Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/369

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of the transepts are carried well up, and the windows are also of good size, so that the church is well lighted, and forms, in this respect, a striking contrast to Ladykirk and similar vaulted structures.

After the Reformation the offices and emoluments passed into the hands of laymen.



CARNWATH CHURCH, Lanarkshire.


Carnwath is situated about two miles west from Carstairs Junction.

The original foundation of this church dates from a very early time. In the middle of the twelfth century it was bestowed by William de Sumerville on Glasgow Cathedral, which grant was confirmed by Pope Alexander III. in 1170. The existing building is, however, of much more recent date. It formed the north wing of the parish church, and was added after a Collegiate foundation had been erected in 1425 by Thomas, first Lord Somerville, for a provost and six prebendaries, and is thus

Fig. 1282.—Carnwath Church. Plan of North Transept.

described in the Memoire of the Somervilles, written about the end of the seventeenth century:—"The yle itself is but little, however neatly and conveniently built opposite the middle (on the North side) of the church; all aisles, both within and without, haveing pinickles upon all the corners, wherein are engraven, besydes other imagerie the armes of the Somervills and Sinclaires (the family of the wife of the founder), very discernable to the occular aspectione, albeit it be two hundereth and fyfie-eight years since they were placed there."[1]

The parish church, which formerly consisted of chancel, nave, and transept, has been removed, and there now only remains a portion of the

  1. The Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, Vol. II. p. 483.