The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, vol. 1

Muthill Church, Perthshire .

The parish of Muthill lies about three miles south of Crieff. The ancient church, with its venerable tower, remained entire and in use as the parish church till about the year 1818, when, unfortunately, it was abandoned for a new building erected about that time. We are enabled to give a view[149] of the old church (Fig. 162), made by John Claude Nattes about the year 1799, from which it will be seen how eminently picturesque the old structure was, and how deplorable is the ruin which has overtaken it in the last half-century.[150]

The church (Fig. 163) consisted of the ancient square tower at the west end, with a nave having north and south aisles, and an aisleless choir. The tower is one of the best preserved of the Norman towers in Scotland. It is nearly square on plan, and measures about 15 feet 3 inches on each side, with walls about 3 feet 2 inches thick. It has two offsets (Fig. 164) on the outside of the two upper stories, and a string course above the lower stage. This string course is of the usual Norman section, and is ornamented with the lozenge pattern, except on the east face, where it is plain. The walls are built plumb inside, with neither corbels nor projecting courses to carry floors. The tower is about 51 feet 3 inches high from the ground to the eaves, and about 16 feet 6 inches more to the apex of the gables. The latter, with their crow-steps, doubtless belong to a late period; but they probably represent the original mode of termination of the tower. The roof must be at least some centuries old. It is constructed with timbers about seven inches square, in the manner shown on section (Fig. 165); they are fixed together with wooden pins. With slight repairs and attention, which it greatly

requires, the roof would last for generations to come. We may remark that several cracks in the masonry, which were very conspicuous when we sketched the tower about fifteen years ago, have now been filled up.

The belfry stage has an opening in each face. Those on the west and north sides (see Fig. 164.) consist of large arches, each containing two smaller ones. They are alike, and measure about 3 feet 5 inches wide on the inside by about 5 feet 10 inches high to top of large arch, and about 4 feet 2 inches of daylight. They are divided with a central octagonal shaft, with round responds set well back in the wall. The shafts have all cushion capitals, those of the responds being slightly higher than those of the central shafts. The arches springing from these caps are very rudely formed. Each of these two windows is wider at the springing of the arch

than at the base by about 2½ inches, and the responds taper even more. The latter have no bases, while the centre shafts have only the merest fillet. The south window (Fig. 166) has a square lintel. It is about 3 feet 8½ inches wide by 4 feet 1½ inch high, and has no taper. The opening is divided by a mullion, placed flush with the outer face of the wall. The east window is a single light, about 1 foot 7 inches wide inside, increasing by 2 inches to the outside. It is 3 feet 11 inches high, and is 2 inches wider at the lintel than at the base. We have minutely described these windows, as they are peculiar in their differences, and are undoubtedly original. We know of no reason why the north and west ones should be so much more ornamental than the other two.

This tower appears to have stood quite isolated, like that of Dunblane Cathedral. There is nothing to indicate that it was attached to any building. There are no roof ragglets, but only the faintest mark caused by the pointing where the roof of the present ruin joined the walls. What position the tower occupied in regard to the early church, which

doubtless stood here, cannot now be ascertained. There seems to have been a doorway on the west face of the ground floor (see Fig. 164.), about 4 feet wide, formed with a flat arch about 7 feet 6 inches above the present level of the ground; but it is doubtful if the door came to the level of the ground, which seems to have been raised in the course of centuries. A door opened into the church on the east side of the tower. It is about 3 feet wide by 6 feet 2 inches high, and has also a flat arch; but it is not easy to say whether these doors are original or are insertions. In the basement floor on the north and south sides there is a square-headed window, about 7 or 8 feet above the floor. The one on the north side is 12 inches wide by about 1 foot 10 inches high, and is divided by a mullion placed similarly to that in the south belfry window.

From the foregoing description, it seems not unlikely that the same ideas which prevailed with the builders of the round towers actuated the men who built this one. It probably contained the bells, and was used as a place of safety detached from the church.

