Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/430



The Abbey of St. Bothan was a convent for Cistercian nuns. Its scanty remains are situated about four miles south-west from Grant's House Railway Station, in a beautiful valley on the right bank of the Whitadder, which here flows a calm full stream, surrounded by gently swelling hills—an ideal situation for such a house. The modern parish church appears to occupy the site of the ancient church of the abbey, and probably the nunnery buildings were included within the existing churchyard, which lies on the south side of the church. The east wall of the

—Abbey St. Bathans. East Wall.

church only is old, and is entirely ivy clad, the east window (Fig. 1343) being just visible. It is round-arched and is of two lights, each 9 inches wide, with a quatrefoil above, having rather rudely formed cusping. The mullion is modern, and the tracery is recessed to about the middle of the thickness of the wall, being about 18 inches back from the outer face. There is a set-off on the gable, hidden by ivy. It is impossible to say how much of the other walls are old, but probably the modern church occupies the old foundations, in which case the ancient church was