stirling-1963-vol-1/05_232

Transcription

No. 192 -- CASTLES AND TOWER-HOUSES -- No. 192
taken down (cf. p. 187), leaving the back of the gallery
exposed as the outer wall. There are three storeys in the
Palace, respectively devoted to cellerage, State Rooms,
and lodgings. While the existing building dates for the
most part from 1540-2 (cf. p. 184), analysis shows that
some remains of an earlier structure have been incorpor-
ated within it on the ground floor (cf. Fig. 73). This older
building seems to be approximately contemporary with
the Forework, with which it is structurally connected.
The masonry of the outer walls of the Palace is for the
most part of ashlar, relatively untouched but for the
introduction of windows at parapet level at the turn of
the 17th and 18th centuries (cf. p. 188).

Exterior. The Palace has a prominent part in the make-
up of the forefront of the Castle, although only the
upper storeys of its S. side are visible above the Upper
Terrace and the screen wall W. of the Prince's Tower.
The N. and E. façades and the E. half of the S. façade are
identical in treatment (Pls. 67, 70, 75). The walls are
divided into a series of recessed bays or niches which
have segmental arch-heads cusped on their soffits. These
arch-heads spring from boldly carved stops, some
representing monsters and others humans, which also
serve as terminations to bold angle-rolls framing the bays
at each side; these angle-rolls rise from a plinth which
runs the full length of the façades. The original doors
and windows are situated in the wall-face between the
bays, and at the level of the sills of the windows on the
first or principal floor a decorated string-course returns
along the façade; on the E. and N. façades the string-
course is enriched with cherubs' heads. Within each
bay, a corbel, carved as a half-figure, projects to sup-
port a decorated column on the top of which there
stands a human figure. The walls finish in an enriched
corbel-course of two members, the lower being carved
with a ribbon-and-staff motif except on the S. façade,
where there is a plain roll-moulding, and the upper
with a band of carved cherubs' heads. On this encor-
bellment rests the embattled parapet, and from the
face of the parapet there project twisted shafts set out
on grotesque gargoyles in the shape of animal heads
and surmounted by figures about half the size of those
within the recesses below, with which they are centred.
These sculptures are described in detail below (pp. 220 ff).
In the parapet of the S. quarter there are four small
inserted openings, perhaps for hand-guns. The merlons
and embrasures of the parapet are original. Within the
parapet rise the four roofs - one for each quarter - those
running E. and W. being received on crow-stepped
gables surmounted by finials in the shape of crowns,
topped by lions sejant (Pl. 80 B).
The openings remain to be noticed. In the E. façade
(Pl. 70) there are three arched doorways at ground level,
two near the ends, the third at the centre. These have
segmental arch-heads and are moulded with a bold
quirked edge-roll (Pl. 85 E). Four windows are set above
the plinth, one of them quite modern; the other three
are original openings which have been enlarged, and
these too have quirked edge-rolls. Higher up, the great
windows of the State Rooms rise from the continuous
string-course. These are chamfered at jamb and lintel
and are surmounted by segmental relieving-arches
enclosing little pediments. The pediments are moulded
and exhibit at the centre a panel, accompanied by
dolphins and scroll-work and bearing the inscription
I 5 for James V (1513-42). The heavy grilles that bar
the openings have been renewed recently. The three
large windows broken out through the parapet and
encorbellment to light the top floor date from the turn
of the 17th and 18th centuries. The N. elevation (Pl. 75)
has no openings at the lowest level as the level of the
ground rises on this side of the building; the first or
principal floor, in fact, is at ground level at the NW.
corner of the Palace, and advantage has been taken of this
circumstance to place the public entrance to the State
Rooms at this point. The entrance is approached through
a porch situated beneath the stair that gives access to
the second floor of the Palace. The doorway, which is
unusually wide, is wrought on jamb and lintel with a
bold, quirked edge-roll; an old wooden door is still in
position (Pl. 85 B). Apart from the absence of windows on
the lowest floor, this N. façade is generally similar to the
one on the E. There are five great windows above the
string-course, and six bay-recesses, but the westernmost
is incomplete as it abuts on a tusking, perhaps the
remains of a wall which ran N. and so enclosed the N. side
of the Upper Square. The N. portion of such a wall is
shown on Dury's plan (Pl. 59), and part of its founda-
tions are marked by a setting of paving-stones in the
Upper Square (cf. Fig. 86). Most of the crenellation of
the N. side is intact, and is interrupted only by one
inserted window. The figures within the bays are in
better preservation than those on the E.; of the upper
series of statues, however, only one remains - a putto
playing on a pipe.
Of the S. façade (Pl. 67), again, the lowermost part E.
of the Prince's Tower is hidden by the Upper Terrace,
but what is unobscured is generally similar to the sides
already described. There are four recesses, the one next
to the Prince's Tower having no angle-roll on its W.
side; all contain figures, which are still complete although
somewhat weathered. In the lower part of the W. recess
the masonry has been disturbed and contains an opening,
now blocked, which may at one time have given access
from the Upper Terrace to the Queen's Presence
Chamber (cf. p. 202). Beyond the bay to the E. there
seems always to have been a little cap-house, probably
not unlike the present one, which is comparatively
modern. On the W. side of the Prince's Tower the
masonry of the S. wall of the Palace shows traces of dis-
turbance; at ground-floor level it incorporates part of an
older building, apparently contemporary with the Fore-
work. There has been much alteration here and the
building sequence is not clear; two arched openings
occur at ground-floor level and now give access to the
vaulted transe that runs beneath the S. quarter of the
Palace. The opening to the W. seems to be comparatively
modern, but the one on the E. seems originally to have
given access from the single-storeyed structure on the W.

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