The Architecture of the Scottish Medieval Church, 1100-1560 (review)

Over the past thirty years, Richard Fawcett's numerous publications have revolutionized our understanding of medieval church architecture in Scotland. The fruits of his brilliant research are now brought together with fine illustrations in this handsome new volume. The book opens with an introduction to church architecture in Scotland before 1100, and there follow eight chapters arranged chronologically and a conclusion on the impact of the Reformation. Comprehensive endnotes and a bibliography facilitate further study on the buildings. Fawcett's passion for architectural history exudes throughout his presentation and meticulous analysis of the buildings, and this cannot fail to be infectious for specialists and nonspecialists alike. His keen eye for detail combined with an unparalleled knowledge of the buildings and profound understanding of comparative material in Europe provides us with an unparalleled view of Scottish churches in a European context. Churches are discussed in their appropriate historical setting and, where documentation permits, in terms of their patronage. Small churches and those known only from Antiquarian sources are examined alongside the "great monuments." For twelfth-century churches Fawcett demonstrates close ties with exemplars in England, particularly Durham Cathedral and its influence on Dunfermline Abbey and Kirkwall Cathedral and several smaller churches. In the thirteenth century, Lincoln Cathedral was a favorite point of reference, as at Holyrood Abbey. Yet the Scottish churches were by no means provincial copies of English models, especially in the smaller Romanesque churches of the Northern Isles. In Orkney, the round tower at Egilsay and the twin round western towers at Deerness (now lost) are allied to northern Germany, which was then in the same ecclesiastical province. The southwest nave doorway at Whithorn Cathedral is associated with Irish Romanesque. The ambitious design of the twin-towered façade of Arbroath Abbey incorporates reticulated masonry, perhaps as an expression of royal status or even imperial aspirations, whereas the huge round window may reflect northern French models such as Laon Cathedral. Elsewhere, we encounter adventurous designs such as the huge, four-light east window with rose-window-like oculus of the east front of Kirkwall Cathedral, the west façade of Holyrood Abbey, and the variety of the plate tracery in the south choir aisle windows of Glasgow Cathedral. Moreover, in the crypt of Glasgow Cathedral there are remarkable spatial innovations and complex vault patterns.

Political and diplomatic ties with France and commercial links with the Low Countries account for many architectural associations from the late-fourteenth century and afterward. Especially intriguing is an inscription at Melrose Abbey that records the career of the Paris-born mason John Morow and various Scottish churches on which he worked. Fawcett establishes Morow's oeuvre and includes striking parallels with the windows of the south nave chapels at Amiens Cathedral, and tracery designs and sculptural details at Vincennes Castle Chapel just east of Paris. These and other flowing tracery designs are symptomatic of the lack of interest in the contemporary Perpendicular style of England on the part of Scottish patrons and architects. Connections with the Low Countries are manifest, as in the unusual form of the crossing piers at Aberdeen in relation to the west tower piers of Brussels Cathedral, and tracery design at King's College, Aberdeen, and Utrecht Cathedral.

This book is a masterpiece and will be the starting point for all future research on medieval church architecture in Scotland. It is highly recommended as a model for all architectural historians and medievalists with an interest in ecclesiastical architecture as well as the general reader who just wants to enjoy and understand this period of Scottish heritage.