stirling-1963-vol-1/05_188

Transcription

No. 140 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 140
renewed by his Grace the Duke of Montrose orders; the
antient inscriptions are put upon this new stone". The
tomb as it was a short time before this renewal was
described by a visitor of 1697 ¹; it then consisted of "a
flat stone supported by four small pillars each marked
S.J.G. -- Under this square stone lyes the figure of a
Knight supine in freestone". The inscriptions, which
were even then badly weathered and could only be read
"with much poaring", are quoted and correspond with
the versions given above apart from some differences in
spelling ². Mention is also made of "the coat armorical
with supporters, as his descendent the Marquis of
Montrose carrys them". It thus seems safe to infer that,
at the end of the 17th century, only the present lowermost
slab was in existence, and that this was mounted as a
table-tomb over an effigy - presumably the existing
effigy, notwithstanding the fact that it was described as
representing a knight (infra). For the dating of this slab
the Commissioners are indebted to Professor W. L.
Renwick, M.A., D.Litt., D. ès L., F.B.A., who has given
them his opinion that the language of the English epitaph
belongs to a period extending from about 1560 to the
earliest years of the 17th century, and has also pointed
out its remarkable correspondence, both in sentiment
and also in actual wording, with some passages in Blind
Harry's Wallace, the first printed edition of which
appears in 1570. ³ It is thus most probable, as Professor
Renwick has suggested, that the builder of this memorial
may have been influenced by the patriotic sentiments of
the Wallace on or soon after the appearance of the
edition in 1570. In this connection, too, it is worth noting
that a "modern Scots version" of the work, by William
Hamilton, was published in 1722, ⁴ and would thus have
been in time to have inspired, in a similar way, the Duke
of Montrose's renewal recorded above.
The effigy is so placed as to render any proper
examination impossible, it is also very badly wasted.
It is of light grey freestone, and represents a recumbent
figure dressed in a long robe which leaves the elbows and
forearms bare. The hands were evidently in the normal
attitude of prayer, on the breast, but they are now wasted
to a shapeless lump; and there is no trace of armour
appearing from under the robe at the neck. The features
are virtually obliterated and the feet are missing. The
length is probably about 5 ft. 9 in., the breadth is 1 ft. 9 in.
and the thickness at the position of the hands 11 in. The
absence of armour or sword, and the slenderness of the
forearms, seem strange if this is really the figure of a
knight; and it is impossible to avoid the suspicion that
the effigy may be that of some quite different person,
perhaps even of a woman, taken from the church and
adapted to its present purpose when the table-tomb was
first set up. On the other hand, in view of its generally
late appearance, it may be contemporary with the lower-
most slab and represent the deceased in civil dress.
(ii) Sir John Stewart of Bunkle. The only other
mediaeval monument in the graveyard is the slab
attributed, by an inscription in lettering of the early 19th
century, to Sir John Stewart, another Scottish casualty
of 1298. The stone was "without a name" in 1797, ⁵ and
the literary record ⁶ is too late to be of any particular
value; but the shape of the slab, which is 5 ft. 11 in. long,
tapers from 12 in. at the head to 9 in. at the foot and has
bevelled edges, would be quite in keeping with a 13th-
century date.
(iii) The Rev. Robert Callander. Robert Callander,
minister of Falkirk, who died in 1686, ⁷ is commemorated
by a slab bearing two raised panels. On the one nearer
the head there is a shield, in relief, charged : A bend
between three billets in sinister chief and a boar's head
erased in dexter base. The shield divides the initials
M / RC / AH, for Mr. Robert Callander and his wife
Alison, daughter of William Hog of Bogend; there is no
date, but figures may have split off, or been erased from
right and left of the M. The lower panel probably once
bore the Latin verses recorded, with a translation, by
Monteith, ⁸ but it now shows only the name of a 19th-
century owner of the grave, Richard Callander of
Fankertown. On the wide margins are cherubs and
emblems of mortality.
(iv) This slab is inscribed 1636 / WG BM / JG IC /
AG MC / RENEWED ANNO 1773 BY / JOHN GIB &
JANNET WATT HIS SPOUSE.
(v) This monument is in the form of a table-tomb,
though the supports are evidently much later than the
slab. The latter, which is very much worn, has wide
bevelled edges and a raised panel bearing, on subsidiary
raised panels, the incised inscription 1694 / IK EC.
The initials IK IM appear near the foot.
In addition, the following two monuments deserve
to be recorded although they are of later date than
1707.
(vi) The Murehead monument. This is the large wall-
monument illustrated in Pl 47 A, which embodies an
arched recess containing two effigies, an oval inscribed
panel enclosed by spiral columns and an architrave
decorated in high relief with cherubs and emblems of
mortality, and a moulded segmental pediment topped
by an acorn finial. Both figures are dressed in cloaks or
mantles, and the hands are joined in an attitude of prayer.
The inscription commemorates Patrick Murehead of
"Rashy-hill" and his wife Margaret Buchanan, who died
respectively on 12th March and 9th April 1723, and
records that the monument was set up by their grandson
and heir, George Preston, younger of Valleyfield. The

1 Hist. MSS. Commission, 13th Report, Appendix, pt. ii,
55 f.
2 E.g. "Sir Jhonn the Greme", "rescuit", "Greme",
"Gremius".
3 Schir William Wallace, ed. Moir, S.T.S., bk. x, ll. 466-7,
"I trow in warld was nocht a bettir knycht,
Than was the gud Graym off trewth and hardement";
bk. ii, l. 349.
"And Scotland thris he sall bryng to the pess";
bk. ii. l. 358,
"Bot Wallace thriss this kynrik conquest haile."
4 Ibid, p. xx.
5 Stat. Acct., xix (1797), 100.
6 History, 177 f.
7 Fasti, i, 206.
8 An Theater of Mortality, ii (1713), 235.

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