pilasters. On the four compartments arms, surrounded by laurel wreaths, are blazoned in colour, together with initials. The initials G. H. and B. C., which refer to George Hamilton, Laird of Preston, and Barbara Cockburn, his wife, are carved in relief in the spandrils. The letters painted within the arches, viz., S.J. H. and D.K. H. stand for Sir John Hamilton, the son of the
above, and Dame Katherine Howieson, his second wife, married 1620. The lady died 1629. The shields beneath these initials contain the Hamilton arms twice, and the Cockburn and Howieson arms for the wives of the father and son. The initials of the son and his wife were carved over the windows of the tower, while over the centre window they appear in a monogram with the date 1626.
This panel, which is one of the very few early coloured decorations which survive in Scotland, is now in the possession of General Sir William Stirling Hamilton of Preston.
RATHAN CHURCH, Aberdeenshire.
A ruinous building situated about three miles south from Fraserburgh,
and standing in an old churchyard. The east end has entirely disappeared,
and only a small part of the north wall remains (Fig. 1586). What
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Fig. 1586.—Rathan Church. Plan.
survives of the south wall of the nave is 49 feet long, but it doubtless considerably exceeded that length; the interior width is 21 feet. A south aisle is entire, but roofless. It enters from the nave by a plain round-arched opening (Fig. 1587) 8 feet 8 inches wide, and the outside dimensions of the aisle are 35 feet long by 20 feet 8 inches wide.
The nave (see Fig. 1587) has a door in the west end, with a window
