Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/400

 there rested the slabs, shaped at each end so as to meet exactly in the middle, thus forming a straight lined arch, and the haunches were filled up with rubble. With this both Martin's and Pennant's descriptions exactly agree.

The north range of the buildings, which no doubt contained the refectory and dormitories, has been too much dilapidated to admit of any intelligible description. In a line with it, however, and extending eastward beyond the priory square (see Plan), there is a small chapel of very early character, built entirely in rubble, without any freestone dressings. It is 17 feet over the walls and 33 feet in breadth; but for no apparent reason the west gable is slewed round to the south, making an inequality of 2 feet in the length of the sides. There has been a wide window in the east gable, but owing to the demolition of the wall its character cannot be judged. There are two small windows in the north side and one in the south, mere slits with no provisions for frames or glazing. There is an entrance doorway on the south side at the west end and a priest's door at the east. On the north side there is a very small door nearly opposite that of the entrance on the south.

The foundations of the altar still remain, and a line of stones still indicates the position of the chancel rail. The base of the pulpit remains on the north side, and at the west end there has been a tribune or organ gallery, which has been accessible by a door in the east gable of the priory buildings. In this gable, on the ground floor, an archway has been formed 6 feet 8 inches in width, with a plain pointed rubble arch, which seems to have been subsequently filled in, and a square-headed doorway of much smaller size substituted.

Immediately to the north of this chapel, and separated from it by an 8 foot wide passage, is a most interesting example of a monastic barn and byre, 39 feet in length by 22 feet in breadth. It is an excellent specimen of rubble building with freestone dressings to the windows, &c., in the same style as the church, and may be coeval with the later restoration. The windows are small, and on the north side close to the ground are openings for the discharge of refuse from the byre. In the south-east angle a small chamber has been formed for the herd, with a little eyelet and ambry, and it would no doubt be cut off by partitioning from the other occupants. At the south-west angle there is a small door opening inwards, and some indications that a chamber had been formed between the building itself and the north wall of the priory. At the south wall head (internally) there has been inserted a 4 or 5 foot long schist slab, with a quaint human head carved in the centre. It serves no purpose where it is, and must evidently have been a relic of some older structure. There can be no doubt there was a doorway to the west, but, if so, the present entrance shows no traces of it. The building is still roofed, and in use.