ested by the sloping eastward
character of the site, which would have placed St. Mungo's tomb at a
depth below the level on which a large church could possibly be built;
while Achaius, from his long residence in Italy, would be led to imitate
some notable Italian examples.[55] Some similarities between Glasgow and
Jedburgh (which was in the diocese of Glasgow) have suggested that there
was in the olden times such a servant of the church as a diocesean
architect.[56] "One thing is abundantly clear," says Mr. Honeyman, "to
any one who intelligently studies the building, namely, that the whole
design was carefully thought out and settled before a stone was laid. It
is a skilful and homogeneous design, which could only be produced by a
man of exceptional ability and great experience. Nothing has been left
to chance, or to the sweet will of the co-operating craftsman, but the
one master-mind has dictated every moulding and every combination, and
has left the impress of his genius upon it all. The mark of the master
may be discerned by the practised eye in every feature of the
magnificent edifice; the marks of the craftsmen may be seen on the work
they were told to do, and did so well."[57] To Bishop Joceline is due
the credit of having formed a society to collect funds for the
restoration of Bishop John's church, which was burnt by fire,[58] and he
appears to have rebuilt the choir, and also to have designed, if he did
not also partly build, the nave.[59] This part of his work was
sufficiently advanced for consecration on 6th July 1197.[60] The work
was probably continued by his successors, but the next great benefactor
of the cathedral was Bishop William de Bondington (1233-1258), who
perfected Joceline's work, and built both choir and lower church or
"crypt," as they now are.[61] According to Mr. Honeyman, the foundations
of the nave were laid and part of the walls was carried up before the
building of the choir was begun.[62] Most of the nave appears, from its
architecture, to have been erected at the end of the thirteenth, or the
beginning of the fourteenth century, and is pronounced to form "one of
the finest examples of the late First Pointed or Early Decorated style
in Scotland."[63] "The spacing (of the piers) is that of the twelfth
century (considerably less than that of the choir), while the height and
the treatment, in other respects, is that of the latter portion of the
thirteenth."[64]

Bishop Wishart during the