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Stirling Holy Rude Parish Church
- Dedication: Holy Rood
- Diocese of St Andrews
- Deanery of Linlithgow
- NS 79206 93710
Summary description
A major burgh church built in two main phases. The nave and lower part of the west tower are largely of the 1450s to 1470s. The choir, and probably the upper part of the tower, belong to works of 1507 to about 1523 which appear never to have been fully completed. Major works were carried out in 1803, 1818, 1869, 1911-14 and 1936-40.
Historical outline
Dedication: Holy Rude
Two churches in the toun of Stirling were confirmed to Dunfermline Abbey by King David I in c.1150, together with a caurcate of land adjacent ‘to the church’, the teind of his demesne around Stirling, and the manse of Roger the Priest.(1) It is likely that one of these two churches was the ‘church of the castle’ which did not subsequently gain full parochial status, the other being Holy Rude. Both probably began as dependencies of the important early church at Kirkton or St Ninians (qv) and this relationship formed part of the root of the later disputes between Dunfermline,(2) which possessed Holy Rude, and Cambuskenneth, which possessed St Ninians. David had originally arranged a concordat with the church of St Ninians which preserved its rights to certain teinds from Stirling, but subsequently he confirmed Dunfermline in possession of the same teinds.(3) The churches of Stirling were confirmed to Dunfermline by King Malcolm IV in 1154 x 1159, by Robert, bishop of St Andrews, as part of a general confirmation to the monks, and in 1163 they were included as part of Pope Alexander III’s general confirmation of the lands and properties of the abbey.(4)
Down to the early 1200s it is likely that, despite David I’s grant of the teinds of Stirling, Dunfermline possessed more than the right of presentation to the church. This position was apparently changed by Bishop William Malveisin of St Andrews, who between 1202 and 1232 seems to have appropriated the parsonage to the abbey, with papal confirmation of the annexation received by 1232.(5) The union was certainly effective before 1275, when the vicarage of Stirling was recorded in the accounts of the papal tax-collector in Scotland, taxed at 30s.(6) In a subsequent late thirteenth-century tax-roll the vicarage was given a true value of £26 13s 4d annually, paying tax of 43s 4d.(7) In the same tax-roll the parsonage was confirmed as in the possession of Dunfermline, but with a pension also being assigned to the abbot from the vicarage fruits, yielding a total figure of £45 13s.(8)
Beyond references to holders of the vicarage, there are few other notices of the parish church of Stirling before the fifteenth century. Walter Bower recorded that on 5 March 1407 extensive damage was caused to the church by an accidental fire which damaged much of the town of Stirling.(9) Although it has been suggested that repairs were completed by 1414, an Exchequer Roll entry for that year records continuing payments in support of rebuilding work at Holy Rude.(10) Indeed, it is probably in respect of continuing efforts to rebuild the church after the 1407 fire that a supplication to the pope was made on 19 January 1451. This appeal narrated how ‘the parish church or vicarage of Holy Rude of Stirling’ had been devasted by fire and it went on to claim that due to the limited revenues of the vicarage and the poverty of the parishioners, who had started on the repair and rebuilding of the church but who could not hope to finish it, external help was needed.(11) On that account William Scott, described as ‘priest and parson of the said parish church’ and a chaplain of James Kennedy, bishop of St Andrews, supplicated the pope for an indulgence of five years to endure in perpetuity to all visited the parish church each year on the feasts of the Invention and Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and who contributed to its upkeep. A second supplication of 4 February 1451 sought clarification of whether the indulgence was for a term or in perpetuity, and added that because the Scottish king resided occasionally in the parish, many people attended Holy Rude. For that reason Bishop Kennedy supplicated for the speedy clarification and confirmation of the original indulgence.
Scott, who probably took the original supplication in respect of the indulgence to Rome, also presented a personal supplication whilster there on 9 March 1451. Described as perpetual vicar of the parish church of Holy Rude of Stirling and present in Curia, he requested successfully that the pope would ratify and as far as necessary grant anew the rights of the vicars of Stirling to the teind of the very lucrative salmon fishery in the River Forth, which they were said to have held for at least fifty years.(12)
It appears that what rebuilding work had been undertaken on the church between 1407 and 1451 suffered further damage in 1452 that required the crown to take steps to aid the townsfolk in their efforts to reconstruct Holy Rude. On 24 June 1456 King James II granted the burgh the right of patronage of the hospital of St James of Stirling toward the costs of rebuilding of the church. The king’s charter referred to the fire raisings, robberies and depredations that had been carried out at Stirling by the ‘rebels and traitors’, James Douglas and his accomplices.(13) This reference is to the attack on the burgh carried out by the ninth Earl of Douglas in 1452 following the murder by the king in person of his elder brother and predecessor, William, eighth earl of Douglas, in Stirling Castle.(14)
The main fifteenth-century efforts appear to have been focussed primarily on the reconstruction of the west end of the building, but in the early sixteenth century the focus switched to the east end. In 1507 an indenture was made between the abbot and convent of Dunfermline and provost, council and burgh of Stirling, for the rebuilding of the choir. The burgh undertook to erect a new choir ‘which conforms to the body of the church’. The monks agreed to pay 200 merks towards the new work and an extra 40s for the maintenance of the high altar, to provide all ornaments necessary for holy days and work days.(15) Work was still in progress on 27 April 1523 when David Crag, burgh treasurer and Robert Arnot, master of the kirk work, were ordered to deliver to a certain Marthing, servant of Euan Allinson, £40 in part payment of a larger sum required for timber for the choir.(16) On 22 August 1529 an indenture was made between the provost and council of Stirling and John Kowth or Coutts, mason, who was ‘to work and labour his craft of masonry and geometry on all matters pertaining to the common work’. Coutts was to be at the command of the master of works for his lifetime, receiving payment of 50 merks a year. He also received permission to ‘intromett rays and lay’the ‘layeris and thruchis within the parish church’ (to interfere, raise and lay the lairs and graveslabs within the parish church).(17) Two months later on 2 October, Coutts became a freeman of the burgh, the usual payment for that honour being waived due to his service to the kirk work.(18) Work was probably moving into its final stages by 14 May 1549 when James Ross was engaged for one year to work on the glass windows of the church and to make such repairs to them as were necessary, the glass and other materials being provided by the provost.(19) It was not until 18 December 1555, however, that a delegation including Alexander Baton, treasurer, and James Robertson, baillie, was sent to Linlithgow to meet with John Hamilton, archbishop of St Andrews, to notify him of completion of the church and to obtain letters from him to the effect that the burgh’s contract with Dunfermline Abbey had been completed.(20)
In the course of this major programme of rebuilding there had been a significant development in the status of the church of the Holy Rude: it was erected into a collegiate church. The exact details of the process do not survive, but it appears that before 1546 a college of priests choristers, which was largely made up of the chaplains serving the numerous altars in the church, was reconstituted as a college of secular priests over which the vicar perpetual of the parish church governed as ‘president’ and a sub-president was instituted as his deputy.(21) Reference on 18 January 1555 to John Craig, vicar pensioner of Stirling, suggests that the vicar perpetual and president may have been largely an absentee, requiring the services of a further deputy to fulfil his primary function as the parish priest of the burgh.(22)
The union of the church with Dunfermline Abbey remained in effect at the Reformation, when it was recorded that the parsonage had been set by the convent for £80 annually. The vicarage was valued at £36 annually but there was no reference of provision for a vicar pensioner, which could indicate that Craig’s appointment had been a temporary or one-off measure.(23) The assessment of the value of the old benefices for their taxation to support the institutions of the Reformed Kirk point to the continued presence of a large and well-endowed community of chaplains within the parish church at the time of the Reformation. The following section explores the development of that community from the fourteenth century until the Reformation.
As with the other urban parish churches of St Andrews and Brechin dioceses in Dundee, Edinburgh, Haddington, Linlithgow, Perth and St Andrews (qv), discussion of the individual altars will be done in order of date of first surviving record of either the altars or the chaplaincies attached to them. It must be stressed that the date of first recorded mention is not necessarily the date of the establishment of the altar and, as becomes evident in the following discussion, not all altars or chaplaincies appear to have survived as functioning entities across the pre-Reformation period. In 1899 James Ronald stated that there were nineteen altars in the parish church.(24) He was of the view that aside from the High Altar there was a separate Holy Rude dedication and a further eighteen altars dedicated, in chronological order, to saints Lawrence, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Michael, James, the Holy Trinity, John the Baptist, Ninian, Andrew, Thomas the Apostle, Holy Saviour, Katherine, Stephen, the Holy Blood, Anne, a second altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Peter and Paul, Matthew and Luke. He suggested that the Aubert and Eloi dedications were actually images on an altar with a different dediction rather than distinct altars in their own right.
The high altar of the church was dedicated to the Holy Cross or Holy Rude as it was styled at Stirling, but there was a second Holy Rude altar, discussed below, which was located in the rood loft in the nave. This was the altar at which the vicar perpetual presumably served and it was only in the later fifteenth century that record occurs of additional chaplains serving there. The first, recorded in 1471, was William Bully, a member of a family of prominent burgesses who were also generous patrons of the parish church, who was succeeded in 1472 by Richard Brady.(25) Bully, as discussed below, was a patron in his own right of the altars of St Ninian and St Thomas the Apostle. Patronage of the chaplaincy at the high altar lay with the provost and council, who on 3 March 1477 received Brady’s resignation and instituted Andrew Craggorth in his place.(26) Chaplains are on record through the remainder of the fifteenth century and down to the Reformation. It is uncertain whether this is the altar of the Holy Rude whose altarage was recorded in 1567, valued at £12 6s, and held by John Ardhill(27) or if that reference is to the Holy Rude altar in the rood loft.
An altar of St Laurence was in existence before 1371. A confirmation under the Great Seal was issued on 28 February 1388/9 by King Robert II, confirming a grant of his predecessor David II, which had been made in honour of the undivided Trinity, St Mary and All Saints, to the altar of St Laurence in the parish church of Stirling and to one chaplain serving there.(28) The grant in support of the chaplain included the fruits from the passage of one ferry-boat on the Forth at Stirling, plus various rents from properties within Stirling. The chaplain was to say daily masses for the salvation of the souls of Robert himself, his children, and of the late Queen Euphemia. Nothing more is heard of this altar until 1447 when its perpetual chaplain is mentioned.(29) Across the period down to the beginning of the sixteenth century, the patronage of the altar and chaplaincy appears to have lain with the crown, presumably arising from David II’s original endowment. On 7 March 1502, however, King James IV issued a charter to the provost and council granting the patronage and presentation rights of the altar to them.(30) The first record of an additional endowment of the altar occurs in 1532 when Christine Rae granted a tenement to the altar to provide payment for a daily mass.(31) In 1550 (with a confirmation in 1570) there was a grant by the provost, bailies, council and community of Stirling, patrons of a tenement in the Castle Wynd, that had been given by the late Christine Rae for a daily mass in the parish church, in favour of Mr. William Gulen, master of the grammar school. The subject-matter of the charter was a lifetime grant of the feu duty of £3 15s 8d annually that was payable by him for the foreland of that tenement, in return for which William resigned his office as master.(32) Gulen was still in possession in 1567 when the chaplaincy of St Laurence’s altar was valued at £13 9d.(33)
A second Holy Rude altar, which was located in the rood loft of the parish church, is the next altar by date to be recorded in the church. It has been claimed in the past that the altar was founded by King Robert II (1371-90)(34) but this attribution appears to be linked to that king’s confirmation of the earliest recorded grant made to the altar. King Robert’s charter of confirmation was issued on 26 February 1372 in respect of a grant made by Anna de Keloche to the altar of the Holy Rude, which was described as located in the nave of the church, and to Nicholas of Tarbolton, the perpetual vicar of Stirling, for his lifetime, of property in the Old Park of Stirling.(35) There appears to be no further surviving reference to the altar until 7 May 1524, on which date John Spottiswoode was made chaplain of the Rude altar in the rood loft and was invested with all the annual rents and other rights pertaining to it. He also received a yearly pension of 6 merks from the provost and community of Stirling for delivering daily dying services at the altar, his pension to be renewed on proof that he had provided good service.(36) On 12 October1556 a certain John Stoddart was instituted as the chaplain of the altar on the demission of Alexander Aikin, who became chaplain of Holy Blood altar. Stoddart was ordered to study continually until he was knowledgeable of ‘the prikat song’ and so able to participate in the choir services.(37) As part of the benefits of is appointment, the provost, balilies and councillors promised to help the chaplains of the Holy Rude and Holy Blood altars with collection of the annual rents assigned for their sustenance.(38) The implication from this obligation is that collection of rents had become a problem and the Council book does contain references to regular appearances at their meetings from the 1520s onwards by chaplains pursuing arrears of rents. The last pre-Reformation chaplain of the altar in the rood loft was James Paterson,(39)
According to Ronald writing in 1899, the first record of the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary dates from 1409 and locates the altar on the south side of the church.(40) The earliest securely dated reference to the altar dates from 20 August 1457, when a charter of sale by Henry Livingstone, burgess of Linlithgow, granting his properties in the Back Row of Stirling, on the south side of the High Street, to James de Livingstone of Callendar, chamberlain of Scotland, noted that the tenement was to be held of the king in chief for burgh service and and that it was burdened with an annual rent of 6s 8d to the perpetual chaplain at the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the parish church of Stirling.(41) Apart from references to named chaplains (including one member of the Bully family), the next surviving record of the altar dates from 1520 when the Smiths guild was granted the privilege to charge anyone selling metal goods in the burgh 1d toward services at the altars of St Eloi (their patron saint) and the Blessed Virgin Mary.(42) Ronald argued that there were two additional altars of the Virgin, one located in the north aisle of the church and a second one in the south aisle. His putative third altar he believed was founded in 1473 by Adam Cosour, who retained the patronage. There is a surviving burgh charter in respect of this altar, dated 3 August 1473, whereby Adam Cosour resigned certain annuals from tenements in the burgh in favour of the Virgin’s altar, which was described as lying in the south aisle of the parish church, and to its chaplain Andrew Bully.(43) The charter makes no reference to Cosour holding any rights of patronage in the altar and, given its location in the south aisle, it seems that this was a further endowment made to the already established altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary that was located in that part of the church. Cosour may have paid for the construction of that part of the church which housed the altar, presumably as part of the programme of works conducted from the 1450s onwards, as Duncan Forester, provost of Stirling, binds himself to Adam in 1483 in an obligation to repair Adam’s aisle of St Mary.(44) Ronald further confuses the situation by referring to a third altar to the Blessed Virgin Mary which he believed was also founded in 1473 and which he believed was located in the north aisle of the church.(45) There appears to be no such altar. On 22 October 1554 James Hamilton, described as chaplain of Our Lady altar situated behind the kirk door (probably meaning the south-west door in the nave) was paid 24s as his annual fee by the council for services in the church.(46) The altar by this date appears to have been in the patronage of the burgh. Considering that this was a significant altar located in a part of the building referred to as St Mary’s aisle, it is surprising that it was not one of the altars and chaplaincies listed in the Books of Assumption.
