Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/558

 The arrangement of the Plan (Fig. 1505) and the design of the tower seem, however, to contradict the latter statement. The debased but picturesque architecture of the tower (Fig. 1506) so strongly resembles the other Scottish church towers of the period as to render its origin beyond dispute. It combines the ornamental treatment of the upper part with the plain features of the lower portion, so usual in the castles of the time; and the classic balustrade and the gabled termination of the staircase recall similar domestic features of Scottish castellated architecture very common in the seventeenth century, both in churches and houses.

—Anstruther Easter. Plan.

The church measures, externally, 92 feet in length by 41 feet in breadth. The entrance doorway leads into a simple barrel-vaulted passage 9 feet wide. This originally opened directly into the body of the church, having a staircase to the gallery on the south side and a small room or vestry on the north side. The body of the church is of the usual oblong form (Fig. 1507) and is lighted with windows, which, from their mullions and round arches, retain a slightly ecclesiastical appearance. This is chiefly striking in the large east window. There were originally two doorways in the south wall, but one has been built up.

Altogether, this church, the date of which is known, forms a complete and characteristic example of the Scottish ecclesiastical architecture of the earlier part of the seventeenth century.