Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/259

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view gives an idea of the appearance of the interior of the chapel. In front of the apse windows stands a sarcophagus 6 feet 2 inches long by 2 feet 2 inches wide, having a rude recumbent figure on the top. It contains the following arms on the front, beginning at the head, viz., Douglas, Arbuthnott, Arbuthnott, Stewart; and there appear to be indications that there have been other shields, now cut away. There is a round arched entrance door to the aisle on the west side (see Fig. 1157), with a stoup beneath the adjoining window on the inside, and in the east wall are the remains of a credence. A turret staircase (see

Fig. 1159.—The Collegiate Church of Arbuthnott. View from North-East.

Fig. 1157) gives access from the aisle to a priest's chamber on the upper floor, which Bishop Forbes, believing it to have been the place where the Missal referred to below was written, describes at some length.[1] It had a strong door, which folded back into a recess. The room is of the same size and shape as the aisle below, and is lighted with three windows with square heads, two in the apse, and one (the largest) looking towards the west (see Fig. 1157). The latter is strongly guarded with an iron grating of the usual construction. The windows are fitted with seats like those commonly found in the castles. "There is a stoup for holy water at the

  1. Arbuthnott Missal, 1864, p. lxxxvii. The Pitsligo Press.