The altar of St Ninian the Confessor in the church was first recorded in 1432 in letters by the alderman, bailies and community of the burgh of Stirling which granted to it and to sir Thomas Sumirhope, chaplain, lands in the burgh roods.(47) On 25 July 1457 an appointment concerning the teindscheaves of the chapel of St Ninian in the church of Stirling agreed their set to Patrick Sandilands, parson of Calder.(48) A significant augmentation of the altar’s endowment came in 1471/2 when on 25 February Duncan Bully, parson of Kinnell, resigned property that he held in Stirling from Lord Fleming in favour of his brother, William Bully, perpetual chaplain of the Rude altar in the church of Stirling.(49) Two days later on 27 February, William made over these lands to the altar of St Ninian and secured a great seal confirmation by King James III, which narrated how Bully had sold and alienated a tenement in Stirling to Malcolm Fleming and his heirs, with the reservation of a continuing payment due from those lands of 6s 8d to St Ninian’s altar and a further 26s 8d to the altar of St Thomas the Apostle.(50) These lands no doubt formed the subject matter of the 1473 endowment of the altar by Malcolm Fleming, son of Robert Lord Fleming, who confirmed the 6s 8d annual rent due to the altar.(51) By 1525 patronage of the chaplaincy of the altar was in the hands of the burgh, the provost and council in that year presenting Thomas Jarvie as chaplain on 3 March and then Thomas Duncanson on 11 May of the same year.(52) There appear to be no later references to this altar.
The Holy Trinity altar was founded shortly before 29 September 1460 when letters of resentation by Sir Thomas Buttir (probably a mistranscription of Bully), canon of the Cathedral Church of Glasgow, presenting Robert Symsoun, chaplain, to the chaplainry of the altar of the Holy and Undivided Trinity described as recently founded by him. His foundation of the altar was stated as being for the salvation of his soul and he endowed it with a significant portfolio of properties and rights.(53) This grant was ratified on 18 October 1468 by King James III in a confirmation of Thomas Bully’s wider deed of mortification by which he made various grants of annual rents to sustain one chaplain at both of the altars of the Holy Trinity and St Thomas. The annual rents amounted to 6 merks to both of the chaplains.(54) Additional endowments appear to have followed from other sources. On 22 April1476 letters by the provost, bailies, councillors and community of the burgh of Stirling attested the adjudication of a tenement in the Castle Vennel on the west side of the high street of the burgh, which had belonged to late John Worthy, to sir Robert Simson, perpetual chaplain of the altar of Holy Trinity in the parish church there, in default of payment for several years to him of an annual rent of 15s.(55) Further grants to the altar from a member of the Bully family came on 2 September 1479 when Adam Bully, burgess of Stirling, granted another annual rent to it.(56)
In 1490 the altars of St Thomas and Holy Trinity were united because the annual rents which sustained them had been lost in the burning of the town in 1488 by the army of King James III during the rebellion which ended in his death at Sauchieburn. The loss of income from the destroyed properties in the town had meant that the reduced resources remaining were insufficient to sustain two chaplains. The union was made with the agreement of Duncan Bully, archdeacon of Dunblane, who was patron of both altars.(57) The Holy Trinity altar appears to have been the more important of the two, a reference in December 1521 naming the ‘Trinity Aisle’ as the location for the repayment of a loan.(58) The last pre-Reformation reference to the altar occurred on 1 December 1554 when Alexander Casper, chaplain of the Trinity altar, received payment of his annuals from James Thomson.(59)
Although Ronald dated the foundation of the altar of St Michael by Thomas Carmichael, vicar of Stirling, to 1450, the great seal confirmation at mortmain of the founding endowment granted by King James IV on 6 August 1496 preserves the full text of Carmichael’s charter including its dating clause of 1 April 1471.(60) By his charter, Master Thomas Carmichael, vicar perpetual of Stirling, granted to sir Nicholas French, chaplain, and his successors chaplains, serving God at the altar of St Michael the Archangel in the church, which was described as located at the column on the north of the altar of St Salvator, on the south side of the said church, an annual rent of 10 merks from property in Stirling. On 28 January 1506 James IV gifted the patronage and presentation rights of the altar to the burgh.(61) It was evidently one of the richer of the altars in the parish church, the altarage being recorded in 1567, when held by Alexander Fergus, as valued at 24 merks 10s.(62)
In date-order sequence, the next altar to be recorded is that of St Thomas the Apostle, but the reference to it indicates that this altar was already in existence before the date of this first reference. It occurs in the confirmation by King James III, dated 18 October1468, of Thomas Bully’s grant of annual rents to sustain chaplains at the altars of the Holy Trinity and St Thomas (see above). Bully had established the Holy Trinity chaplaincy in about 1460 but there is no mention at that time of the second chaplaincy at St Thomas’s altar, which was probably founded shortly afterwards.(63) St Thomas’s was the beneficiary of a wider property transaction negotiated by members of the Bully family in respect of tenements from which the altar of St Ninian was also endowed (see above). These grants were ratified by James III in August 1472, when he confirmed a charter by William Bully, perpetual chaplain of altar of the Holy Rude, by which he sold and alienated a tenement in Stirling to Malcolm Fleming and his heirs, with reservation of a continuing payment due from that property of 6s 8d to the altar of St Ninian and 26s 8d to the altar of St Thomas the Apostle.(64) In 1473 Malcolm Fleming settled the 26s 8d of annual rents on the altar.(65) As discussed above in respect of the Trinity altar, in 1490 the altars of St Thomas and the Holy Trinity were united because the sources of the annual rents attached to them had been destroyed in the burning of Stirling by the army of King James III in 1488 leaving inadequate revenues to sustain two chaplains. The union was agreed by Duncan Bully, archdeacon of Dunblane, who was the patron of both altars, with the reservation that it was to be operative only until Bully was able to find alternative sources of revenue.(66) In 1522, a claim before the burgh court in respect of the chaplainry of SS Peter and Paul stated that the rents from some of the lands of that altar had been paid instead to the chaplain of St Thomas,(67) which implies that Bully had found the alternative revenues and the union of 1490 had been dissolved. Post-Reformation, there was reference in 1563 to lands of St Thomas which at that time pertained to the town.(68) This reference might simply be showing that the former chaplaincy lands had been made over to the burgh in the wake of the Reformation but it could also reflect the former patronage of the altar by the burgh council. The chaplainry of the altar of St Thomas was still considered to be an existing legal entity in 1567, when it was recorded as being held by Alexander Chalmers, and to be worth £12 annually.(69)
St Andrew’s altar and its associated chaplainry was presumably in existence before its first recorded mention in 1471, when its chaplain Richard Simpson received a 25s bequest from Marion Daroch.(70) It was McNaughton’s view that the chapel of St Andrew had been constructed c.1455-71 following the damage inflicted during the Douglas ransacking of the burgh in 1452. He argued that it was located in the north aisle in what was known as the Forrester or Garden aisle.(71) There are few other notices of this altar in surviving sources. It was noted in 1567 that the chaplainry at St Andrew’s altar was valued at £8 4s annually.(72)
Adam Cosour, whose support of altars and chaplains in the parish church has already been mentioned above, occurs in the period 1471-4 as patron of the altar of St Anne. He was recorded around 1471 as presenting John Railston to the chaplainry, followed in 1474 by his presentation of William Craig.(73) Cosour, as patron, and Craig, as chaplain, were in 1477 established as procurators for the altar.(74) The altar occurs twice in records in 1525, when its chaplain James Wilson was pursuing rents owing to the altar. On the second occasion, in October 1525, the altar was referred to as being located in the aisle of Adam Cosour. (75) There are no further pre-Reformation references to this altar surviving.
Two altars, those of St James and St John the Baptist, are recorded first in 1472. St James’s altar was already in existence by that year, when Richard Cristin was referred to as perpetual chaplain at the altar.(76) According to Ronald it was situated in the nave, but it is unclear on what evidence he made that statement.(77) Cristin clearly retained an interest in the altar after he had advanced to greater things, making a gift to it in 1492, by which time he was a canon of the collegiate church of Abernethy.(78) Payments for requiem and obituary anniversary services for his family were made in 1526 by Archibald Redhauch, burgess.(79) No further pre-Reformation reference to the altar appears to survive. In 1561 the council ordered the sale of the chalices belonging to several altars, including that of St James, at a price of 20s an ounce, the proceeds to be used on meeting the costs of street-repairs.(80) What appears to be the only surviving pre-Reformation reference to St John the Baptist’s altar is the record of a land deal made at the altar in 1472.(81) The altarage of St John the Baptist is recorded in 1567, with a detailed rental appended to it amounting to £8 1s.(82)
On 4 October 1474, first reference occurs to the altar of SS Peter and Paul, located in the north aisle of St Mary in the parish church, and to its patron Alexander Cunningham of Auchinbowie.(83) The following year sasine of a tenement was given to Patrick Murray, chaplain of St Peter’s altar.(84) The absence of reference to the paired dedication with St Paul raises questions as to whether there were separate altars of SS Peter and Paul and St Peter alone. As Murray was still being referred to as chaplain of St Peter’s altar on 26 March 1484 but in November 1482 one Thomas Thulay received sasine of a tenement as chaplain of the altar of the apostles, Peter and Paul, it seems likely that two separate establishments – or at least two separate chaplainries – were being referred to.(85) In 1512, amongst various properties and rights confirmed by King James IV to James Cunningham, son and heir of Robert Cunningham of Polmaise, was the patronage of the altar of SS Pater and Paul at Stirling.(86) From the 1520s onwards there appear to have been difficulties in securing payment of the rents dues to the chaplain of the altar. On 30 September 1521 the chaplain, Robert Lockhart, raised a first action for payment of rent.(87) The following year he was again pursuing unpaid rents, claiming that income from properties pertaining to his chaplainry had for some reason been paid to the chaplain of St Thomas’s altar.(88) In 1524 Lockhart’s successor, James Fresall, was back in court pursuing unpaid rents.(89) This appears to be the last surviving reference to the altar, there being no record of it in the Books of Assumption.
St Salvator’s altar is first mentioned in 1476 when sasine of a tenement belonging to the Abbot of Cambuskenneth in the burgh, yielding a rental income of 18s 8d, was given to the chaplain, Thomas Hill. The record of the transaction also noted that the provost and baillies of the burgh had been made patrons of the altar.(90) Only two years later in 1478, a new chaplain, Alexander Croup, resigned that same annual rent.(91) There is no further pre-Reformation direct reference to the altar and only one further surviving indirect reference. On 6 August 1496 a charter dealing with the altar of St Michael fixed its location as at the column to the north of the altar in the south of the church, meaning presumably that St Michael’s altar stood against the west side of the arcade pier while the altar of St Salvator stood against a screen in the aisle alley.(92) There is no post-Reformation reference to the altar or the value of its associated chaplainry.
