stirling-1963-vol-1/05_237

Transcription

No. 192 -- CASTLES AND TOWER-HOUSES -- No. 192
to the W. an inserted door opens on to a short flight of
steps which leads down to the Lady's Hole. To the E.
an original doorway leads into the first of the Royal
apartments, the King's Guard Hall. ¹ Above this doorway
there is another at a higher level, which was no doubt
blocked when the insertion of an additional floor, in the
18th or 19th century, led to an alteration in the floor levels
of the gallery of the W. quarter. The King's Guard Hall,
though now subdivided, was originally a noble room, lit
by three great windows to the N. and another three to
the S., all of them having deep embrasures, with seg-
mental rear-arches, enriched all round with a bold
quirked edge-roll. Between two of the S. windows there
is a great fireplace (Pl. 81 A), its immense lintel supported
on shafted jambs with moulded bases and carved
capitals. These capitals are obviously the work of the
carver responsible for the enriched encorbellment on the
outside of the Palace. ² Each capital (PL. 83 A) has a human
head in the centre, framed in foliage and flanked on each
side by a dog. At the E. end of the Guard Hall there is a
doorway opening into the King's Presence Chamber,
which can also be reached directly from the Great Hall
by means of a bridge; this replaces an earlier bridge in
the same position. The Presence Chamber is only two-
thirds the length of the Guard Hall but none the less it
has been a fine apartment; today, however, it is divided
into passages and offices and its quality is consequently
lost. ³ It is lit from S., E. and N. The S. wall contains a
large fireplace (Pl. 82 A) with shafted jambs, moulded
bases and capitals (Pl. 82 B) carved with eagles and scroll-
work. On the W. of the fireplace there is a recess at a low
level, perhaps a cupboard or the lower part of a doorway,
which originally gave access to the garderobe on the NW.
of the King's Bed Chamber. The Presence Chamber
originally contained a remarkable compartmented ceiling
in which were incorporated the oak medallions known as
the "Stirling Heads". ⁴ Some of the Heads appear to have
been destroyed soon after the ceiling was dismantled in
1777 (cf. p. 189), but many survived, and thirty-one
medallions are now displayed in the Smith Institute,
Stirling, while others are preserved elsewhere, one of
them within the Castle (cf. p. 204). Some of the Heads
represent figures of history and mythology, while others
appear to be portraits of contemporaries. The interest
of the subject-matter and the very high standard of
craftsmanship displayed by the carvers make these
medallions the most notable examples of Renaissance
woodwork now known to exist in Scotland, A con-
jectural reconstruction of the interior of the Presence
Chamber at it was before the destruction of the ceiling
is given in Fig.76, while photographs of a selection of
the Heads may be seen in Pl. 86. On the S. the Presence
Chamber opens into the King's Bed Chamber, a narrower
room, situated at the centre of the E. side of the Palace.
This is lit by two E. windows. In the middle of the wall
opposite there is a particularly good fireplace (Pl. 81 E)
with pilastered jambs bearing panels carved with thistles.
The bases have been renewed, but the capitals (Pl. 83 B)
are intact and are carved with a lion head in front, foliage
at the angles, and a human head on each side. The fire-
place is flanked by two original doorways, the N. one
leading into a garderobe (Pl. 85 C) and the S. one into a
chamber called the King's Closet, ⁵ at the N. end of which
a straight stair, now closed up, originally rose to the floor
above. At the S. end of the King's Closet there is a
small chamber, now subdivided, which has an aumbry
in its S. wall. At the S. end of the King's Bed Chamber,
a modern archway, which replaces the original doorway,
gives access to the Queen's Bed Chamber, situated at the
SE. corner of the Palace. This is lit from S. and E. and
has on the N. a fireplace (Pl. 81 D) with pilastered jambs,
moulded bases and carved capitals. The pilasters are
panelled, the panels being carved with conventionalised
floral ornaments, and their capitals bear cherubs' heads
at the angles. The carving is very similar to some of that
seen on the outside of the building. A doorway in the SE.
corner formerly led into the little cap-house at the E. end
of the Upper Terrace, but in the 18th or 19th century
this doorway was blocked when a staircase was inserted
to give access from the cap-house to the second floor of
the Palace. This stair is supported on a curved screen
inserted rather clumsily into the Bed Chamber. A door-
way on the W. opens into the Queen's Presence Chamber.
This is lit from N. and S. and has, at the E. end of the
N. wall, a good fireplace (Pl. 81 C) with shafted jambs
rising from moulded bases to carved capitals. On the
capitals (Pl. 84) the figure of a man with outstretched
arms supports the abacus, while on either side a female
figure clutches the bottom of his cloak. In the S. wall
there seems originally to have been a garderobe, situ-
ated between the Prince's Tower and the adjoining
window of the Presence Chamber, but this has been
altered, either to give access from the Presence Chamber
to the Upper Terrace or else to form a small chamber
serving the apartment on the first floor of the Prince's
Tower. On the W. a doorway opens into the Queen's
Guard Hall. This has three windows facing N. towards
the Lions' Den, two more looking W. and one looking S.,
together with the embrasure of a second on the S. which
is now blocked externally. Between the embrasures of
these two latter windows, a 19th-century fireplace has
been inserted into what was formerly a doorway giving
access to the outshot in the re-entrant angle of the S. wall
of the Palace and the W. wall of the Prince's Tower
(cf. p. 199). Between the two windows in the W. wall
there is a deep recess just above floor level; this may have
been reduced in height. The original large fireplace still
remains in the S. wall; it has hexagonal jambs which

1 The names of the various State Apartments appear on
Dury's plan of the early 18th century, cf. Pl. 59.
2 The carving of the fireplaces of the State Apartments also
resembles that of the fireplace in the Presence Chamber on the
first floor of the W. quarter of Linlithgow Palace (Inventory of
Midlothian and West Lothian, No. 356).
3 These subdivisions, like those in the King's Guard Hall,
are of a temporary nature and have been omitted from the plans.
4 A full account of these medallions may be found in: The
Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments
(Scotland), The Stirling Heads, H.M.S.O., Edinburgh, 1960.
5 The name is not on Dury's plan but appears on National
Library of Scotland MS. 1645, Z 2/17, of 1709-10.

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