ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES. 405
evidence remains to show that the choir and transepts were in existence filly a quarter of
a century later, and that had the necessary exertions been then made for its repair, we
might still have possessed the ancient building in its ori,oinal and magnificent proportions,
instead of the ruined nave, which alone remains to show what once had been. In (‘ the
heads of the accusation and chief offences laid to Adam, Bishop of Orknay, his charge,”
by the General Assembly of 1569, the fifth is, that “ all the said kirks, for the most part,
wherein Christ’s evangell may be preached, are decayed, and made, some sheepfolds, and
some so ruinous, that none darre enter into them for fear of falling; specially Halrudhouse,
although the bishop of Sanct Andrews, in time of papistry, sequestrate the whole
rents of the said abbacy, because only the glassen windows were not holden up and
repaired.” To this the Bishop replied, “ That the Abbay Church of Hdyrudhouse hath
been, these 20 years bygane, ruinous through decay of two principal1 pillars, so that none
were assured under it ; and two thousand pounds bestowed upon it would not be sufficient
to ease men to the hearing of the word, and ministration of the sacraments. But with
their consent, and help of ane established authority, he was purposed to provide the
means, that the superfluous ruinous parts, to wit, the Queir and Croce Kuk, might be
disponed be faithful1 men, to repair the remanent sufficiently.” The Bishop’s economical
plan was no doubt put in force, and the whole of the choir and transept soon after
demolished and sold, to provide funds for converting the nave into the Parish Kirk of
the Canongate. The two western pillars, designed to support a great central tower,
now form the sides of the east window constructed within the arch, and an examination
of the masonry with which the lower parts of this and the side arches are closed, shows
that it is entirely built with fragments of clustered shafts and other remains of the
ruins. It was at this time, we presume, that the new royal vault was constructed in
the south aisle of the nave, and the remains of the Scottish kings removed from their
ancient resting-place near the high altar of the Abbey Church. It is built against the
ancient Norman doorway of the cloisters, which still remains externally, with its beautiful
shafts and zigzag mouldings, an undoubted relic of the original fabric of St David.
The cloisters appear to have enclosed a large court, formed in the angle of the nave
and south transept. The remains of the north side are clearly traceable still, and the
site of the west side is now occupied by the Palace buildings. Here was the ambulatory
for the old monks, when the magnificent foundation of St David retained its pristine
splendour, and it remained probably till the burning of the Abbey after the death of
James V. We learn on the occasion of the marriage of James IT. with the Princess
Margaret of England, that “after all reverences doon at the Church, in ordere as
before, the Kyng transported himself to the Pallais, through the clostre, holdynge
always the Queen by the body, and hys hed bare, till he had brought hyr within her
chammer.”
The west front, as it now remains, is evidently the work of very different periods. It
has been curtailed of the south tower to admit of the completion of the quadrangle according
to the design of Sir William Bruce, and the singular and unique windows over the
great doorway are evidently additions of the time of Charles L, whose initials appear
1 Booke of the Umveraall Kirk of Scotland, p. 163. Ibid, p. 167.