The tower is enclosed on three sides by the church. From the east face of the tower the nave measures 46 feet 1 inch in length, and, including the tower, the central aisle of the nave measures 58 feet 10 inches in length by 20 feet 6 inches in width, and the total width inside, including the aisles, is 45 feet 5 inches. The total length of the church inside, including the chancel, is 105 feet 5 inches, and the width of the chancel is 16 feet.

The walls of the main nave are wider than the tower. The south aisle (see Fig. 166.) is divided into three bays, and the north aisle into two bays. The piers are octagonal, with corresponding responds. There are no capitals on the piers, and the bases have simple splays; the splayed arches of the arcade die against the piers (Fig. 167). From the floor to the springing of the arches is 6 feet 7½ inches, and to the soffit of the arch at the apex is 17 feet 4½ inches. The chancel arch, which is 13 feet 11 inches wide, is treated in a similar manner to the other arches, and is a few feet higher.

The roof of the church is shown on the sketch by Nattes as being in one span; so that there does not appear to have been a clerestory over the nave arcade. Now only the foundation of the north aisle wall remains, and the chancel walls are reduced to a few feet in height; while at the west end they have almost disappeared, showing how badly used the place has been during this century. The entrance to the church was by a square-lintelled doorway in the centre of the south wall of the nave, and there appears to have been a priests’ doorway in the south side of the

chancel. There is a door through the east wall of the north aisle, which possibly led into what may have been a sacristy or vestry. At the west

end of the north aisle there seems to have been a chapel, lighted with a west window.

The windows of the church, of which three remain entire in the south

aisle (Fig. 168), contain three lights in each. They are of good design, and resemble windows in the north side of Dunblane Cathedral. The east window in the south aisle of the nave is completely demolished, and only one jamb remains of the west window of the north-west chapel. Over each of the end windows of the south aisle there are small pointed windows, widely splayed towards the

inside. One of these is shown in Fig. 164. An ambry at the east end of the south aisle, and a roughly-formed recess or ambry on the north side of the chancel, with the remains of a sedilia, complete the ecclesiastical appurtenances of the church, so far as they have been spared, if, indeed, the latter can be said to have been spared. It is situated in the usual place, near the east end of the chancel; but only a portion of the west corner remains. (Fig. 169). It is moulded, having a hollow set in a splay, with a stop chamfer above the seat level. How it was finished along the top nothing remains to indicate. There were three seats, graduated in height—an unusual feature in Scotland. The lowest seat, which is 1 foot 11 inches wide, is the narrowest; the centre one is 2 feet 3 inches; and the east one appears to have been the widest, but, the wall being broken down, the exact dimensions cannot be given.

Opposite the sedilia are the mutilated remains of two figures. (Fig. 170). They are life-size, and are cut out of one stone. They have

recently been protected by a strong iron hearse, and the following inscription on the wall behind tells who they were, viz.:—“In memory of Ada, daughter of Henry, Seneschal of Strathearn, and of Sir Muriel Drummond, first Knight of Concraig, who died 1362, whose effigies beneath have wasted by the long Lapse of Time. This Tablet has been placed by their Descendants, the Drummonds of Megginch, late of Lennoch, in Strathearn. A.D., 1880.”

The edifice, now in ruins, was built by Michael Ochiltree, who was first Dean, then Bishop of Dunblane. Keith (Catalogue) says:—“It is to be supposed that he built the Church of Muthill while he was Dean only, that church belonging to the deanery.” He was Dean in 1425, and Bishop in 1430. When he died is not known, but he was Bishop in 1445, and his successor, Robert Lauder, was Bishop in 1449. Spottiswood says that Ochiltree was “a wealthy prelate, and well esteemed; and so purchased to his see a great part of the forfeited lands of Strathearn, adorned the Cathedral of Dunblane, built the bridge of Knaik and Machant, with the Church of Muthill, and did in his time divers other good works.” He crowned James II. in Holyrood in 1437, and his effigy is shown in the nave of Dunblane Cathedral.