Skelmorlie Aisle, Largs: its symbolism, form and functions

Abstract

On account of its composition and relative completeness, the Skelmorlie Aisle in Largs is the most impressive structure of its type and period in the country. This article considers the aisle and its components, its structure and setting, as well as its history as far as the twentieth century, arguing that it was conceived as a single entity and that its purpose was connected with funeral ritual. It had a processional layout rarely seen in seventeenth-century Scotland, hinging on the triumphal arch inside, used here not for the living hero but for the deceased on their passage to life after death. The structure involved some of the top craftsmen associated with courtier works of the period and its composition was fundamentally shaped by masonic symbolism and proportion. There is also the tentative suggestion that the aisle signalled the covert Catholicism of a client who was outwardly Presbyterian.