Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/222

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

SECOND PERIOD - 202 - CRAIGMILLAR CASTLE of which some features are still traceable. Thus (section G H, Fig. 156) we find a fifteenth-century window, with mullions and transom now built up, and other details. This wing contained the private or family apart- ments, with separate staircase and a separate access to the great hall. Here the dining-hall is on the ground floor, with a kitchen at the north end and a private room at the south end, with wine-cellar beneath, and private stair leading down to it. This reminds us of the arrangement of the English halls. The plan of having a private access to the wine- cellar is quite usual in Scotch castles. The upper floor contained private or family bedrooms. These seventeenth-century buildings show that manners and customs had then greatly altered. It was no longer the habit of the proprietor and his family to dine in the hall with his retainers. He preferred to have a distinct suite of public as well as private apartments for his own use. The same thing occurred in England, and was regarded as a luxurious and effeminate custom, which was to be discouraged, and orders were published prohibiting dining apart from the people in the hall ; but like ordinances against the wearing of certain clothes and other fashions, with small effect. As at Borthwick, some remains are still visible of the painted decorations of the hall, as shown on the corbels, etc. (Fig. 160). Fig. 169 gives a general view of the castle as seen from the south, with slight restorations, chiefly the replacing of the roof. The staircase at the west end leading down to the base of the rock is now a heap of ruins, but the pedestals shown at top and bottom still exist as gate-posts at the adjoining farm-house. These show that there was a balustrade similar to that indicated on the sketch. CASTLE CAMPBELL, CLACKMANNANSHIRE. Castle Campbell is another castle which had its origin as a simple keep, and was afterwards extended into a large castle, with buildings round a courtyard or quadrangle. The situation of this castle is magnifi- cent (Fig. 170). It stands on a lofty isolated point near Dollar, com- manding an opening in the Ochil Hills, with an extensive view over the valley of the Forth. The castle is approached through dark-wooded ravines, surrounded with perpendicular rocks, which give it a grand and impressive effect, besides rendering the position almost unassailable with the engines in use at the time. This castle was originally called the Castle of Gloume ; but the name being disliked by the first Earl of Argyll, the then proprietor, he obtained an Act of Parliament in 1 48.9 for having it changed to its present designation. The castle was destroyed by Montrose in 1645.