Record of the altar of St Katherine commences in 1478 when reference to its chaplain, Robert Redehauch, first occurs. Redehauch remained as chaplain until 1482, when he resigned.(93)
The altar appears to have been founded and patronised by the family of Forester of Garten. On 6 October 1525, in advance of a meeting with Duncan Forester of Garten, patron, discussion was held on taking advice on the gift of the altar.(94). The nature of the discussion is not mentioned but it seems that Forester intended to gift his patronage of the altar to the burgh. Such an arrangement seems to have occurred as in 1537 the provost and community granted some wasteland in the burgh, described as lying on the north side of the choir, to the altar, which was described as ‘anciently founded’ and in their patronage.(95) Like several other chaplains, in October 1554 the then incumbent James Nicholson was forced to resort to the burgh court in pursuit of rents.(96) Nicholson resigned on 25 September 1556, returning the altar’s ‘buik’. One Andrew Hagy was presented in his place, but the patrons reserved to James the life rent of the house that he built himself in Stirling.(97)
Some altars have left practically no record of their existence. This situation may reflect the transitory existence of some foundations and their subsuming into more popular dedications just as much as it may be a result of the accident of documentary survival. The altar of St Stephen is a case in point. A single reference on 23 January 1482 reveals the altar as an already established entity with a chaplain, John Hog, who appeared on that date before the burgh court. No subsequent reference to Hog, successor chaplains or, indeed, the altar itself has been identified.(98)
Significantly more documentation survives in respect of the Holy Blood altar but, in view of the spread of that cult in the major trading burghs of Scotland in the fifteenth century it is surprising that the earliest record of it at Stirling dates only from 1502. The first record, an instrument of resignation and sasine in favour of the chaplain of the altar, dates from 30 August 1502. By this instrument sir John Clerk alias Ingissman, described as chaplain of the Altar of the Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, was infefted with an annual rent of 2s 4d paid out of a piece of land belonging to William Forsyth in the Mary Wynd on the west side of the high.(99) It would seem that the altar and its supporting institutions were highly developed by the 1520s. The existence of a confraternity that supported the provision of services at the Holy Blood altar is revealed in 1522 when the ‘fraternity of the Holy Blood’ and the altar, which was described as pertaining to the Skinners’ craft, received the gift of an annual rent of 9s from James Laing.(100) Laing added further gifts at this same time, on 14 February 1522 an instrument of resignation and sasine in favour of Duncan Patonsoun, burgess of Stirling, dean of guild, procurator and factor for the altar, conveying an annual rent of 18s from a tenement on the west side of the high street, on resignation by James and his grandson, Malise Laing.(101) The confraternity received an additional endowment in1530 of 4s annual rent from William Brown, his gift being made ‘for the weal of his soul and support of the faculty of the brethren of the altar of the Holy Blood’.(102) On 12 October 1556 the council ordered that the annuals of the Holy Blood altar should be gathered by the Dean of Guild and put in the common purse to be divided at the council’s discretion for the ornamentation of the church.(103) The same day Alexander Aikin, formerly chaplain of the altar of the Holy Rude, was given the chaplaincy of the Holy Blood altar and received a promise from the provost, baillies and councillors that they would secure the payment of the annuals due to his new altar.(104)
Clear association of particular altars at Stirling with particular craft and trade guilds in the burgh becomes more evident in surviving records as the sixteenth century progressed. The link between the Skinners’ craft and the Holy Blood altar has already been referred to. The next to emerge was the Smiths’ link with the altar of St Eloi, their guild being granted the privilege in the burgh of charging anyone selling metal goods 1d which would be put towards services at the altars of St Eloi and the Blessed Virgin Mary.(105) It was Ronald’s suggestion that the crafts only had images of their saints which they brought out on certain processional occasions and feast days rather than distinct altars, but this privilege appears to be categorical in its award of the money for the support of the St Eloi altar.(106) It is unfortunate that no further record of the altar or of the activities of the Smiths in its support appears to survive.
Two further altars with guild associations are first recorded in 1522. The first is the altar of St Matthew, where on 17 March 1522 John Henderson made a gift of 45s for requiems and obits to be performed at the altar, which was described as belonging to the Maltmen.(107) Luke, where on 17 June 1522 Alexander Bennie, deacon of the weavers guild, paid Robert Brown, chaplain, to say two masses a week at the altar in honour of St Severus their patron.(108) In this case it seems likely that the Weavers had an image of their patron on St Luke’s altar rather than an altar dedicated specifically to St Severus. The relatively late date at which these altars appear in the surviving records led Ronald to speculate that they were founded in the course of the erection of the new choir at the church.(109) There is no explicit evidence to support that view but it is certainly possible that the guilds were persuaded to invest in the building work through the offer of a ‘guild’ altar in the expanded building, the relative wealth or poverty of a particular guild perhaps being reflected in the division between those which possessed a distinct altar and those which seem only to have been able to afford the provision of services as a secondary activity at an altar dedicated to another saint.
A fifth and final guild endowment, indeed the final ‘new’ devotional focus recorded in Holy Rude, was that in favour of St Aubert, patron saint of the Bakers. On 19 November 1526 the council granted the Bakers craft the right to fine their members and non-members for various transgressions of the craft’s regulations. The funds so raised were to be applied to the purchase of wax for candles ‘to be burnt before St Howbart’.(110) No actual altar of St Aubert is mentioned in this grant and it is possible that, as with the Weavers at St Luke’s altar, the Bakers had an image of their patron at another altar. Unfortunately, if that is the case, the identity of the altar at which the image was located is not recorded.
From the above discussion it appears that in addition to the high altar a further nineteen altars can be identified with certainty, plus a twentieth (St Peter’s) being noted as a possibility. All of these altars were in existence before the erection of Holy Rude into a collegiate church in 1527, it being striking that no further altars were added to the complement after that date. It is striking, too, that no guild altars can be identified in the surviving documentation from before 1500, with four out of the five guild-endowed cults being first recorded in the 1520s. Whilst this skewing towards that period might be entirely a product of the pattern of record survival it is also possible that it reflects the mechanisms employed by the burgh council to assist in raising revenue for the rebuilding of the choir of their parish church. In addition to the craft and trade guilds, the records do show evidence for at least one confraternity – that of the Holy Blood – active within the parish church from soon after 1500 and presumably for some years before that date. It is likely that it was heavily involved in both charitable and devotional activities, as would the craft and trade guilds themselves, but sadly records of such work do not survive.
Amongst the dedications in the parish church there are none that can be classed in any way as ‘exotic’. Indeed, what is remarkable about the church of a burgh associated very closely with one of the major bases of the royal court and, as commented in the 1450s, frequented by members of that court, is the conservatism of the range of altar dedications which the building contained. Here there is no St Zita of Lucca, as was the case at Linlithgow and Perth, where the common denominator appears to have been the court and household of King James I and Queen Joan Beaufort, none of the cults which focussed on other dimensions of the Marian intercessional role, such as Mary of Consolation or Pity, nor is there a dedication to one of the ‘plague’ saints, such as Sebastian, who had an altar in most other large urban churches by the middle of the fifteenth century. There is also a marked absence of distinctly Scottish saints, with only Ninian (whose strong local representation at Kirkton presumably explains his presence) and Andrew known to be represented. In contrast to most of the other major urban churches within the diocese of St Andrews, there is no evidence for a Duthac dedication, no presence for any of the Menteith saints who are so well-represented in the burgh’s hinterland and, quite strikingly in view of Dunfermline’s possession of the church from the twelfth century, no evidence for a formal Margaret cult focus at Stirling.(111) Given the possible focus of the Aubert and Severus cults on images placed on altars with a primary dedication to another saint rather than them possessing an altar in their own names, it is possible that some of the other altars had secondary foci of this type that have simply not been recorded in the surviving documentation.
Notes
1. Registrum de Dunfermelyn (Bannatyne Club, 1842), no.2 [hereafter Dunfermline Registrum].
2. For attempts to resolve the relationship between St Ninians and the castle chapel, see Dunfermline Registrum, no.4.
3. Dunfermline Registrum, no.6.
4. Regesta Regum Scottorum, i, The Acts of Malcolm IV, ed G W S Barrow (Edinburgh, 1960), no.118; Dunfermline Registrum, nos 92, 237.
5. Dunfermline Registrum, nos 110, 264.
6. A I Dunlop (ed), ‘Bagimond’s Roll: Statement of the Tenths of the Kingdom of Scotland’, Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, vi (1939), 55.
7. The Correspondence, Inventories, Account Rolls and Law Proceedings of the Priory of Coldingham, ed J Raine (Surtees Society, 1841), cviii.
8. Coldingham Correspondence, cxi.
9. Walter Bower, Scotichronicon, eds D E R Watt and others, viii (Aberdeen, 1987), 65.
10. D McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling (Stirling, 1980), 66; The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, iv, 1406-1436, ed G Burnett (Edinburgh, 1880), 210.
11. Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, v, 1447-1471, eds J Kirk, R J Tanner and A I Dunlop (Glasgow, 1997), nos 404, 406 [hereafter CSSR, v].
12.CSSR, v, 1447-1471, no.426; Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Papal Letters, x, 1447-1455, ed J A Twemlow (London, 1915), 220 [hereafter CPL, x].
13. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/11.
14. See the ‘Auchinleck Chronicle’ in C A McGladdery, James II (Edinburgh, 1990), Appendix 2: The ‘Auchinleck Chronicle’, 160-173 at 165-6
15. Charters and Other Document Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, AD. 1124-1705, ed R Renwick (Scottish Burgh Record Society, 1884), 70-71.
16. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 27 Apr 1523; Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, ed R Renwick (Glasgow, 1889), 18.
17. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 22 Aug 1529; Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 35-37. Sale of burial lairs within the church was probably one of the devices used by the burgh to raise the revenues for the rebuilding costs. As in other burgh churches, there was a trade in unused lairs, for example in 1546 when Adam Anderson sold a lair in the kirk of Stirling, located in front of the pulpit, to John Nelson and his heirs: SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1544-1550, B66/15/2, 28 May 1546; Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 42.
18. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 21 Oct 1529. Coutts was dead by 23 November 1555 when his death was noted in the council records: SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 23 Nov 1555.
19. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 56.
20. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 18 Dec 1555.
21. I B Cowan and D E Easson, Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland, 2nd edition (London, 1976), 227; St Andrews Formulare 1514-46, eds G Donaldson and C Macrae, ii (Stair Society, 1944), 172.
22. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 18 Jan 1555; Protocol Book of Dominus Thomas Johnsoun, 1528-1578, eds J Beveridge and J Russell (Scottish Record Society, 1920), no.375.
23. J Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices (Oxford, 1995), 26, 38, 39, 48, 550.
24. J Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, (Stirling, 1899), 36-39.
25. Abstract of the Protocol Book of the Burgh of Stirling, 1469-84 (Edinburgh, 1896), 7, 8, 9, 31.
26. SCA Stirling, Protocol Book of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 174.
27. Kirk (ed), Books of Assumption, 556.
28. Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, i, 1306-1424, ed J M Thomson (Edinburgh, 1882), no.755 [hereafter RMS, i]; NRS B66/25/8.
30. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 64-66; Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, ii, 1424-1513, ed J B Paul (Edinburgh, 1882), no.2627 [hereafter RMS, ii].
31. Rae’s gift is referred to in a charter of 1570: SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/133.
32. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/133.
33. Kirk (ed), Books of Assumption, 545.
34. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, 35-36.
36. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 7 May 1524; Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 19.
37. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 70.
38. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 12 Oct 1556; Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 70.
39. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1560-1566, B66/15/4, 31 Sept 1560.
40. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, 37. No trace of this reference was found during the research for this project.
41. NRS Sir William Fraser Charters, GD86/20.
42. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 3.
43. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fols 82-3; Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, 37.
44.. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 60.
45. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, 37.
46. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 22 Oct 1554.
47. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/34.
48. Dunfermline Registrum, no.451.
49. Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown, 1214-1681, ed F J Grant (Scottish Record Society, 1910), no.419
50. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B6625/35; RMS, ii, no.1072.
51. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, App I, 184.
52. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 3 March 1525 and 11 May 1525; Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 21, 23.
53. NRS Sir William Fraser Charters, GD86/22.
54. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/13.
55. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/45.
56. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/255.
57. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 46-48.
58. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 13 Oct 1521.
59. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 1 Dec 1554.
61. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 69; RMS, ii, no. 2916.
62. Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices, 554.
63. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/13.
65. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 41.
66. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 46-48.
67. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 3 May 1522.
68. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1560-1566, B66/15/4, 9 June 1563.
69. Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices, 550.
70. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 9
71. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, 66.
72. Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices, 551.
73. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 7 & 23; Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, App II, 208.
74. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 174.
75. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 16 Jan 1525 and B66/15/1, 7 Oct 1525.
76. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 10, 25.
77. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, 37.
78. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 49-50.
79. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, App I, 194.
80. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1560-1566, B66/15/4, 10 Apr 1561, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 78.
81. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 11.
82. Kirk (ed), The Books of Assumption of the Thirds of Benefices, 555.
83. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 121; Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 23.
84. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 145.
85. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 323; B66/1/1/1, fol. 350.
87. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 30 Sep 1521.
88. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 3 May 1522.
89. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 7 Oct 1525.
90. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 30.
91. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 41; Extracts from the Records of Stirling, App I, 258.
93. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 43, SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 312.
94. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 16 Oct 1525; Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 23.
95. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 76-80.
96. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 10 Oct 1554.
97. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 69; SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 12 Sept 1556.
98. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 51.
99. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, App I, 188; SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/53.
100. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 13; SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 13 Feb 1522.
101. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/75.
102. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, App.1, 266.
103. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 12 Oct 1556.
104. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 12 Oct 1556; Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 70.
105. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 3.
106. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, 38-39.
107. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 15; SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 17 Mar 1522.
108. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 7 May 1522.
109. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, 38.
110. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 19 Nov 1526; Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, 39.
111. There is reference to the outer chapel at the north-west angle of the nave as ‘Queen Margaret’s chapel’ or Duncan Paterson aisle, but the former does not appear to have a definite cult association. There is no evidence surviving for the identity of its builder or the precise date of its construction. It was probably acquired by Duncan Paterson, who was provost in 1613, and used by his family as a burial aisle; it was known as Paterson’s aisle by seventeenth century century (see reference in 1606 to Paterson’s aisle, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 114).
Summary of relevant documentation
Medieval
Synopsis of Cowan’s Parishes: The church was confirmed to Dunfermline by David I c.1150. The cure appears as a vicarage in 1275, with a vicar perpetual, the parsonage revenues remaining with the abbey.(1)
1359 Nicholas de Torbolton described as vicar, succeeded by 1381 by Thomas de Cornethen (chaplain of Robert II) who is described as perpetual vicar.(2)
1407 (5 March) Extensive damage to the church caused by a fire which damaged much of the town. Bower refers to the ‘burgh of Stirling being accidently burnt’.(3) Repairs required to roof, stonework, windows and the capitals of the pillars (repairs completed by 1414).(4)
1414 Reference in the exchequer roll to money given to the work on the burnt parish church of Stirling.(5)
1411-1414 John Busby holds a perpetual chaplaincy in Stirling (no altar mentioned).(6)
1420 John de Cornethen is dead; supplications by John de Feldew and Michael Ochiltree. Michael wins and immediately exchanges with Patrick Scot.(7)
1451 ‘Since the parish church was consumed by fire and totally laid low, including roofs, walls and buildings, William Scott, parson of the church supplicates for an indulgence for all those visiting on feasts of exaltation, and invention of the cross and contribute to up keep’.(8)
1451 William Scot, vicar, gets confirmation of a tithe of salmon from the Forth (value £7 pa), which has been in possession of the vicars for 50 years. 1455 exchanges church for deanery of Dunblane with Henry Murray.(9)
1456 (24 June) Grant by James II to the burgh of patronage of the hospital of St James toward building/rebuilding of the church.(10) Charter specifies the fire raisings, robberies and depredations carried out by the ‘rebels and traitors’, James of Douglas and his accomplices. [possibly damaged by Douglas in 1452?]
[First stage of the construction of a new parish church on old site? 1456-70]
#1456-1470 The present nave or west end of the church was constructed, with a fine processional entrance doorway facing onto what is now the graveyard - this is now blocked up.(11)
1468 (18 Oct) James III confirms a deed of mortification by Thomas Bully, canon of Glasgow, who for his soul and those of his ancestors makes various grants of annual rents to sustain two chaplains at the altars of the Holy Trinity and St Thomas [not specified] in the parish church of Stirling (amounting to 6 marks each). [Bully founded both sometime before, not specified when.](12)
1470 Thomas Carmichael (formerly rector of Melville) is perpetual vicar; in 1471 Duncan Bully (MA, son of a priest) holds perpetual chaplaincy at the altar of the Holy Rude.(13)
#c.1471 The lower part of the present tower was completed.(14)
1482 Adam Gordon is collated to the vicarage, shortly followed in 1484 by John Brady. By 1495 a John Gordon, MA and son of a priest, [possibly same as above?] is perpetual vicar on resignation of a certain Alexander Gordon who had been rector.(15)
[Major work and building of a new choir from 1507-1555]
1507 Indenture between abbot and convent of Dunfermline and provost etc of Stirling, as to building a choir in the parish kirk. Stirling take upon themselves to build and edify a new choir which conforms to the body of the church. Dunfermline agree to pay 200 marks for the reparation of the choir and an extra 40s to the high altar, to provide all ornaments necessary for holy days and work days.(16)
1523 (27 April) David Crag, treasurer, and Robert Arnot, master of the Kirk, ordered to deliver to Marthing, servant of Euan Allinson, £40 in part payment of ane mair sum for timber for the choir of the kirk of the said burgh (of Stirling).(17)
1529 (22 Aug) Agreement/indenture between provost etc of Stirling and John Kowth [Coutts], mason, to work and labour his craft of masonry and geometry on all matters pertaining to the common work. John to be at the command of the master of works for his lifetime. Payment is 50 marks a year and includes a monopoly over the ‘intromett rays and lay, and layeris and thruchis within the parish church’. John agrees and signs the document ‘John Couttis’, in his own hand.(18) [Aside from burials the contract does not refer specifically to work on the church. See below for direct reference.]
1529 (21 Oct) John Couttis, master mason, becomes a freeman of the burgh; usual payment waived due to his service to the kirk work.(19)
1546 Adam Anderson, disponit and sold one lair in the kirk of Stirling to John Nelson and his heirs, specified as lying before the pulpit.(20)
1549 (14 May) James Ros engaged for one year to uphold the glass windows of the church and to reform all the faults of the said windows, glass and materials provided by the provost.(21)
1549 (23 Aug) Reference to James Crag as parson of Stirling.(22)
#c.1550 When the existing portion of the nave became too small….it was the town which undertook the building of an extensive choir just before the Reformation.(23)
1555 (18 Jan) First reference to John Crage as vicar pensioner of Stirling.(24)
1555 (23 Nov) Reference to death of John Coutts, master mason.(25)
1555 (16 Dec) Following (presumably) the death of Coutts, William Makke employed to upturn and lay the lairs in the parish church.(26)
1555 (18 Dec) Commission including Alexander Baton, treasure, and James Robertson, baillie, sent to Linlithgow to meet John Hamilton, archbishop of St Andrews to intimate the erection and completion of the church, and to obtain letters to the affect that their contract with Dunfermline Abbey [see 1507] was completed.(27)
Aisles/Altars/Chaplainries within the church of the Holy Rood
James Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, lists 19 dedications in the church (McNaughton notes that these were not all necessarily distinct altars).(28)
Earl of Stirling’s aisle, on the south side of the church, anciently known as ‘Bowye’s aisle’.(29) Acquired at the Reformation by John Craigangelt of that ilk (provost in 1564). Known as Craiganelt aisle for 50 years; later given to the almshouse and known as the ‘puir’s aisle’. Sold to Earl of Stirling in 1632. The earl died in 1640 and he was interred in the chapel in 10 April of that year.(30)
Queen Margaret’s chapel or Duncan Paterson aisle. North west corner of the ancient church popularly known as Queen Margaret’s chapel. [Ronald suggests no evidence of when or by whom it was built]. Probably acquired by Duncan Paterson (provost in 1613) and became known as Paterson’s aisle by 17th century.(31) 1614 (3 March) the kirk session ordered the windows of the west kirk to be glassed.(32)
The Laird of Garden’s Aisle. The other chapel on the north side of the church, long known as the ‘Garden aisle’, probably previously ‘St Andrews’ aisle’. Connected to the Garden family and probably dating from the 1456 renovation of the church, although Thomas Scott strongly disputes the latter point. Scott suggests a later date.(33)
Trinity aisle? 1521 (12 Dec) Reference to payment made in the ‘Trinity aisle’ of the parish church of Stirling.(34)
Blessed Virgin Mary/Lady aisle? Adam Cosour? 1474 (4 Oct) Alexander Cunninghame of Auchinbowie, patron of the altar of SS Peter and Paul situated in the north aisle of St Mary in the church of the Holy Rood, Stirling.(35) [maybe St Margaret aisle?]
Holy Cross (1) (High altar) (patronage with the burgh)
Chaplains - 1471 William Bully; 1472-76 Richard Brady.(36)
1472 (31 Aug) James III confirms charter of William Bully, perpetual chaplain of altar of Holy Cross in Stirling, selling and alienating a tenement in Stirling to a Malcolm Fleming and his heirs (with the continuing payment due from the lands of 6s 8d to the altar of St Ninian and 26s 8d to the altar of St Thomas the Apostle).(37)
1477 (3 Mar) Richard Brady resgins the chaplaincy of the Holy Cross into the hands of the provost etc; Andrew Craggorth instituted.(38)
1477-78 Andrew Craggorth succeeded on his death by James Daraw [see Protocol Book of](1478-1483-.(39)
1523 (19 Jan) John Paterson, chaplain of the Rude altar pursues rents owing to him.(40)
1567 Altarage of the Holy Rood, value £12 6s, held by John Ardhill.(41)
Holy Cross (2) (in Rude loft, patronage with the burgh)
#1371-90 Said to be founded by Robert II and situated in the Rood loft.(42)
#1372/3 Grant by Anna de Keloche to the Rood altar in Stirling.(43)
1524 (7 May) John Spottiswoode made chaplain of the Rude altar in the rude loft with all the annual rents etc pertaining to it. Also receives a yearly pension of 6 marks pa by the provost and community etc to do daily dying services at the altar, pension to be renewed on proof that he has provided good service.(44)
1556 (12 Oct) John Stoddart instituted as the chaplain of the Rude altar on the demission of Alexander Aikin (who becomes chaplain of Holy Blood altar). John ordered to study continually until he is knowledgeable of the prikat song.(45) The provost, balilies etc promise to help the chaplains (Holy Rude and Holy Blood) with the ingetting of their annuals.(46) [Has this become a problem? Council book does contain regular appearances by chaplains pursuing rents from 1520s onwards.]
1560 (31 Sept) Reference to James Paterson, chaplain of the Rude Loft, in an unrelated charter.(47)
Blessed Virgin Mary (1) (patronage with the burgh)
#1409 First record according to Ronald and situated in the south side of the church.(48)
1457 (20 Aug) Charter of Sale by Henry de Levyngstone, burgess of Linlithgow, granting to James de Levingstone of Callendar, Great Chamberlain of Scotland, his tenement with pertinents, in front and tail, length and breadth, lying in the Bakraw of the burgh of Stirling on the south side of the King's Street thereof, between the land of Thomas Ayre on the west and the land of Duncan Gildow on the east: To be held de supremo domino nostro rege for burgh service used and wont and rendering 6s.8d. Scots annually to the perpetual chaplain serving the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary founded in the parish church of Stirling.(49)
1470-1474 Chaplains - Robert Mure; 1474-78 John Bully; 1478- Robert Smythson.(50)
1520 Smiths guild granted privilege to charge anyone selling metal goods 1 penny toward services at the altars of Eloi and Blessed Virgin Mary.(51)
1521 (30 Sep) Robert Brown, perpetual chaplain, pursues rents owed to him.(52)
Blessed Virgin Mary (2) (patronage with the burgh)
#1473 Second altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary according to Ronald, situated in the north aisle.(53)
1554 (22 Oct) James Hamilton, chaplain of Our Lady altar situated behind the kirk door paid 24s pa by the council for services in the church.(54) [Not clear which Lady altar, probably this one as patronage with the burgh.]
Blessed Virgin Mary (3) (patron Adam Cosour)
1473 (3 Aug) Adam Cosour resigns certain annuals from tenements in the burgh and sasine is given up of the same to the Virgin’s altar in the south aisle of the parish church and to Andrew Bully, chaplain thereof.(55)
1483 Duncan Forester, provost, binds himself to Adam Coustour, to repair his aisle of St Mary.(56)
Holy Blood (patronage with the burgh)
Guild altar
1502 (30 Aug) Instrument of resignation and sasine in favour of sir John Clerk alias Ingissman, chaplain of the Altar of the Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the parish church of Holy Cross of the burgh of Stirling, in name thereof, of an annual rent of 2s. 4d. furth of a piece of land belonging to William Forsytht, burgess, lying in said burgh in the Mary Wynd on the west side of the high street between waste land, on the north, and land of James Scot, on the south, on resignation by Andrew Nortoun, burgess.(57)
1522 9s Annual rent given to the altar and the fraternity of the Holy Blood by James Laing. Altar pertains to the Skinners craft.(58)
1522 (14 Feb) Instrument of resignation and sasine in favour of Duncan Patonsoun, burgess of Stirling, dean of guild, procurator and factor for the Altar of the Holy Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the parish church of said burgh, of an annual rent of 18s, furth of tenement in said burgh on west side of the high street between land of John [Donolten], on the north, and land formerly of William Mowre, on the south, on resignation by James Layng, burgess, and Malise Laing, his grandson.(59)
1524 Chaplain John Lambert paid 25m for his good and useful service at the altar, contracted to do lady mass, high mass, evensong and matins.(60)
1530 William Brown, for the weal of his soul and support of the faculty of the brethren of the altar of the Holy Blood, gives 4s annual rents in perpetual alms to the chaplain John Aitkin.(61)
1556 (12 Oct) Council orders that the annuals of the Holy Blood altar gathered by the Dean of Guild and put in the common purse to be divided at the discretion of the council for ornamentation of the church [council takes control of Holy Blood income].(62) Same day; Alexander Aikin (formerly chaplain of Holy Rude) is given the chaplaincy on the death of John Aitkin. The provost baillies etc promise to help the chaplains (Holy Rude and Holy Blood) with the ingetting of their annuals.(63) [Has this become a problem? Council book does contain regular appearances by chaplains pursuing rents from 1520s onwards.]
