Pillars and Pilgrimage
I read in the Dunfermline Abbey & Palace guidebook that it was likely that the same masons worked on both it and Durham Cathedral, so I decided to take a trip to Durham to take a look, my first visit in around thirty-five years. St Athernase in Leuchars also has some of the same masons’ marks found at Dunfermline Abbey which have been used to date it.
Medieval freemasons are not the same thing as the Freemasons associated with Masonic lodges, the medieval term means a mason who worked freestone, that is, stone that could be carved with or against the grain without developing a fault, they led a nomadic life.
Interior of Dunfermline Abbey with detail showing arrows in the design of the pillars with chevrons.
At Durham the majority of the pillars with chevrons are carved in the style of the pillar on the left, but I found the pillar on the right which is very similar to those at Dunfermline close to the steps to the tower. Durham Cathedral is on a way grander scale than Dunfermline Abbey, the girth of the pillars at Durham is enormous.
There is also a link to Dunfermline through St Margaret b.1045, as stated below right Prior Turgot of Durham wrote the story of her life, in the display panel she is depicted looking conventionally saintly. I don’t know why Paula Rego chose to depict her as the hag she appears on the left, in a drawing on display beside the Margaret Altar. It’s said that during the Reformation St Margaret’s head passed into the possession of Mary Queen of Scots, but I think this may well be a tall tale.
