Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/407

Fig. 1320.—Sacrament House, Kintore.

Old Monument built into Wall.

originally consisted of two parts, the lower portion containing the ambry for the reception of the sacramental elements, and the upper portion being enriched with a beautifully carved bas-relief, representing a monstrance of elaborate tabernacle work, supported by two angels, and crowned with a sculptured crucifix. The ambry is now wanting, except the lintel, which bears the words Jesus Maria. Over the lintel is a panel which no doubt formerly contained sculpture, now removed. The whole design is surrounded with a frame composed of a series of baluster shaped shafts, covered with flat foliage of a Renaissance character.

Whether this decorated work came from Kinkell or not, it evidently belongs to the period when that church was built, being of the latest Gothic design, which prevailed immediately before the Reformation.

ST. ADAMNAN'S CHAPEL, Aberdeenshire.

A small chapel situated near Leask, some two or three miles inland from the old Castle of Slains. It is surrounded by what appears to have been a churchyard, but is now covered with stunted trees. The chapel (Fig. 1321) is filled with its own ruins and is utterly uncared for. The walls are fairly entire for a height of about 7 feet, while the east gable is nearly complete, and contains a pointed window about 7 feet wide, which was probably filled with tracery. The outside jambs are gone, but the inner splayed face of the arch is still entire. In the east wall are the remains of what may have been a piscina, and there is an ambry in the south wall adjoining. There are a window in the south wall and two openings of some kind in the north, with a narrow window high up in the west gable. The doorway is on the south side, but its jambs are gone, and only the bar hole remains to indicate that it was the doorway. The church measures, externally, 45 feet from east to west by 23 feet 3 inches from north to south.