Holy Trinity (patronage with the burgh)
1460 (29 Sep) Letters of Presentation by Sir Thomas Buttir [probably Bully, see 1468 charter], canon of the Cathedral Church of Glasgow, presenting Sir Robert Symsoun, chaplain, to the chaplainry of the altar of the Holy and Undivided Trinity recently founded by him for the salvation of his soul within the parish church of the Holy Rood of the burgh of Stirling, with all the fruits, lands, tenements, annual rents, etc. pertaining thereto: Rendering at the said altar either by himself or by a suitable chaplain to be hired by him the divine service of masses and suffrage of prayer used and wont.(64)
1468 (18 Oct) James III confirms a deed of mortification by Thomas Bully, canon of Glasgow, who for his soul and those of his ancestors makes various grants of annual rents to sustain two chaplains at the altars of the Holy Trinity and St Thomas [not specified] in the parish church of Stirling (amounting to 6 marks each). [Bully founded both sometime before, not specified when].(65)
1470-80- Robert Symson chaplain at the altar.(66)
1476 (22 April) Letters by the provost, bailies, councillors and community of the burgh of Stirling attesting adjudication of tenement in the Castle Vennel on the west side of the high street of said burgh, which belonged to late John Worthy, lying between land of Robert Joffray, on the south, and land of John Paterson, on the north, to sir Robert Simson, perpetual chaplain of the Altar of Holy Trinity in the parish church there, in default of payment for several years to him of an annual rent of 15s.(67)
1490 Union of altars of SS Thomas and Holy Trinity, because the annual rents the same were destroyed by the burning of the town so that they were unable to sustain two chaplains; Duncan Bully, archdeacon of Dunblane, patron of both altars.(68)
1521 (12 Dec) Reference to payment made in the ‘Trinity aisle’ of the parish church of Stirling.(69)
1530 (4 April) Alexander Kid made chaplain of the altarage of the Trinity, under patronage of the Provost etc of Stirling [no reference to St Thomas].(70)
1554 (1 Dec) Alexander Casper chaplain of the Trinity altar receives payment of annuals from James Thomson.(71)
St Salvator (patronage with the burgh)
1476 Sasine of a tenement belonging to the Abbot of Cambuskenneth in the burgh of Stirling (worth 18s 8d) given to the chaplain Thomas Hill, notes that the provost and baillies etc made patrons of the altar.(72)
1478 Alexander Croup, new chaplain, resigns the annual rent of 18s 8d mentioned above in 1476.(73)
1496 (6 Aug) Charter regarding altar of St Michael describes its location as at the column to the north of the altar of St Salvator in the south of the church.(74)
St Andrew (patronage with the burgh)
1471 Richard Simpson chaplain of altar, 25s bequest by Marion Daroch.(75)
#c.1455-71 Chapel may have been built. Situated in the north aisle and also known as the Forrester (after the patrons) or Garden Aisle.(76) (see above for aisles)
1567 Chaplainry at the altar of St Andrew, £8 4s.(77)
St Anne (patron Adam Cosour)
1471-74 Adam Cosour patron of altar, presents John Railston, followed in 1474 by William Crage.(78) According to Ronald, situated in the south aisle.(79)
1477 (18 Feb) Adam Cosour (patron) and William Crag (chaplain) appointed procurators for St Anne’s altar.(80)
1525 (16 Jan) James Wilson is the chaplain; pursues rents owing to the altar.(81) 1525 (7 Oct) James in court again; reference to the altar being located in the aisle of Adam Cosour.(82)
St Aubert/Howbert (Bakers)
1526 (19 Nov) Council grants the craft of bakers the right to fine their members and non-members for various transgressions with the funds to pay for wax to be burnt before St Howbart in honour of God and Holy Kirk [presumably the altar of St Howbert but not specified].(83) [Ronald suggests that crafts had images of their saints which they brought out on certain occasions rather than distinct altars. No evidence for this.(84)]
St Eloi (Smiths)
1520 Smiths guild granted privilege to charge anyone selling metal goods 1 penny toward services at the altars of Eloi and Blessed Virgin Mary.(85) [Ronald suggests that crafts had images of their saints which they brought out on certain occasions rather than distinct altars. No evidence for this.(86)]
St James (patronage with the burgh)
1472 Richard Cristin perpetual chaplain at altar.(87) According to Ronald it was situated in the Nave.(88)
#1492 Gift to altar by Richard Crystane, canon of Abernethy.(89)
1525 (7 Oct) James Crag, chaplain of the altar in court pursing rents owing to him.(90)
1526 Archibald Redhauch pays for services for the dead at the altar for his family.(91)
1561 (10 April) Council order the chalices of St Michael[struck out in entry] James and St Peter’s altars to be sold, 20s an ounce for the silver. The money to be applied to the mending of the causeway.(92)
John the Baptist
1472 Land deal made at the altar of John the Baptist in Stirling.(93)
St Katherine (Donald Forester, then patronage with the burgh)
1478 Robert Redehauch chaplain at altar until 1482 when he resigns.(94)
1525 (6 Oct) Altar foundation by Duncan Forester of Garten, patron. Council to meet the following Monday to advise on the gift of the altar [not specified but presumably Duncan intends to give patronage to the burgh].(95)
1537 Grant to the altar of some waste land by the provost and community; altar mentioned as anciently founded and under their patronage.(96)
1554 (10 Oct) James Nicholson, chaplain of St Katherine’s altar, in court pursuing rents.(97)
1556 (25 Sept) James Nicholson resigns chaplaincy, returns the ‘buik’, Andrew Hagy takes over, reserving James the life rent of the house that he built himself in Stirling.(98)
St Lawrence (patronage with the burgh)
1389 Confirmation by Robert II of the gifts made to the altar by David II and others.(99)
1447 John de Alchecay has a perpetual chaplaincy at the altar of St Lawrence.(100)
1502 (7 Mar) Charter by James IV, for his special favour and their good service, granting the patronage and presentation rights of the altar to the Provost etc of Stirling.(101)
1521 William Thompson is the perpetual chaplain.(102)
1532 Grant of a tenement to the altar(103) for a daily mass by Christine Rae (see below).
1550 (confirmed 1570) Grant by the provost, bailies, council and community of Stirling, patrons of a tenement in the Castell Wynd, founded by late Christine Rae for a daily mass in the parish church, in favour of Mr William Gulen, master of the grammar school, for his lifetime of the feu duty of £3 15s 8d pa payable by him for his front land of said tenement in return for said William's demission of his office as master, the granters, as patrons of the chaplainry of St Laurence's Altar situated in the parish church, confirming the gift of the said chaplainry made by their predecessors, 18 June 1550, to said William for his lifetime.(104)
1564 (13 Jan) Letters of horning at the instance of Mr William Gulane, chaplain of St Ninian's chaplainry beside the burgh of Stirling and of St Laurence altar within the parish kirk thereof, for payment by the feuars, tenants, etc., of sums due by them to said chaplainries for the years 1561, 1562 and 1563.(105)
1567 Chaplaincy of St Laurence’s altar held by William Gulen, £13 9d.(106)
St Luke (St Severus) Weavers’ altar
1522 (17 June) Alexander Bennie, deacon of the weavers, pays Robert Brown, chaplain of the altar to say two masses a week at the altar of St Luke in honour of St Severus their patron.(107) [Ronald suggests that crafts had images of their saints which they brought out on certain occasions rather than distinct altars. No evidence for this.(108)]
St Matthew (Maltmen altar)
1522 (17 Mar) John Henderson gifts 45s for dying service at the altar which belongs to the Maltmen craft guild.(109) Founded according to Ronald after the erection of the new choir.(110)
St Michael (Thomas Carmichael and later patronage with the burgh)
#1450 Founded by Thomas Carmichael, vicar of Stirling, first record according to Ronald. Situated in the north aisle.(111) (Endowed by James IV and by James V after Flodden)
Chaplains - 1472-80 John Yare; 1480-1481 Alexander Eresur; 1481- John Hogg.(112)
1496 (1 Aug) James IV confirms a mortmain charter by Thomas Carmichael, vicar of Stirling, by which he conceded to Nicholas Franche and his successor chaplains annual rent of 10 marks. Altar located at the column to the north of the altar of St Salvator in the south of the church.(113)
1506 (28 Jan) For his singular favour and James IV granting the patronage and presentation rights of the altar to the Provost etc of Stirling alongside other gifts, the altar having been founded by Thomas Carmichael.(114)
1526 (27 August) Chaplaincy at altar of St Michael granted and given to Sir Archibald Watson, son of Alexander Watson. Still chaplain in 1530 when pursues rents in burgh court.(115)
1540 (17 Feb) Letters by the provost, bailies, councillors and community of the burgh of Stirling granting to sir William Robesoun the chaplainry of the Altar of St Michael in the parish church with the lands and others belonging thereto.(116)
1554 (Oct) William Stirling presented to the chaplainry; pursues rents owing.(117)
1567 Altarage of St Michael, held by Alexander Fergus, 24 marks 10s.(118)
St Ninian (possibly Bully family)
1432 Letters by the alderman, bailies and community of the burgh of Stirling granting to the Altar of St. Ninian the Confessor in the parish church to Sir Thomas of Sumirhope, chaplain thereof, their lands in the burgh roods.(119)
Chaplain - 1474-75 Archibald Clerkson; 1475-82 Thomas Aysoun; 1482-John Aysoun.(120)
1472 (31 Aug) James III confirms charter of William Bully, perpetual chaplain of altar of Holy Cross in Stirling, selling and alienating a tenement in Stirling to a Malcolm Fleming and his heirs (with the continuing payment due from the lands of 6s 8d to the altar of St Ninian and 26s 8d to the altar of St Thomas the Apostle).(121)
1473 Endowment of the altar by Malcolm Fleming, son of Robert Lord Fleming, 6s 8d (presumably that due from the newly purchased lands from 1472).(122)
1482 (13 Nov) Thomas Aysone resigns his chaplaincy of St Ninian; given to John Aysone.(123)
1483 Sasine of St Ninian’s altar given to Sir Thomas Mane.(124)
1525 Provost etc present Thomas Jarva as chaplain on 3 March and then Thomas Duncanson on 11 May of the same year.(125)
SS Peter and Paul (patron Cunningham of Auchinbowie)
1474 (4 Oct) Alexander Cunninghame of Auchinbowie, patron of the altar, situated in the north aisle of St Mary in the church of the Holy Rood, Stirling.(126)
1475 (4 Oct) Sasine of a tenement given to Patrick Murray, chaplain of St Peter’s altar [no mention of Paul, separate altar?]. Murray still chaplain in 1484 when he is in court resigning his claim to a tenement.(127)
1482 (17 Nov) Thomas Thulay receives sasine of a tenement, described as chaplain of the altar of the apostles, Peter and Paul.(128)
1512 James IV confirms to James Cunningham, son and heir of Robert Cunningham of Polmais, various lands and rights including the right of patronage over the church of Slamannan and over the chaplainry at the altar of SS Peter and Paul as held by Robert founded and situated in the parish church of Stirling.(129)
1521 (30 Sep) Robert Lockart, perpetual chaplain, pursues rents owing to him.(130) 1522 (3 Mar) Robert Lockart pursues lands in burgh that he claims pertain to the chaplainry of SS Peter and Paul but have been paying rents chaplain of St Thomas (unnamed).(131)
1524 (7 Oct) James Fresall is the chaplain, in court pursuing rents.(132)
St Peter
1475 (4 Oct) Sasine of a tenement given to Patrick Murray, chaplain of St Peter’s altar [no mention of Paul, separate altar?].(133)
1484 (26 Mar) Murray still perpetual chaplain of altar of St Peter in parish church of Stirling in 1484 when he is resigning his claim to a tenement.(134)
St Stephen (patronage with the burgh)
1482 (23 Jan) Altar served by John Hog who appears in burgh court.(135)
St Thomas the Apostle (patrons probably Bully family, then later with the burgh)
1468 (18 Oct) James III confirms a deed of mortification by Thomas Bully, canon of Glasgow, who for his soul and those of his ancestors makes various grants of annual rents to sustain two chaplains at the altars of the Holy Trinity and St Thomas [not specified] in the parish church of Stirling (amounting to 6 marks each). [Bully founded both sometime before; not specified when].(136)
1472 (31 Aug) James III confirms charter of William Bully, perpetual chaplain of altar of Holy Cross in Stirling, selling and alienating a tenement in Stirling to a Malcolm Fleming and his heirs (with the continuing payment due from the lands of 6s 8d to the altar of St Ninian and 26s 8d to the altar of St Thomas the Apostle).(137)
1473 Altar of St Thomas endowed by Malcolm Fleming, 26s 8d annual rents, [presumably that due from the land purchased in 1472].(138)
1490 Union of altars of SS Thomas and Holy Trinity, because the annual rents of the same were destroyed by the burning of the town so that they were unable to sustain two chaplains; Duncan Bully, archdeacon of Dunblane patron of both altars.(139)
1522 (3 Mar) Robert Lockart pursues lands in burgh that he claims pertain to the chaplainry of SS Peter and Paul but have been paying rents to chaplain of St Thomas (unnamed).(140)
1530 (4 April) Alexander Kid made chaplain of the altarage of the Trinity, under patronage of the Provost etc of Stirling [no reference to St Thomas].(141)
1563 (9 June) Reference to lands of St Thomas which pertain to the town [suggesting altar was in town patronage].(142)
1567 Chaplainry at the altar of St Thomas, held by Alexander Chalmers, £12.(143)
Post-medieval
Books of assumption of thirds of benefices and Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices: The Parish church parsonage with Dunfermline, set for £80.(144)
Altars and Chaplainries
Chaplaincy of St Laurence’s altar held by William Gulen, £13 9d
Chaplainry at the altar of St Thomas, held by Alexander Chalmers, £12
Chaplainry at the altar of St Andrew, £8 4s
Altarage of St Michael, held by Alexander Fergus, 24 marks 10s
Altarage of John the Baptist within the church
Altarage of the Holy Rood, value £12 6s, held by John Ardhill.(145)
Account of Collectors of Thirds of Benefices (G. Donaldson): Third of vicarage £12.(146)
Post Reformation changes; the East and West kirks
#1559 c.June Buchanan noted that ‘the Earl of Argyll and Lord James Stewart set out from Perth and having obtained possession of Stirling, immediately destroyed the monastery of the friars and cleansed the other churches of the city of the detestable worship of idols’.
