaired in a rough fashion. The chancel arch was built up and a gable wall erected above it, which thus became the east end of the church, and the apse was left outside. A gallery was then placed against the east gable. The structure remained in this condition till 1780, when it was destroyed by fire. The walls which survived the fire are those shown on the Plan (see Fig.1136). The vestry (now the Dundas burial vault) and south aisle, both having stone roofs, remain comparatively unscathed. The nave and the north wall of the chancel have entirely disappeared.

This very complete and almost unaltered church stands on the high north bank of the river Tweed, nearly opposite Norham Castle. Before the Reformation the parish consisted of the two parishes of Upsetlington and Horndene. In 1296 the parson of the former swore fealty to Edward I., who, while endeavouring to arrange regarding the succession to the crown of Scotland, adjourned the Scottish Parliament from Brigham in England to an open field in Upsetlington. The existing church is said to have been built in 1500, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin by James IV., in gratitude for his delivery from being drowned by a sudden flood of the river Tweed.

The structure (Fig.1140) is a specially characteristic example of the Scottish church architecture of the period. It is a triapsidal cross church, without aisles, having an apsidal termination at the east end of the chancel and at the north and south ends of the transept. The body ofthe church and the transepts are covered with pointed barrel vaults, with ribs at intervals, springing from small corbels (Fig.1141); and the whole is roofed with overlapping stone flags (Fig.1142). The nave and chancel are 94 feet 6 inches in length by 23 feet 3 inches in width internally, and the transepts, which are very short, each measures 12 feet in depth from north to south by 19 feet in width. The side windows are of considerable width, but being entirely below the springing of the vault, they are low compared with the height of the church. The side walls rise greatly above the windows on the exterior, and have a heavy appearance, while the lofty vaults of the interior render the building dark. The arches

Fig. 1140.—Ladykirk Church. Plan.

which open from the main church into the transepts (see Fig.1141) are also kept below the springing of the main vault, and are therefore low, but the windows in the transepts are kept well up. To resist the pressure of the heavy vaults and roof the walls are well buttressed, and the buttresses terminate with the somewhat stunted pinnacles in vogue at the time. It will be noticed that the overlapping stone roofs are constructed in three distinct portions, viz., one roof extending over the whole of the nave and chancel, and two separate roofs over each transept. The roofs and vaults of each of the transepts terminate against a gable raised on the side walls of the main part of the church, and the transepts are entered by low arches, on which these gables rest.

Fig. 1141.—Ladykirk Church. Interior, looking East.

Fig. 1142.—Ladykirk Church. View from South-West.

Both the interior and exterior of the church are quite plain, especially the former, in which there is no attempt at ornament of any kind. As regards the exterior, the buttresses with their pinnacles, and the windows with their simple tracery, give a pleasing effect, especially as seen from the east (Fig.1143).

Perhaps the most striking feature of the exterior is the elliptic form of the arches over the side windows of the nave and choir (see Fig.1142). This peculiar form has evidently resulted from the desire to make these windows as wide as possible, so as to admit light. But as all the window

Fig. 1143.—Ladykirk Church. View from South-East.

arches required to be kept below the springing of the vaults, the interior is but imperfectly lighted. There are three doorways in the building—the south-west door in the nave, the priest’s door in the chancel, and a door in the south transept. These are all semicircular in the arch-head, as is common in Scottish examples. That in the south transept is now built up.

The tower at the west end is 14 feet square externally. The lower part is of the same date as the church, and has the base courses returning round it. The upper part has been rebuilt. The doorway to the tower is from the outside.

A disused edifice situated in the private grounds of Seton Castle, about two miles east from Prestonpans Railway Station. The parish of Seton having been joined to that of Tranent in 1580, service in the church has from that time been abandoned.

There was a church here from an early date. It is rated in the ancient Taxatio at 18 merks. In a MS. pedigree of the family of Seton, by Maitland of Lethington, quoted by Grose,[105]it is stated that Sir Alex. Seton, in the time of DavidII., was buried in the Parish Church of Seton. Also that Katherine Sinclair, wife of William, first Lord Seton, about 1390, “Biggit ane yle on the south side of the Paroch Kirk of Seton of fine estlar, pendit and theikit it with stane, with ane sepulchar thairin quhair she lies.” Her son John (died 1441) was buried in this aisle.

George, the second Lord Seton, in 1493, made the church collegiate. He built the sacristy and covered it with stone in the reign of James IV. He died in 1507, and was buried near the high altar.

George, the third Lord Seton, who was slain at Flodden, “Theickit the Queir of Seton with stane.” Jane Hepburne, his widow, after his decease, “Biggit the forewark of Seton above the zit, and also she biggit the northomoss yll of the College Kirk of Seton and took down the yll biggit be Dame Katherine Sinclair on the south side of it, the said college kirk, because the syde of it stood to the syde of the kirk, to mack it a parfecte and a proper cornet and a cross kirk and biggit up the steeple as ye see it now to ane grit hight swa that it wants little of compleiting.” This lady also presented the church with many ornaments of silver and rich vestments.

From the above quotations it would appear that the parish church existed in the fourteenth century. This church was probably rebuilt towards the end of the fifteenth century, and was added to by the second Lord Seton when he made the church collegiate in 1493, and completed by the third Lord Seton. The transepts and tower and spire would appear to have been erected by the Dowager Lady Seton in the sixteenth century, after her husband’s death at the Battle of Flodden.

