Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/179

 moulding connects them, which in the arches is always filled with carving. In the jambs there are two different patterns in the alternate windows, the one being a simple niche with canopy and bracket for a figure, and the other the same, but with a moulded block instead of the figure. There is very little variety in the tracery. The windows on each side correspond with those on the opposite side. In the eastern chapels four of the windows have the engrailed cross of the St. Clairs wrought into the tracery.

The clerestory windows (see Fig. 1072) are all after one design, the shafts, mouldings, and arches on the outside being repeated in the interior (Fig. 1078). These are similar to those of the aisle windows just described. Their decoration consists of large rosettes, occurring at regular intervals in the hollow moulding between the shafts of the jambs. All the clerestory windows are single lights. The tracery of the large window in the east end (Fig. 1077) is modern. Its design is probably founded on ancient remains, but whether or not it accords well with the rest of the building.

The north and south doorways, which are opposite each other, are recessed in quasi porches (see Figs. 1072 and 1073), formed by round arches thrown between the buttresses, and the minor differences of the doorways are shown in the sketches. The upper part of a window appears over each, as in the south doorway of Glasgow Cathedral. The aisle roofs being flat, there is no triforium or blind story, and the clerestory windows are carried down to the string course over the main arches (see Fig. 1078).

Turning now to the interior, it will be observed that the main piers are composed of a series of round mouldings, separated by slight square fillets, and that the corresponding wall shafts or responds (Fig. 1079) are of trefoil form, with good caps and carved bases, which rest on the side bench. The arch mouldings of the main arcade (see Fig. 1078) are shallow, with regularly recurring orders of decoration, each arch having an enriched hood moulding. The upper part of the wall slightly overhangs on a bold carved and moulded string course. The wall space between the clerestory windows is ornamented with two canopies and massive brackets placed one over the other.

The choir roof, which consists of a pointed barrel vault (see Fig. 1080), is divided by strengthening ribs into compartments corresponding with the bays, and each compartment is decorated differently (see Fig. 1078). The dividing ribs are moulded, and have large projecting cusps in the form of fleurs-de-lys, &c., on the soffit. The compartments of the roof are entirely "powdered with stars" or rosettes, set square or diagonally. The construction of the aisle roofs is peculiar, although something similar is frequent in castles, as will be afterwards alluded to. A regularly constructed straight arch with proper radiating joints, concealed behind upright joints, spans each aisle (see Fig. 1079) from pillar to wall shaft. These horizontal arches or lintels have flat relieving arches over them, which in some instances are visible. The aisles are roofed with a series of