[Gap in the Stirling Council Records from 1566-97]
1581 (8 Aug) On the erection of the presbytery of Stirling, Robert Montgomery was minister of the church.(147)
1581 (25 Nov) Earliest suggestions of disquiet with the minister Montgomery; the moderator presents a letter with accusations to be put to him touching his life, conversation and residence at Stirling. Montgomery warned that he should not fill any other office or function and should not aspire to the bishopric of Glasgow. 9 Dec Montgomery brought before presbytery and accused of neglecting his position by non-residence in Stirling [suggestion is he is in Edinburgh on ‘business’] and that he still wants to be bishop.(148)
1582 (10 July and 7 Aug) References to fines for individuals caught with the ‘excommunicated’ Robert Montgomery.(149)
1604 (12 Mar) Council orders a new loft to be constructed in the church in between those of the Lord of Garden and Lord Cambuskenneth.(150)
1605 (27May) The provost council etc approve the act anent the breaking of the floor in the east end of the kirk for burial of any corpses thairintill, whereby it is provided that if anyone disobeys the act a fine of £14 is to be levied.(151)
1606 (4 Aug) James Short and 5 others ordered to visit the aisle called Patersones aisle and to report their advice how the kirk fore anent the said aisle shall be theikik [covered].(152)
1608 (5 Dec) Understanding the great decay of the present estate of the church and imminent danger thereof, for eschewing of the same and that remedied may be quickly provided, it is thought that there should be an honest man to stand at the kirk door every Sunday and to seek, for upholding and repair of the church, of the charity of the parishioners.(153)
1610 (30 July) Man sent to Glasgow to procure a slater for covering of the roof of the church and the almshouse.(154)
#1623 Town Council and Kirk Session restrict burials in the church to the north aisle and under the tower of the east church at a cost of £40, and to the east end of the east church.(155)
1625 (7 Mar) Masters of the almshouse ordered to put a roof over the aisle called Bowyes Aisle of the church on the expense of the poor folks silver, in respect that the commodity of tall burials within the said aisle are designated to the town for the use of the poor.(156)
1631 (11 July) Andrew Young, produces in front of the council and act of the Stirling Kirk Session see 7 June 1631), whereby they approved and allowed the said baillie (Young) to buy a bell for the kirk, from my Lord Madertie, which was hung up in the kirk steeple. Andrew Young’s work approved and expenses paid by the council who consider it ‘to great credit and decoration of the town and kirk’.(157)
1631 (7 Nov) Council ordains that for the better repair and upholding of their kirk in time to come, and for the help and supply of the poor, that all the commodities that shall happen to be got in for the funeral and burial places within the said kirk and passages to the aisles therein, and for private marriages, together with the collections for the poor, penalties and other accidents pertaining to the kirk and session shall be collected and put up to the masters and collectors…. what is necessary for the reparation of the kirk to be taken first, the rest to be distributed to the poor [the charity based method, see 1608, appears to have been insufficient for the repair of the church].(158)
1633 (11 Feb) Meeting between the baillies and the council held especially for reparation of the kirk which was greatly harmed and skathit through the great tempest of winds on the 6 and 7 days of February. Council concludes and ordains for the better help and reparation of the said for the present, that the masters of the nether hospital and alms-house of this burgh advance to the master of the work of the said kirk the sum of £1000 marks Scots; and that the masters of the kirk box advance from their poor box for the reparation the whole amount therein.(159)
1633 (8 April) Anent the reparation of the church following great tempest of 6 and 7 February. Since there is not much ready money for the present in the said kirk poor box as will help and repair the said church by the tenth part, thereof the provost etc being most willing that the poor of the said hospital and their masters be not frustrated - bind themselves to repay the £1000 out of the readiest money to be collected for the repair of the church [council had promised to match the £1000 from the almshouse, see above, but having trouble getting the money together].(160)
(Ronald suggests that it was at this point that the roof of the nave and choir of the ancient church was lowered to where it is now, the parapets lowered and rebuilt at the same time. This conclusion strongly disputed by Thomas Scott.(161))
The building of the mid-wall
1656 (1 Sept) The provost, baillies and council having heard that Matthew Symson has been refused permission to preach in the church by the minster James Guthrie, have resolved to build up a partition wall in the church, to avoid further controversies, and in the meantime until it please God to grant the town the liberty which we are confident is due to them…to cause and make up the division [no reference to where exactly the wall will be].(162)
[Similar conflict between the Resolutioners and the Protestors, with two ministers at Linlithgow, where there was also a midwall. Partition wall lasted until restoration in the 1930s.(163) Thereafter east and west churches.]
Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev James Sommerville 1791): ‘The east church, the present place of worship, was erected by Cardinal Beaton and is a more splendid and magnificent fabric [than the west church], but is very little accommodated to the Presbyterian worship’.(164) (West church little used since the Reformation).
New Statistical Account of Scotland (Rev George Cupple 1841): [Contains a longer section on the creation of an east and west church, and in 1817 the division into two parishes.](165)
#1816 Massive repair and restoration to the West kirk by Gillespie Graham. ‘Improvement’ included the levelling of St Mary and Earl of Stirling aisles and insertion of an imitation gothic ceiling.(166)
#1869 Restoration of East church by James Collie who removed what remained of the medieval interior… and further changed the appearance of the church by erecting a lofty arch at the west end.(167)
Notes
1. Cowan, The parishes of medieval Scotland, 187-88.
4. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, p.66.
10. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/11, McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, p.66.
11. Mair, Stirling. The Royal Burgh, p.64.
12. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/13.
14. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, p.66.
15. CPL, xiii, 833-34 & 844, CPL, xvi, no. 367.
16. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, p 71-71.
17. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 27 Apr 1523, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 18.
18. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 22 Aug 1529, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 35-37.
19. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 21 Oct 1529, Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p.26.
20. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1544-1550, B66/15/2, 28 May 1546, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 42.
21. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 56.
22. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1544-1550, B66/15/2, 23 Aug 1549.
23. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, p.66.
24. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 18 Jan 1555, Prot Bk of Thomas Johnsoun, 1528-1578, no. 375.
25. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 23 Nov 1555.
26. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 16 Dec 1555, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 66, Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, pp. 7-8.
27. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 18 Dec 1555, Scott, Stirling Parish Church, p. 18.
28. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p 36-39. Ronald notes that aside from the High Altar there was a further Holy Cross dedication and 18 further altars dedicated to (in chronological order) SS Lawrence, Blessed Virgin Mary, Michael, James, Holy Trinity, John the Baptist, Ninian, Andrew, Thomas the Apostle, Salvator, Katherine, Stephen, Holy Blood, Anne, Blessed Virgin Mary (2), Peter and Paul, Matthew and Luke. Ronald suggests that Aubert and Eloi dedications were images rather than distinct altars. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, p.87.
29. See reference to Bowye’s aisle in 1625, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 159-160.
30. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, pp. 27-28.
31. See reference in 1606 to Paterson’s aisle, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 114.
32. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, pp. 28-30.
33. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, pp.30-32.
34. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 13 Oct 1521.
35. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 23.
36. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 7, 8, 9 & 31.
38. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 174.
39. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 33, 40 & 58.
40. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 19 Jan 1523.
41. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 556.
42. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, pp. 35-36.
44. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 7 May 1524, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 19.
45. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 70.
46. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 12 Oct 1556, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 70.
47. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1560-1566, B66/15/4, 31 Sept 1560.
48. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, p.66, Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p.37.
49. NRS Sir William Fraser Charters, GD86/20.
50. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 2, 19, 37 & 38.
51. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 3.
52. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 30 Sep 1521.
53. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p.37.
54. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 22 Oct 1554.
55. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fols 82-3, Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p.37.
56. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 60.
57. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, App I, 188, SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/53.
58. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 13, SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 13 Feb 1522.
59. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/75.
60. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 19, SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 7 May 1523.
61. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, App.1, 266.
62. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 12 Oct 1556.
63. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 12 Oct 1556, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 70.
64. NRS Sir William Fraser Charters, GD86/22.
65. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/13.
66. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 2, 45 & 46.
67. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/45.
68. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 46-48.
69. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 13 Oct 1521.
70. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 39/
71. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 1 Dec 1554.
72. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 30
73. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 41, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, App I, 258.
75. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 9.
76. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, p.66.
77. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 551.
78. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 7 & 23. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, App II, 208.
79. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p.37.
80. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 174.
81. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 16 Jan 1525.
82. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 7 Oct 1525.
83. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 19 Nov 1526, Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p.39.
84. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, pp. 38-39.
85. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 3.
86. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, pp. 38-39.
87. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 10 & 25.
88. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p. 37.
89. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 49-50.
90. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 7 Oct 1525.
91. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, App I, 194.
92. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1560-1566, B66/15/4, 10 Apr 1561, Extracts from the Records of Stirling,78.
93. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 11.
94. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 43, SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 312.
95. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 16 Oct 1525, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 23.
96. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 76-80.
97. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 10 Oct 1554.
98. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 69, SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 12 Sept 1556.
99. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 23.
101. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 64-66, RMS, ii, no. 2627.
102. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 13 Jan 1521.
103. See charter of 1570 which refers to this grant, SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/133.
104. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/133.
105. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/707.
106. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 545.
107. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 7 May 1522.
108. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, pp. 38-39.
109. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 15, SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 17 Mar 1522.
110. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p.38.
111. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, p.66. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p. 37.
112. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 8, 46 & 50.
114. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 69, RMS, ii, no. 2916.
115. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 27, NRS Prot Bk of James Graham, 1529-42, RH4/201/1, fol. 251v.
116. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/107.
117. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3, 19 Oct 1554.
118. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 554.
119. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents,B66/25/34.
120. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 22, 26 & 56.
122. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, App I, 184.
123. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 312.
124. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 59.
125. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 3 Mar 1525 & 11 My 1525, Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 21 & 23.
126. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 121, Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 23.
127. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fols. 145 & 350.
128. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 323.
130. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 30 Sep 1521.
131. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 3 May 1522.
132. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 7 Oct 11525.
133. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 145
134. SCA Stirling, Prot Bk of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 350.
135. Abstract of the Prot Bk of Stirling, 1469-84, 51.
136. SCA Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25/13.
138. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 41.
139. Charters Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, 46-48.
140. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1, 3 May 1522.
141. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 39/
142. SCA Stirling Court and Council records, 1560-1566, B66/15/4, 9 June 1563.
143. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 550.
144. Kirk, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, 26, 38, 39 & 48.
145. Ibid, 545, 550, 551, 554, 555 & 556.
146. Donaldson, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, 16.
147. Stirling Presbytery Records, p.1.
148. Stirling Presbytery Records, pp. 13-14, 17, 22-23
149. Stirling Presbytery Records, pp. 47& 52.
150. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 108.
151. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 113.
152. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 114.
153. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 121.
154. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 125.
155. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p.69.
156. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 159-160.
157. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 167.
158. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 167, Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, pp.58-59.
159. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 169.
160. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, 169.
161. Ronald, Landmarks of Old Stirling, p.59, Scott, Stirling Parish Church, pp.9-12.
162. Extracts from the Records of Stirling, i, 224-25. Cited in Spicer, Calvinist Churches in Early Modern Scotland, p.99.
163. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, pp. 71-72.
164. Statistical Account of Scotland, (1791), viii, 278.
165. New Statistical Account of Scotland, (1841), viii, 423 & 434.
166. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, p.73.
167. McNaughton, A History of Old Stirling, pp.74-75.
Bibliography
Manuscripts
National Records of Scotland
Sir William Fraser Charters, GD86/20.
Stirling Council Archives (SCA)
Stirling, Protocol Book of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1.
Stirling, Protocol Book of James Graham, 1543-75, B66/1/3.
Stirling Court and Council records, 1519-1530, B66/15/1.
Stirling Court and Council records, 1544-1550, B66/15/2.
Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-1557, B66/15/3.
Stirling Court and Council records, 1560-1566, B66/15/4.
Stirling Burgh Charters and other Documents, B66/25.
Printed primary
Abstract of the Protocol Book of the Burgh of Stirling, 1469-84, 1896, Edinburgh.
Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, 1839-45, ed. T. Thomson (Bannatyne Club), Edinburgh.
Calendar of entries in the Papal registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland; Papal letters, 1893-, ed. W.H. Bliss, London.
Calendar of entries in the Papal registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland; Papal Petitions, 1893-, ed. W.H. Bliss, London.
