dumfries-1920/04-099

Transcription

CAERLAVEROCK.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [CAERLAVEROCK.

It contains two large apartments, lit by
windows to the courtyard and others in-
serted in the east curtain. The fireplaces of
these chambers have projecting jambs, which
are shaped like consoles. The fronts are
moulded and in one fireplace ornamented
towards the base with a fleur-de-lys. A wide
lintel spans the jambs, and over it is a slight
moulded cornice.
The upper floor is similarly arranged.
DIMENSIONS. - The enceinte measures 130
feet from north to south; the basal curtain
is 137 feet long and the lateral curtains are
111 feet - all measured between the towers.
These curtain walls vary in thickness from
4 feet 9 inches at the sides to 7 feet at the
base. The gatehouse measures 60 feet along
the south wall and 38 feet from north to
south. The flanking towers have an ex-
ternal diameter of some 25 feet, with walls
averaging 4 feet 9 inches thick. The external
diameter of Murdoch's Tower at the south-
west angle is 20 feet, and the wall is 5 feet
in thickness.
The west wing projects 19 feet from the
west curtain and is 64 feet long. The wall
is 3 feet thick and the partitions rather less.
The west staircase has an internal diameter of
10 feet.
The east wing projects 20 feet from the east
curtain , and the wall is 3 feet 6 inches thick.
The hall was 66 feet long and 25 feet 6 inches
broad.
CHRONOLOGY. - The gatehouse, flanking
towers, basal towers, and curtain walls are
contemporary, and were erected in the early
15th century; the room under the forework
is later, probably mid-15th century. The
west wheel-stair, the rear gallery, the mid-
partition, the floor above the parapet walk,
and the windows in the south wall of the gate-
house all date from the early 16th century.
The buildings on the west side of the enclosure
date from the end of the 15th century, and
those on the east and south sides from the
early 17th century.
CONDITION. - Although of late years a con-
siderable amount of gradual repairing has
been undertaken, the present condition of
the buildings is most unsatisfactory.
The easter flanking tower is seiously rent,
and calls for immediate repair. The wall-heads
of the buildings, and in particular of the

gatehouse, are covered with vegetation, under
which the masonry must be in an extremely
bad state. The circular staircases are bereft
of the majority of their steps, and in the
absence of these ties must ere long collapse.
The west wing is slowly disintegrating; the
safe-lintels are falling in.
The 17th-century buildings are fairly sound,
and, if the cornices were denuded of vegetation,
re-pointed, and weather-proofed, little else
would be required. A serious fissure in the
south gable, which latterly threatened the
stability of the structure, is now tied in, and
the vault under the gable supported by a
pier at the south end of the kitchen.
OUTWORKS. - The enceinte is surrounded
by a moat 42 feet wide at the north and 80
feet at the south, which is girt by a rampart
30 to 40 feet thick at base and 10 feet 6 inches
at highest above the moat, which is 10 feet
deep. On the south the rampart broadens
and encloses a terrace 30 feet wide. The
moat is drained by a sluice at the south-west
angle.
The swampy nature of the ground to the
east, west and south obviates the need of
outer defences in these quarters. To the
north, however, the ground rises and is firm.
On this front there is an outer ditch and
scarp, terminating at either end in the swamp
and traversed by the pathway to the castle,
which leads through a base-court, 3 acres in
area, to a wide semicircular arched gateway
of the 16th century, 10 feet 4 inches wide
and 11 feet 9 inches high, with chamfered
jambs.
HISTORICAL NOTE. - The record of Caer-
laverock Castle is complicated by the fact
that no distinction is made or suggested
between the present ruins and the buildings
which must have stood on the strongly en-
trenched site some hundred yards to the
south. Yet, if the latter site is not that of
an earlier castle of the same name, of what
castle is it the site?
The earliest reference of importance to
Caerlaverock seems to be of October 1299, when
it is reported to King Edward I., from Loch-
maben, that "There is a castle near them,
called Carlaverock, which has done and does
great damages every day to the King's castle
(Lochmaben) and people." They had, how-
ever, scored a success, and the head of the

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