ST. Regulus’, or St. Rule’s, St. Andrews, Fifeshire .
This remarkable edifice stands in the ancient churchyard at a distance of fully 100 feet south-east from the Cathedral of St. Andrews (q.v.) St. Regulus’ was, doubtless, the Cathedral Church of St. Andrews before the edifice, afterwards constructed as the Cathedral, and now ruinous, existed.
The early occupation of the site of St. Andrews for religious purposes is referred to in the Introduction.[142] Cellach was the first Bishop of St. Andrews, about the beginning of the tenth century. He was succeeded by ten Culdee Bishops, the last of whom was Fodath, who performed the ceremony of the marriage of Malcolm Canmore and Queen Margaret. The settlement of the Culdees became broken up and partly secularised, and under Bishop Robert (1121-59) Canons regular were introduced in 1144, who gradually absorbed the Culdees into their community.
Dr. Joseph Robertson[143] states it as his opinion that “no one acquainted with the progress of architecture, who diligently peruses the Historia B. Reguli et Fundationis Ecclesiæ S. Andreæ, will have much difficulty in identifying the building [of St. Regulus] with the small ‘basilica’ reared by Bishop Robert, an English Canon regular of the Order of St. Augustine, between the years 1127 and 1144.” Robert, Prior of Scone, was elected Bishop in the reign of Alexander I., but was not consecrated till the reign of David I., in 1138. The passage, referred to by Dr. Robertson is as follows:—
“But before the newly-elected Bishop (Robert, Prior of Scone) was consecrated, King Alexander, who was now in his last illness, left his sole surviving brother, King David (who now is), heir both of the kingdom and of his devotion to the Church and his care of the poor. The undertakings of his late brother he endeavours to carry to completion. He has founded many monasteries for monks, canons, and nuns, and on these he has bestowed many benefactions; while to the servants and handmaids of Christ themselves he has done many acts of kindness, on which we cannot here enlarge. He obtained that the Bishop of St. Andrews, Robert, already mentioned, was consecrated by Thurstan, Archbishop of York. This being done, Robert returned to his see, and
proceeded to put in practice what he had in his view—viz., the enlargement of his church, and its dedication to divine service. On this work he expended the seventh part of the altar dues which fell to him, reserving them for his own use. But inasmuch as the outlay was small, the building made correspondingly small progress, until, by the Divine favour and the influence of the King, offerings flowed in, and the work went on apace. The basilica was thus founded, and in great part constructed.”—Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 191.
There can be little doubt that the building still surviving is the basilica of Bishop Robert. Its architectural features correspond with his date, and there is no other structure to which the above notice would apply. The similarity of St. Regulus’ in many points to the early churches of Northumbria has already been adverted to.[145]
The edifice (Fig. 153) consists of a chamber 26 feet long and 19 feet 10 inches wide internally, with walls about 34 feet high. The great height of the building, as compared with its width and length, is one of the points which connect it with the pre-Norman structures of Northumbria. There appears to have been an eastern apse, of which only portions of the foundations next the main structure now remain. A lofty square tower (Fig. 154) at the west end of the oblong chamber is the most striking feature of the building. It is about 110 feet high, and measures about 21 feet 4 inches square over the walls.
At the east end of the main building a lofty archway (Fig. 155) opens towards what was probably the apse. The opening is 9 feet wide by
25 feet 6 inches high. Each jamb has three attached shafts (Fig. 156), with somewhat rude caps and bases, and bold mouldings in the arch. The existence of this archway clearly indicates that there was a building towards the east of it, and we have no doubt that it was an apse; while the main building was the chancel, and the nave stood (as will be shown) to the west of the tower.
The tower is pierced with an archway in each of its east and west walls. The lower part of the west wall of the tower projects about 2 feet 2 inches on each side beyond the side walls, with a breadth of about 2 feet 5 inches, and finishes upwards in a roughly-tapering form at the level of the top of the western arch. (See Fig. 154.) These projecting portions of wall have somewhat the appearance of side buttresses to the tower, but they are more like the remains of the east wall of a nave, which now no longer exists. They have not the character of originally-built early buttresses, but have rather that of the remains of projecting walls, dressed up at a later period. Besides, it is a characteristic of the structure that it has no buttresses flanking the other arches. There is observable on the west face of the tower the mark of a roof. This mark, if produced on each side to about the level of the top of the chancel walls, would indicate the roof of a nave about ten or twelve feet wider than the tower. There seems to be no other way of explaining the mark of the roof and the projecting portions of the side walls except by supposing that there was at one time a nave to the west of the tower. This would also give a reason for the existence of the
east and west arches in the tower, which otherwise are somewhat unintelligible.
The arch opening from the chancel to the tower is 9 feet 10 inches wide by 27 feet high, and is of a plainer description than the apse archway.
The jambs have a square recess or nook on each face of the wall with a shaft in each recess; and the arch above is quite plain, with square edges. The western arch, from the tower into the supposed nave, is shown in Fig. 154. It is 10 feet 4 inches wide by 28 feet high. Both of the archways in the tower are now built up. The moulding of the west arch, as far as visible, is shown in Fig. 157. The capitals of all the shafts are rather shapeless and clumsy, but the necking and arch mouldings are of good design. The arches are all slightly of the horse-shoe form.
The three-arched openings above described are all of about the same dimensions, and as the two eastern ones cannot be called doorways, so neither can the western one be considered as merely the entrance doorway to the church, but would rather appear to be the arched opening from the nave into the tower and chancel. When we consider that this church was once a cathedral, as well as the church of a monastery, and also, perhaps, served the purpose of a parish church, it seems probable that it must have been a larger building than the simple oblong chamber to the east of the tower which now survives. Considerable discussion has taken place with reference to the probable arrangement of the plan. Some have supposed that the church consisted of the simple oblong chamber which still exists, with an eastern apse and western tower; while others maintain that the existing oblong was the choir, that there was a western nave, and that the tower was central. Sir G. Gilbert Scott points out that in the latter case St. Regulus’ would be parallel to Jarrow Church, while in the former case the church may have had a lofty western porch, as had those of Wearmouth and Barton-upon-Humber. Sir Gilbert, however, thinks that the large size of the western arch, and the mark of
the roof on the tower, suggest a nave.[146] The seals of the church, dated 1204 and 1214, which are preserved at Durham, show a nave and chancel.
The chancel is lighted by four windows, two on each side, placed at about 14 feet above the ground. (See Fig. 155.) They are round headed, the circles being cut out of a single stone on the outside, but arched on the inside. The openings are 6 feet 6 inches high and 1 foot 10 inches wide, and have broad splays internally.
The building has a cornice at the wall-head, containing a series of simple corbels. A string course runs round the tower below the top story, and above it there is a belfry window on each face, about 3 feet wide by 8 feet 9 inches high. Each window is divided into two openings by a rounded centre shaft (Fig. 158), and there were round nook shafts at each side, but these have now fallen away. There are a few small openings on each face at different stages. The tower is crowned with a cornice, having two rows of simple corbels similar to those of the chancel cornice. On the east side there is an opening into the space which was covered by the chancel roof. The floors of the tower have been of timber, and there is one set-off in the inside of about 6 inches, at a height of about 64 feet. There was no access stair. At the north-west corner of the chancel, and at the wall-head level, there are two caps which have a very distinct appearance of being of first pointed date.
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