Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/285

main body of the church (Fig. 1183) consists, as it has always done, of an oblong main structure, divided by two rows of columns into a central nave, and two side aisles. The nave is 63 feet long, the central division being 27 feet 6 inches wide, and the side aisles 11 feet wide. The central columns carry pointed arches (Fig. 1184), and in the wall above them was originally a small window over each column (not over the arches as usual) with widely splayed jambs and trefoil head. The roof of the aisles, being below the sill of these clerestory windows, was necessarily low. This was found in recent times to be a disadvantage, and the walls of the aisles have been rebuilt and heightened, so as to allow the roof of the central nave to run down over them without a break (Fig. 1185). The old clerestory windows are thus roofed in, and are only visible in the inside

Fig. 1183.—The Collegiate Church of Crail. Plan.

of the nave. The windows of the aisles are all modern. The piers are round and bear simple caps (see Fig. 1184), and these and the clerestory windows are plainly of a very late date, although the cap mouldings (see Fig. 1184) have been copied from old forms.

To the east of the nave was the choir, now converted into a vestry 20 feet 6 inches long by 17 feet wide. The chancel arch springs from two responds, the shafts of which have an ancient appearance, but they have probably been reconstructed in imitation of ancient work. One of the small original windows is preserved in the north wall of the chancel. It is about 18 inches in width, and has a plain pointed arch with chamfer on edge.

There has been an arch at the west end of the church with similar