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Field Visit
Date June 1971
Event ID 1190345
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1190345
NN 115 267. St Conan's Church, a large building of eclectic style erected between 1881 and 1930 at the expense of, and largely to the designs of, Walter D Campbell of Blythswood, incorporates a number of imported architectural fragments and other fittings. These include the following:
(1) The 15th-century W window of St Mary's Parish Church, South Leith, removed from that building at the restoration of 1848 and re-erected here, with the original outer face turned inwards, in the Swall of the Bruce chapel (A measured drawing by T Ross was published in TSES vii (1921-4), part ii, opp. p. 79.). The arch-head of the six-light window (Pl. 120E) is filled with flamboyant tracery, and the jambs are wrought with alternating ovolo and hollow-chamfer mouldings. The stops of the filleted hood-mould are carved with human heads, now greatly worn. The original outer faces of the mullions are wrought with hollow chamfers and filleted rolls, while internally the mullions and jambs are chamfered.
(2) Portions of the original tracery of the E window of the S choir-aisle of Iona Abbey (Pl. 120F), now built into a recess in the N wall of the S nave-aisle. The original window was restored in 1904, at the expense of Miss Campbell of Blythswood (TGAS, new series, v (1905-8), 86-7), and the fragments preserved are greatly weathered. They comprise the cusped heads of the two lower lights, a wheel composed of six trefoil lights, and a small quatrefoil opening at the apex of the arch-head.
(3) The head of a lancet-window of 13th-century type, rebated externally but not chamfered, which lies at the W end of the nave. This is of doubtful authenticity, and may have been carved for use in the present building, like many fragments preserved in the gardens near the church.
(4) A bell (Pl. 120G), 0'76 m in diameter, now kept in the Bruce chapel, bearing the inscription: THOMAS MEARS FOUNDER LONDON 1843 / NORTH LIGHTHOUSES / IN SALUTEM OMNIUM. This is said (Martin 1950, 11) to have come from Skerryvore Lighthouse, and was evidently one of the three bells purchased, at a total cost of £107 6s 3d, for use in foggy weather (Stevenson 1848, 381).
Also preserved in the Bruce Chapel are two wooden screens, each of four bays. These are said to be from Eton College Chapel (Martin, loc cit), but are of modern workmanship.
RCAHMS 1975, visited June 1971