Calendar of Papal letters to Scotland of Benedict XIII of Avignon, 1976, ed. F. McGurk, (Scottish History Society) Edinburgh.
Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome 1418-22, 1934, ed. E.R. Lindsay and A.I. Cameron, (Scottish History Society) Edinburgh.
Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome 1447-71, 1997, ed. J. Kirk, R.J. Tanner and A.I. Dunlop, Edinburgh.
Charters and Other Document Relating to the Burgh of Stirling, AD. 1124-1705, 1884, ed. R. Renwick (Scottish Burgh Record Society), Glasgow.
Donaldson, G., 1949, Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, (Scottish History Society), Edinburgh.
Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Stirling, AD 1519-1666, 1887, ed. R. Renwick (Scottish Burgh Records Society), Glasgow.
Kirk, J., 1995, The books of assumption of the thirds of benefices, (British Academy) Oxford.
New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1834-45, Edinburgh and London.
Protocol Book of Dominus Thomas Johnsoun, 1528-1578, 1920, eds. J. Beveridge & J. Russell (Scottish Record Society) Edinburgh.
Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, 1882-1914, ed. J. M. Thomson (Scottish Record Office), Edinburgh.
Statistical Account of Scotland, 1791-9, ed. J. Sinclair, Edinburgh.
Stirling Presbytery Records, 1581-1587, 1981, ed. J. Kirk (Scottish History Society), Edinburgh.
Relevant secondary works
Cowan, I.B., 1967, The parishes of medieval Scotland, (Scottish Record Society), Edinburgh.
McNaughton, D., 1980, A History of Old Stirling, Stirling.
Mair, C., 1990, Stirling. The Royal Burgh, Edinburgh.
Ronald, J, 1899, Landmarks of Old Stirling, Stirling.
Scott, T., 1914, Stirling Parish Church, Stirling.
Spicer, A., 2007, Calvinist Churches in Early Modern Scotland, Manchester.
Architectural description
The church of the Holy Rude at Stirling(1) is one of the most ambitious of the Scottish late medieval burgh churches. The earliest certain reference to a church in Stirling was around 1150, when David confirmed an earlier grant of two churches within the vill to Dunfermline Abbey, one possibly being that in the castle.(2) Nothing remains of any building of the twelfth century, the present church being the result of reconstruction in two main phases in the fifteenth and early sixteenth century.
A need for some rebuilding was evidently created by a fire that damaged much of the burgh on 5 March 1407,(3) and a gift of money towards fire damage is recorded in the Exchequer Rolls for 1414.(4) An impassioned request for an indulgence by the parson referring to a fire that had destroyed roofs, walls and buildings provides further evidence for the damage caused.(5)
However, heraldic evidence suggests that reconstruction was not in fact begun in earnest for some decades, and it is possible that new impetus was given by damage resulting from the Douglas riots of 1455, since there was a further royal grant in 1456.(6) The arms of Adam Cosour and Katherine Fotheringham in the west bay of the south nave aisle vault point to a date between the 1440s and 1480s for the completion of vaulting there.(7) A date towards the end of that period may be more likely, since Adam is known to have founded an altar dedicated to the Virgin in the south aisle in 1473,(8) and an altar of St Anne that he appears to have founded between 1471 and 1474 is also thought to have been in that aisle.(9)
There were to be three laterally projecting aisles off the nave, one of which, Bowye’s Aisle, against the east bay of the south nave aisle, has been completely lost. Of the two off the north aisle, that of St Andrew against the east bay, which was built for the Forestar family, survives complete, while only the lower walling survives of St Mary’s Aisle off the west bay. As will be discussed below, the architectural evidence indicates that the two northern aisles were contemporary with the main body of the nave, and this is supported by a reference to Alexander Cunninghame as patron of an altar of Sts Peter and Paul in St Mary’s Aisle in 1474.(10)
The start of rebuilding the choir is marked by an agreement of 1507 with Abbot James Beaton of Dunfermline, by which the burgh agreed to carry out the work in exchange for certain concessions.(11) Timber was being provided in 1523, presumably for the roof,(12) There are references to a rood altar in the rood loft in 1524,(13) though it is unclear either if that altar was in the choir or the nave, or if it was a new foundation. Nevertheless, work appears to have been still in progress on the masonry shell in 1529 when the mason John Couttis was said to be involved in work on the church.(14) The arms of Bruce of Stenhouse and Airth on one of the buttresses support the idea that building was in progress around the 1520s.(15)
Work was certainly deemed to have been completed by 18 December 1555, when a commission that included the burgh’s treasurer and Baillie stated to Archbishop John Hamilton of St Andrews that their contract with Dunfermline had been fulfilled.(16) Nevertheless, as discussed below, there is evidence that, although the choir had been brought to a usable state, not everything had been done that had been initially intended.
Resumption of work on the west tower, along with what appear to have been unfulfilled proposals to heighten the nave, probably also date from around the time of this campaign on the choir. It is likely that work had been halted by 1546 when a college was founded, with the vicar as its head,(17) and a collegiate foundation had probably been the ultimate goal at the time the choir was started. Indications of unfulfilled intentions to add a third storey over the choir as well as the nave, to build transepts and perhaps a central tower, and to construct a spire over the west tower, suggest that shortage of funds prevented completion of a scheme that was ultimately too ambitious for the burgh’s resources.
The ‘cleansing’ of the church by the earl of Argyll and Lord James Stewart in 1559, in the prelude to the Reformation may have led to a need for repairs, though it is only about half a century later that such works begin to appear in the records. It was decided that donations should be sought from the parishioners in December 1608,(18) and in July 1610 a slater was sent for from Glasgow,(19) while in 1625 orders were given for the re-roofing of Bowye’s Aisle,(20) which was to be sold to the earl of Stirling in 1632, and where he was buried in 1640. There was a devastating wind on 6 and 7 February 1633 that evidently called for costly repairs.(21)
The church has undergone many post-Reformation changes to adapt it for the requirements of reformed worship. In 1656 it was decided that the building should be divided into two separate churches by inserting wall on the west side of where transepts had been planned but not so far built.(22) by which time the first of an apparently random accretion of galleries was being installed. By the time of a survey of 1803 the West Church, in the nave, had east, north and west galleries, with the pulpit against the second arcade pier from the east on the south side. At that stage three projecting chantry aisles and the south nave porch still remained in place. In the East Church, which included both the choir and the crossing area, the pulpit stood against the first pier from the west of the north arcade.
Stirling was no exception to the general post-Reformation pattern of interventions that invasively draconian restorations in the earlier part of nineteenth century were followed by more scholarly re-restorations from the later part of the century, as greater understanding of medieval architecture developed. As the first stage in this process, the East Church was restored and re-ordered by James Miller in 1803, and the West Church by James Gillespie Graham in 1818. In the East Church Miller relocated the pulpit within an elegantly curved exedra beneath the crossing. In the nave, Gillespie Graham demolished all projections apart from St Andrew’s Aisle, and placed plaster vaults over the central space. Further restoration of the East Church was carried out by James Collie in 1869, when a new entrance front was created in the south wall of the still incomplete south transept.
In 1911-14 the West Church was more thoughtfully restored by Thomas Ross. The two churches were eventually reunited as a single building in 1936-40 by a second architect with the name of James Miller, who also rebuilt a porch over the south nave doorway and extended the transepts to a length closer to what had probably been initially intended.
Having considered evidence for the phases of the buildings construction and modification, it can now be described.(23) The church is set out on a correctly orientated axis across an irregularly sloping site, a combination of circumstances which caused its later builders major problems. Although the small terrace on which its central part stands was probably sufficient for its presumably far smaller twelfth-century predecessor, it was inadequate for the church in its final extended form. Consequently the ground to the west and north-west rises higher than the interior, while the choir is elevated well above ground level, soaring obliquely above St John Street where it turns to become Castle Wynd.
The nave rises to a lower height than the east arm. It is of five bays with an aisle along each side, and has a west tower of telescoped form with a stair turret at its north-west corner. Openings through the east face of the tower point to an intention to heighten the nave at a later stage of building operations. Against the second bay from the west on the south is a porch covering the main lay entrance, which is a replacement dating from 1936-40 of an earlier structure. There has been a smaller corresponding north doorway without any porch that is now blocked. The main processional entrance, now also blocked, was through the west tower.
The nave aisles are externally articulated by substantial buttresses. Most are set below the aisle parapets, except for those at the west angles which rise through the wall-head and are capped by pinnacles, that at the south-west angle being diagonally-set and that at the north-west angle being of the nineteenth century. The rest have a wide top weathering, and a smaller off-set at mid-height, though those flanking the porch have an additional off-set. The half-gable at the west end of the north aisle was rebuilt with straight coping, whereas that to the south is crow-stepped. The restored windows of the aisle flanks are of three-light cusped intersecting form, though three are nineteenth-century insertions where chantry aisles have been removed and a doorway suppressed. The windows at the aisle west ends are two-light versions of the same type.
The walls of the central vessel that rise above the aisles are unbuttressed; on the south there is a simple sequence of five round-headed clearstorey windows, but on the north there never were windows, and the aisle roof there now covers much of the wall. Stirling is not unique in this asymmetry of clearstorey fenestration, another example being in the choir of Perth St John, and it seems that the nave of Edinburgh St Giles was similarly asymmetrical, though the extent of rebuilding there makes certainty difficult.
It seems likely that during the post-1507 operations at Stirling it was intended to raise the central vessel of the nave, possibly by adding a new clearstorey and converting the existing clearstorey into a gallery. The evidence for this is on the east face of the upper parts of the west tower, where there are pairs of openings at two levels above the present roof, with a roof moulding between the upper pair. The lower openings, which give access to the two sides of the wall-walk behind the parapet, are evidently secondary cuttings through the tower wall. The upper openings appear to be contemporary with the upper storeys of the tower, which represent a second phase of construction, and were apparently intended to give access to a higher wall-walk that was never built. Even at this increased height the nave would not have been as high as a three-storeyed choir, but the discrepancy would have been less obvious if there had been a central tower. It was clearly intended that the collegiate choir should be more architecturally prominent than the parochial nave.
Internally, the nave has arcades in which the supports of all but the east bays are large cylindrical piers of the type found in several of Scotland’s major churches of the later fourteenth and early fifteenth century. Other examples include Aberdeen Cathedral nave, of before 1380; Dunkeld Cathedral nave, of after 1406; St Andrews Cathedral south transept, of after 1409; and St Andrews Holy Trinity Church, of after 1410. The taste for such piers, like the design of the tower, may owe its ultimate inspiration to Netherlandish prototypes, which reminds us of the strong continental links enjoyed by the trading burghs.
The east arcade pier on each side is of more complex type: that on the north has filleted rolls to the cardinal directions separated by salient quadrant hollows; that on the south has filleted rolls flanked by smaller rolls in the cardinal directions, with further filleted rolls in the hollows of the diagonal faces. The reason for such enrichment is uncertain though, taking account of the more elaborate sections of arcade to be seen in the area of the high altar at both Edinburgh St Giles and Perth St John, these piers may have been intended to emphasise the site of an altar, in this case the nave altar in front of the choir screen.
The capitals of the cylindrical piers have continuous rings of mouldings, some with one or two bands of foliage in the hollows. The more elaborate east piers have caps with diagonally continuous mouldings to each face, which only minimally respect the individual shafts of the piers; caps with diagonally continuous mouldings are to be seen elsewhere perhaps as early as the 1430s, as in the transepts of Torpichen Preceptory, in Lothian. The arcade arches each have pairs of chamfers with a hood mould. The nave aisles are covered by quadripartite rib vaults with ridge ribs, which rise from corbels along the outer walls.
The nave clearstorey walls are separated from the arcades by a string course set a little above the arch apices: short shafts topped by caps, which are foliate on the south, rise from that string to the wall posts of the roof. As has been noted externally, only the south side of the clearstorey level has windows, the north wall being blank. Along the walls, faint traces may be seen of the plaster vault that was inserted in 1818 and removed in 1911-14. The roof, although extensively restored, is one of the few major church roofs of medieval date to survive in Scotland; like that over the choir of Perth St John, its appearance is of rugged sturdiness rather than high finesse. It is of double-raftered tie-beam construction, with two couples to each bay, those above the piers having wall posts and arched braces. Above the ties are king posts and angled struts, with braces from the king posts to the ridge piece, and from the inner struts to the upper of the two purlins.
At least three chapel aisles were added against the nave flanks in the course of building to serve as places where mass could be offered for their founders’ souls and as family burial places. Two of these have gone, but that built for the Forestar family survives in the east bay on the north side, in the re-entrant angle with the transept; it was dedicated to St Andrew. The chapels which have been lost were Bowye’s Aisle and a chapel for the Cosour family. Bowye’s Aisle was off the east bay of the south nave aisle, corresponding to St Andrew’s Aisle on the north; by the 1630s it had been taken over by the earl of Stirling. The Cosour family chapel, dedicated to St Mary, was off the west bay of the north aisle. In the almost random accretion of laterally gabled chapels there is perhaps an echo of the manner in which chapels were added around the town churches of the Netherlands, though the most extreme example of this in Scotland was Edinburgh St Giles.
