Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016593
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016593
This unusual collegiate church was founded in 1504 by John, Lord Sempill, in his grounds at Castle Semple, and it was endowed with a provost, six chaplains, two boys and a sacristan. The original building comprised an oblong church with a rectangular tower at the west end, but this simple plan was embellished following Lord Sempill's death on the field of Flodden in 1513 by the addition of a three-sided apse at the east end, which was designed to house his funerary monument. The two portions of the building differ considerably in style with the plain, rather austere treatment of the fabric in the west half contrasting with the more flamboyant decoration of the late Gothic tracery in the windows of the apse.
The interior of the building has been partially restored with the removal of two relatively recent partition walls and the replacement of some of the dressings around the windows. This allows the visitor an unrestricted view of the principal feature of the interior, the exuberant late Gothic burial monument ofLord Sempill, which lies at the east end of the north wall. His effigy, if it was ever added, is now missing, but this hardly detracts from the fine monument. To the left of the monument, the grave-slab of Gabriel Sempel, who died in 1587, has been placed against the wall. Around the doorway on the north wall and on the step leading to the dais at the east end, numerous mason's marks are still visible.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).