The collegiate foundation consisted of a provost, six prebendaries, one clerk, and two singing boys. The edifice has undoubtedly been rebuilt or restored at the date of its being made collegiate. It corresponds in style with the numerous collegiate foundations established in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The eastern apsidal termination, the stone roof supported on a pointed barrel vault, and other details point to its dateand associate it with the other collegiate churches of Scotland erected in the fifteenth century.

In 1544 the structure suffered much at the hands of the English invaders, who carried off the organ and bells, and burnt the timber work.

Fig. 1144.—Seton Collegiate Church. Plan.

The stone roof of the choir was removed at some period. The masonry, however, survived, and the edifice has now been roofed in and properly defended from the weather by the late Lord Wemyss, who, along with his Countess, is buried in the choir. The broken tracery of the windows has been renewed by the present Lord Wemyss. The church was designed

Fig. 1145.—Seton Collegiate Church. View from South-East.

as a complete cross without aisles, and with a central tower and spire over the intersection, but the nave has never been built. The portions erected (Fig.1144) consist of the choir (with its three-sided apsidal east end), a north sacristy, a north and south transept, and a central tower and spire over the crossing. The choir is 53 feet in length by 22 feet in width internally. The exterior (Fig.1145) is divided into three bays, separated by buttresses. There is a round-headed doorway in the central bay of the south wall, with a panel containing a coat of arms in the upper part of the wall, and mullioned windows in the other bays (including the apse), except that in the north wall at the part where the sacristy is built. The arched heads are all filled with tracery of a simple character and of

Fig. 1146.—Seton Collegiate Church. Corbels on Buttresses.

a pattern common in third pointed work. The buttresses are of good substantial form, and each is crowned with a square, but rather stunted, pinnacle, the enriched pyramidal tops of nearly all of them being wanting. A carved corbel and canopy are placed on the face of each buttress to receive a statue, but they are now all empty. Fig.1146shows two of these corbels, one containing the Seton arms. The cornice of the choir is enriched with flower ornaments.

The interior of the choir (Fig.1147) is extremely simple. It is roofed with a pointed barrel vault, the surface of which, towards the east end, is ornamented with moulded ribs. These ribs spring from corbels in each angle of the apse and in the side walls, and extend to nearly the centreof the choir, where they cease, leaving the remainder of the vault plain. The idea has apparently been, by the introduction of these ribs, to make the presbytery somewhat ornamental. The windows, being below the

Fig. 1147.—Seton Collegiate Church. Choir, looking East.

springing of the vault, are necessarily low, and the vault is in consequence dark. There are a plain sedilia, with elliptic arch, and an ornate piscina (Fig.1148) at the east end of the south wall. Opposite them in the north wall a monument (Fig.1149) under the north-east window contains, in an arched recess, an effigy, probably that of the second Lord Seton, who erected the church into a college. The choir is now roofed with wood and slates above the vault, but it was no doubt originally

Fig. 1148.Seton Collegiate Church.Piscina in Choir.

Fig. 1148.

Seton Collegiate Church.

Piscina in Choir.

covered with a roof of overlapping stone slabs. The door to the sacristy is opposite that in the south wall. The sacristy is about 14 feet by 12 feet. It has a plain barrel vault, which supports an upper story, of which the window is visible (Fig.1150), but there is no apparent means of access to it. The building has a roof of overlapping stone flags. The sacristy has one small eastern window, with a piscina near it, and a fireplace. In the angle next the apse there is a squint commanding a view of the altar.

The tower is 25 feet square. On the ground level there are arched openings 9 feet 6 inches wide (Fig.1151) towards the choir and each transept, and also in the west wall towards the intended nave, the latter being built up. The stair turret is placed at the south-east angle, and partly projects into the south transept (Fig.1152). It is also visible on the exterior (see Fig.1145). The tower is carried up over the crossing one story in height above the roof, and is crowned with a broach-spire, the top of which is unfinished. This is one of the very few examples of broach-spires in Scotland. The ground floor over the crossing is groin vaulted, and has a circular opening in the centre.

The transepts are each about 27 feet long by 18 feet wide, and each is divided into two bays, with buttresses, pinnacles, and traceried windows, similar to those of the choir. These traceries were all much damaged, but they have been repaired by Lord Wemyss. The vaulting (see Figs.

Fig. 1149.—Seton Collegiate Church. Monument under North-East Window.

Fig. 1150.—Seton Collegiate Church. View from North-East.

1151 and 1152) is of the pointed barrel kind, similar to that of the choir, but without ribs, and supports a roof composed of overlapping stone flags

Fig. 1151.—Seton Collegiate Church. Transept, looking South.

Fig. 1152.—Seton Collegiate Church. View from South Transept, looking North.

(see Figs.1145and1150)). The north and south end windows of the transepts (Fig.1153) are peculiar. They are of considerable size, and

Fig. 1153.—Seton Collegiate Church. Transept, from South.

each is divided into two compartments by a large stone mullion built in courses, each compartment being filled with smaller tracery. Several examples of this mode of treating large windows about this period maybe mentioned, such as King’s College, Aberdeen; Haddington Church, &c. There is an arched recess under the two large end windows of the north and south transepts (see Figs.1151and1152)), which perhaps at one time contained monuments. A piscina occurs in the east wall of the south transept (Fig.1154), and another, supported on three heads, on the north-west pier of the tower. Other monuments in the Renaissance

Fig. 1154.—Seton Collegiate Church. Piscina in South Transept.

style have been erected against the east walls of the transepts (see Fig.1151). An octagonal font (Fig.1155), carved with shields bearing the Seton and other arms, is placed in a temporary manner in the crossing.

From the history of the structure it would appear, as above mentioned, that the transept and tower were erected by Jane Hepburne (Lady Seton) in the sixteenth century. The style of the transept is

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