St Andrew’s Aisle has a three-light intersecting north window, and there is a rectangular window subdivided by a mullion in the west wall that was largely rebuilt in 1911-14. This chapel has the same base course as the nave, and so is unlikely to postdate it significantly. The gable above its north face rises almost to the top of the N aisle parapet. From the nave aisle it is entered through an archway in which both the responds and the arch have paired chamfers, and it is covered by a tierceron vault, with arms assumed to be those of Forestar on the central boss. There is a small ogee-headed credence recess in the east wall, south of the altar site. Within the aisle is a stone carved with tracery designs that was found in vicinity of Cambuskenneth Abbey, and which has been hollowed out to form basin of uncertain use.
Of St Mary’s Aisle only the lower courses, which were retained to revet the higher external ground levels, survive in place. However, it can be seen that the roof was higher than that of St Andrew’s Aisle: the wall rib of the vault rises to near the top of the aisle parapet, while its roof crease rises through much of the central vessel parapet. The archway which led into the aisle from the west bay of the north aisle has a post-Reformation window set within it. The similarity of the jamb mouldings of this arch to the section of the south-east nave arcade pier, together with the similarity of the chapel base course to that below the rest of the nave, shows that, as with St Andrews Aisle, the chapel is essentially a part of the main nave building campaign. The jambs support foliate capitals. In what was the interior east wall of the chapel, south of the site of its altar, are an ogee-headed credence recess and the mutilated remains of a piscina bowl.
Bowye’s Aisle has left very little trace, apart from irregularities of masonry coursing in the aisle wall.
The three-dimensional geometry of the west tower is a particularly attractive feature; in the manner by which it is intaken at two thirds of its height it is possible it was partly influenced by the telescoped tower of Dundee St Mary, which must itself have been largely inspired by Netherlandish prototypes. On the evidence of masonry changes, the first part of the tower to be built rose little higher than the nave roof apex. It is rectangular rather than square in plan, being longer on its north-south than its east-west axis. A spiral stair rises at its north-west corner, which is now entered through an external doorway, rather than by the original internal doorway. The west processional doorway was blocked in the early nineteenth century, when it seems that the two-light west window was extended downwards. Only the bases and lowest courses of the door jambs are now evident, but it can be seen to have been so wide that it was probably subdivided by two arches carried on a central trumeau.
The upper stages of the tower are the result of a later phase of works, most likely as part of the post-1507 operations. This work involved adding three further storeys. The first of those storeys has the same oblong plan as the original part of the tower, and has a single-light window piercing the south and west sides. The roof moulding and openings on the east face of this stage towards the nave have already been pointed to as evidence that it was intended to heighten the nave at this phase of operations. Pock marks on the north and west faces of this stage may be a result of defensive fire from the castle during the siege of 1651.
The two upper storeys that were raised above this first additional stage are more complex. They are made square in plan by intakes to north and south which are carried internally on broad arches, and by projecting out the wall faces to east and west. There are parapetted wall-walks along the north and south sides, with those parapets being carried by corbelling that is continued round the east and west sides to support the projecting faces of the tower there. At the north-west angle the parapet and corbelling are interrupted by the stair turret, which extends upwards the line of the lower faces of the tower, and is therefore slightly inset from the west face of the tower’s upper stages. The main body of the tower is capped by a crenellated parapet, and it was evidently intended that a spire should rise behind the parapet on the evidence of internal squinches. The stair turret rises a short way above the tower parapet and is capped by an octagonal spirelet with pinnacles at the four angles.
Internally, differences between the two building phases of the tower are to be seen in changes to the form of the spiral stair that rises through the tower’s full height: in the first building phase the steps emerge radially from the newel and have soffits of rectangular profile, whereas in the second building phase there is a quirk between the step risers and the newel, and the soffit of the stair is given a continuous helical profile. Within the nave, the tower is entered through a tall arch with its apex at the level of the nave wall-head. This open stage is covered by a sexpartite vault with a bell hole and there is an extra intersection to accommodate the angled face of the stair turret. Scottish masons evidently developed a renewed interest in older vault types in the fifteenth century, and sexpartite vaults are also found in towers at Dunfermline Abbey and Linlithgow St Michael.
Between the nave and the choir there are transepts of unequal length that date from 1936-40, which were built of pink sandstone to differentiate them from the medieval work. Transepts, possibly with a central tower intended above them, had evidently been part of the intention when the choir was being rebuilt in the early sixteenth century, though the only other Scottish church certainly known to have been provided with twin axial towers is Kelso Abbey, of the twelfth century. Faced with the difficult task of bridging between the differing heights of nave and choir, the architect of the transepts, James Miller, continued the wall-head level of the nave, but took many details from the apse and choir, including the squat buttress pinnacles and the crow-stepped gables set behind the parapet.
The transept roof runs unbroken between its north and south gables, with the slightly lower nave roof abutting it to the west, and the west gable of the choir rising above it to the east; no architectural reference was made to the tower that may have been planned for the crossing in the early sixteenth century. The north transept, which houses the organ, was made longer than the south, but its only openings are a two-light window to the north and a minor doorway on the east that is now blocked by a later heating flue. Greater play was made with the new south transept front, which has a major doorway with multiple continuous mouldings below a four-light window.
Internally, the crossing is largely of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, apart from the multi-shafted north-east pier and parts of the south-east pier. The west crossing piers, inserted in 1936-40, copied the east piers, but incorporated the medieval semi-cylindrical responds at the east end of the nave arcade. Over the crossing there is a ribbed vault. In the south transept steps lead down to the S doorway.
The post-1507 choir is of three aisled bays, terminating in a five-sided eastern apse that is slightly wider than the main body of the choir; there was a small doorway in the west bay of the north aisle, which is now blocked. Although taller than the nave even in its existing state, there are indications of a possible unfulfilled intention to give the choir even greater height, because of the way the present clearstorey seems to have been first intended as a gallery, suggesting a true clearstorey may also have been planned.
As seen from the exterior, the apse rises through both levels of the choir, and is braced by widely projecting buttresses with multiple off-sets that are capped by disproportionately meagre pinnacles. There are tabernacles at the level below the windows on both the buttresses and east apse face. A crenellated parapet runs round the wall head, behind which is a stone-flagged roof that stops against a crow-stepped east gable. The east face of the apse is wider than its other faces and has a six-light window with the simplified rectilinear tracery that had a limited fashion around the time of James IV’s English marriage. The round-headed main lights, with undivided panel lights above them, are grouped within a pair of sub-arches between which is a pair of curved daggers.
The other windows of the apse and choir are variants on standard late medieval types. The three-light windows in the angled faces of the apse have light heads linked by intersecting arcs, above which are inward-deflected daggers. The north and south apse flanks have a related type of tracery, in which the intersecting arcs are omitted, and there is a pointed quatrefoil at the window head above the daggers. All these windows have arched transoms at mid-height.
The great height of the choir by comparison with the nave is particularly evident in the choir aisles. Dividing the aisle into bays are pinnacled and tabernacled buttresses similar to those around the apse; the tabernacle corbels have heraldic decoration that is now badly decayed, two shields on the south have the arms thought to be of Bruce of Stenhouse and Airth, and of Bully. The north aisle has three different types of tracery in its windows, all of which have been restored: that in the east bay is a four-light variant on those of the apse flanks, while the four-light middle window has a circlet with three spiralling daggers. The three-light window in the west bay is related to those of the angled faces of the apse. In the south aisle the windows of the east and west bays are like that of the east bay on the north, and the central window is like its northern counterpart.
The rather squat clearstorey is an enigma. Before the choir aisle roofs were lowered in 1869 the windows at this level opened into the roof space over the aisles and were unglazed, meaning that they were a gallery-like feature rather than a row of clearstorey windows, and the rough finish to what is now their exposed outer faces was clearly never meant to be generally visible. This could indicate an intention to have a third stage - a true clearstorey - above what is now seen. The impact of the east arm would thus have been even more impressive than it now is, particularly if there had been a central tower over the crossing with the transepts. Perhaps it was nervousness at building quite so loftily above such steeply falling ground, as well as the high costs involved, which led to its abandonment.
As a consequence of the sixteenth-century rebuilding of the choir, the vista down the central vessel is particularly fine. There is none of the smoothly handled articulation of space seen at what was probably Scotland’s first apsed and aisled church, Queen Mary of Guelders’ Trinity College Chapel in Edinburgh, which was founded around 1460 and is therefore roughly contemporary with the nave of Stirling. But that was probably not the effect that was being emulated here, and one senses such smooth - and possibly Burgundian-inspired - sophistication might have been regarded as effete by Stirling’s burgesses. What is memorable here is the way the eye is drawn along the relatively low space of the nave, with its robust sense of architectural mass and through the dark square of the modern crossing, before moving on to the less elongated but more attenuated proportions of the choir, culminating in the closed space of the apse.
The three-bay choir arcade is carried on clustered-shaft piers of eight filleted shafts. The heavily moulded caps have three or four tiers of diagonally continuous mouldings, above compressed bell and necking mouldings that follow the profile of the pier shafting; the south arcade caps and east respond are additionally enriched with foliage sprigs on the bell. The aisles have rib vaulting with ridge ribs. Along the north aisle walls the vaulting springs from corbels, whereas in the south aisle there are short barley-sugar shafts below the corbels. The east walls of the aisles are blank, presumably to accommodate altar retables, and in the south aisle there is a small ogee-headed credence recess south of the altar site.
In the north aisle, between the second and third windows from the east, is an arched recess that is sometimes said to be an Easter Sepulchre, but that is more likely to have been provided for a tomb. East of the blocked doorway in the west bay of the north aisle is a damaged holy water stoup. The stair at the north-east angle of the north aisle leads down to vestries created below the choir in 1936-40.
The tier of openings that now form the choir clearstorey is separated from the arcade by a string course a little above the arch apices. Wall shafts rise from the arcade capitals on the north and from corbels on the south, passing through the string course to support the roof wall posts. The windows are round-headed, each containing two round-headed lights. As has been seen, these windows were originally openings into the roof space above the aisles rather than windows, and towards the interior they are of a type related to the gallery openings of the three-storeyed elevation of the nave of Linlithgow St Michael, supporting the possibility that Stirling was intended to have a third storey in both nave and choir.
The apse is slightly wider than the choir. The sill of its east window is a little higher than those in the angled faces, which are in turn slightly higher than those of the north and south apse flanks. In the side walls, faint traces of the organ screen which occupied the lower level of the apse before 1936-40 are evident. The apse vault is one of Holy Rude’s less accomplished features. The north-south span is first reduced by two orders of segmental wall arches to north and south. The space is then bridged by a pointed and ribbed barrel vault, whose east segment is humoured awkwardly into the angled faces of the apse.
Notes
1. This description is largely based on Richard Fawcett’s account of the church in John Gifford and Frank Arneil Walker, The Buildings of Scotland, Stirling and Central Scotland, New Haven and London, 2002, pp. 687-98.
2. Ian B. Cowan, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland, (Scottish Record Society), 1967, p. 187-8.
3. Scotichronicon by Walter Bower, ed. D.E.R. Watt et al., Aberdeen and Edinburgh, vol. 8, 1987, p. 65.
4. The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vol. 4, Edinburgh, 1880, p. 210.
5. Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, 1447-71, ed. J.Kirk, R.J. Tanner and A.I.Dunlop, Edinburgh, 1997, no. 404.
6. Charters and Other Documents Relating to the Royal Burgh of Stirling, 1124-1705, ed. Robert Renwick, (Scottish Burgh Records Society), 1884, no xxiii.
7. Dexter, three coursers’ heads bridled, couped; sinister three bars.
8. Stirling Council Archives, Protocol Book of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fols 82-83.
9. Abstract of the Protocol Book of the Burgh of Stirling, 1469-84, Edinburgh, 1896, pp. 7 and 23.
10. Stirling Council Archives, Protocol Book of James Darow, 1469-84, B66/1/1/1, fol. 121.
11. Charters of Stirling, no xxxvii.
12. Stirling Council Archives, Stirling Court and Council Records, 1519-30, B66/15/1, 27 April 1523; Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, ed. Robert Renwick, (Scottish Burgh Records Society), vol. 1, 1887, p. 18.
13. Stirling Council Archives, Stirling Court and Council Records, 1519-30, B66/15/1, 7 May 1524
14. Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, vol. 1, 1887, p. 56.
15. A saltire on a chief two mullets.
16. Stirling Council Archives, Stirling Court and Council records, 1554-57, B66/15/3.
17. Charters of Stirling, no xxxvii; Ian B. Cowan and David E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses, Scotland, London and New York, 2nd ed., 1976, p. 227.
18. Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, vol. 1, 1887, p. 121.
19. Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, vol. 1, 1887, p. 125.
20. Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, vol. 1, 1887, pp 159-60.
21. Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, vol. 1, 1887, p. 169.
22. Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, vol. 1, 1887, p. 224-25.
23. Accounts of the church will be found in David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross, The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland, Edinburgh, vol. 3, 1897, pp. 315-30; Thomas Ross, ‘Stirling Parish Church’, Transactions of the Stirling Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1913-14, pp. 115-36, reprinted as a separate booklet in 1914; Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Inventory of Stirlingshire, Edinburgh, vol. 2, 1963, pp. 129-40; W. Douglas Simpson, The church of the Holy Rude Stirling (guidebook), Stirling, 1967.
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