Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/622

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Fig. 1584.—Polwarth Church.

is 11-1/2 inches deep, with a central aperture. The height of the fragment is 21 inches.



HERALDIC PANEL FROM PRESTONPANS CHURCH, Haddingtonshire.[1]


This panel (Fig. 1585) was discovered in 1891 during some alterations of the seating of the church. It then formed the back of a seat in the gallery, and was concealed by a green cloth. Doubtless, from its heraldic decorations, it must originally have occupied a more prominent position. The arms and initials show that it belonged to the Hamiltons of Preston. The date on the panel (1604) connects it with an earlier church, the present church having been erected later. The panel is of oak and in good preservation, except where cut away to make it fit its new position, and the colours are still rich and fresh. The panel is in two pieces, each 2 feet 3 inches high. The whole is divided into eight compartments, of which only four bear arms. They are all arched, and are separated by

  1. This church is illustrated in The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, Vol. V. p. 171. See Paper by the late J. Fowler Hislop in The Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1892, p. 241.