Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/485

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but these remains clearly belong to an age some two or three centuries later. From the history above referred to, the monastery appears to have been suppressed before the Reformation, about the year 1529, at which date the brethren were translated to Peebles.



KEITH CHURCH, Haddingtonshire.


On a knoll within the grounds of Keith House, situated about five miles east from Tynehead Station, and a similar distance south from Ormiston, stand the ruins of an ancient church. It is surrounded by an old churchyard, and has a number of monuments erected against the south wall. According to an inscription on a tablet fixed to the wall, this edifice was "erected as a private chapel in the reign of David I. (1224-53) by Hervie de Keith, King's Marischal; in the reign of Alexander II. (1214-49) it became the church of the parish of Keith Marischal; in 1618 this parish was joined to that of Keith Hunderbey, now called Humby."[1]

Fig. 1410.—Keith Church. Plan.

The church (Fig. 1410) is now a ruin and is covered with a thick growth of ivy. It measures, internally, 59 feet 8 inches in length by 14 feet in width at the east end, and 15 feet in width at the west end. The east end is apparently the oldest portion, the east wall and north wall, as far as the break shown in the Plan, and a corresponding portion of the south wall being faced with ashlar. The remainder of the structure, westwards from the above, is built with rubble, and is apparently of later date. The north wall is much broken down, but the other walls are in fair preservation. The east end, as viewed from the interior (Fig. 1411) (where the growth of ivy allows the features to be tolerably seen), is an unusual and rather striking design, consisting of two narrow lancet windows, widely splayed internally, and a large vesica-formed opening

  1. See Caledonia, Vol. II. p. 332.