east-lothian-1924/05-083

Transcription

DIRLETON.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [DIRLETON.

courtyard through a little vestibule or lobby
and can be reached from the cellar by a wheel
stair in the thickness of the east wall. The
chamber is an irregular quadrilateral with a
triangular bay projecting eastwards to contain
the altar. At the north-east angle there is a
cupboard and on the east wall the much
destroyed remains of a piscina, which had a
projecting bowl. In the south wall is a credence
recess with a semicircular head. In the west
[Marginal note] no! obtusely pointed
wall adjoining the entrance is a benatura with
a recessed ogival head and projecting bowl
and towards the north-west angle a cupboard
recess with a pointed head, on which a foliaceous
enrichment has been carried round the head
and jambs ; the cupboard has been shelved.
In addition to these purely ecclesiastical
features the chapel has the appointments of a
living room of the period. It is ceiled with a
barrel vault and has narrow windows looking
north and west. A larger window in the north
wall is provided with window seats. The
north-west angle contains a fireplace with a
recessed seat in the west jamb. The recess
has a pointed head with cusps carved in relief
at the back. The other jamb is ruinous ; it
also may have contained a seat. In the south
wall there is an aperture which has been pro-
[Marginal note] ?
vided with inner and outer shutters, through
which the cellarage could be overlooked. The
doorway at the south-east angle admits to a
second vaulted chamber containing a fireplace,
window and garderobe ; within this chamber
lies the entrance to the wheel-stair from the
cellars.
From the little entrance lobby at the court-
yard a stair leads down to a vaulted room
beneath the chapel, passing a garderobe in
transit. This room seems to have been a place
of confinement. It has a fireplace in the north-
east angle, and small windows to the west
and north. Beneath the north window there
is a trap giving access to a still lower vaulted
prison or "pit" (fig. 55) partly rock hewn, partly
built, without light and ventilated only by a
flue in the breast of the window above. At the
north-east angle a narrow stair leads up to a
garderobe with a soil chamber below.

The upper floor of the eastern range consists
of a Hall with a kitchen to the south, and an
inner room to the north, from which a turn-
pike rose to an upper chamber. The Hall has
been entered from the courtyard by a fore-
stair. From north to south it measures some
60 feet by 30 feet from east to west. There
have been windows to west and east, while
the south wall forms " the screens " and con-
tains a recess 5 feet 2 inches long, 2 feet 9 inches
high by 1 foot 2 inches deep with elaborately
moulded and foliaceously enriched jambs and
segmental arched head (fig. 60). The side and
central finials are crocketted, and above the
crown of the arch there is a small recessed panel
with an ogival head, which contains a weather-
worn shield charged quarterly : 1st and 4th,
3 mascles on a bend (Halyburton) ; 2nd,
[Marginal note] Date of Cameron Correct [?]
3 bars (Cameron) and 3rd a bend (Vaux).
The foliaceous ornament on the jambs and head
is derived from the vine scroll. On the halfits
there are circular pateræ and in the interspace
between the crocketting on the side finials is a
nail-head enrichment. The recess is very
similar in form and decoration to the 15th cen-
tury sepulchral monuments in the collegiate
churches ; what purpose it served is not quite
clear, but its position suggests its use as a buffet
or " dresser " for the display of plate. In
[Marginal note] ? in the screens
the hall of Borthwick Castle, Midlothian, is
another example of the same feature of the
same century.

At the south-east angle of the Hall a door
led to a vaulted servery, from which a stair
leads down to a serving hatch in the haunch
of the vault below. The servery contains a
cupboard in the north wall and two small
windows to the east.

The kitchen is vaulted with a pointed barrel
[Marginal note] Shown circular on plan
vault 32 feet high pierced with a central
circular aperture for ventilation. It has a
great fireplace against the north and another
against the east wall. A hatch in the floor
[Marginal note] The kitchen at Dudley Castle has 2 fireplaces
communicates with the bakery below and
another with the well. The only lights are
in the south wall, while the lower window has
a slop drain in the breast and a cupboard in
the east jamb. Off the kitchen there opens a
chamber, originally a small court which later
was roofed in and provided with an oven in the
south wall. Through this chamber the kitchen
communicates with the Hall by a vaulted
service passage. There has been stone shelving
along the east wall terminating at the service
opening. At the south-west angle of the

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