stirling-1963-vol-1/05_242

Transcription

No. 192 -- CASTLES AND TOWER-HOUSES -- No. 192
capital have been cut back. There were originally two
pairs of windows facing W., one pair on each side of the
central pier. These were either altered or blocked in the
18th century. In the N. return-wall there was a window
above the level of the gallery roof, and this is still partly
visible though it is now blocked up. There is nothing to
suggest that there was at any time a window in the S.
return. The windows in the W. wall of the bay were
transomed and their heads had rounded corners. Above
the capitals of the angle-shafts a moulded string, enriched
with paterae, returns round the bay, breaking upwards
above the niche that surmounts the central pier on the W.
side. Higher up is the encorbellment at the wall-head,
some of it modern. The rounds at the external angles of
the bay-window have been removed, but the profile of
the mouldings is still visible in the masonry a little below
the corbel course.
To the N. of the bay-window the ground floor of the
Hall is now masked by the transe, as was also the first
floor by the gallery above the transe until about the end
of the 18th century. Some of the corbels that supported
the roof of the gallery still remain, while others have been
cut back flush with the wall-face. At first-floor level, the
present level of the Upper Square, there may be seen the
remains of two old doorways, the one to the N., now
contracted in width and blocked up, having been the
main entrance-doorway of the Hall (Pl. 89 G). This door-
way has a moulded surround and the lintel has rounded
corners with carved spandrels; there was originally a
square hood-mould with carved stops but this has been
cut away. About 40 ft. to the S. of this entrance, there
remains one jamb of an inserted 17th-century doorway
(Pl. 88 A), now blocked; otherwise the doors and windows
on this floor are of later date. Above, some traces of the
original fenestration remain among the later windows;
of the canopied niches that originally stood between each
of the four pairs of windows only one survives (Pl. 88 B),
its base carved with the figure of an angel (Pl. 88 C). Part
of another niche may be seen between the S. pair of
windows and the bay-window. The projecting drip-
course of the gallery roof originally ran below the sills
of the windows but has now been cut back flush with
the wall-face. Just above this drip-course and near the
NW. angle there is a small stair-window, now blocked.
The corbelling at the wall-head has been restored at the
NW. and SW. angles where the original open rounds
have been removed.
The E. façade, in its original form, was generally
similar to the W. façade; a suggested reconstruction of
the original design is given in Fig. 81. To the N. of the
bay-window the elevational treatment was modified to
incorporate a turnpike stair which scarcely left room for
four pairs of large segmental-headed windows on the
principal floor, as on the W. façade; the number was
accordingly reduced to three pairs, two to the N. of the
staircase and one to the S. of it, together with an
additional single window between the S. pair and the
bay-window. Canopied niches were set between the
windows as on the W. side. On the ground floor the
arrangement is uncertain, but there was probably a series
of small windows lighting the cellars within. In the NE.
re-entrant angle, between the bay-window and the main
wall of the building, a turnpike stair was corbelled out at
ground-floor level, but it did not rise above the splayed
offset-course that returns along the façade between the
ground and first floors.
As it stands today (Pl. 87 B), the façade to the S. of the
bay-window contains a window at ground-floor level;
this has a square hood-mould with carved stops of which
the one to the N. represents a hare (Pl. 89 D) and the one
to the S. a stag. The round at the SE. angle has been
removed and the corbelling restored; to the N. the
corbelling breaks downward to meet that of the bay-
window. The bay-window, while generally similar to the
one in the W. façade, differs from it in certain particulars
of design and in the more sophisticated treatment of its
ornamental detail. Beneath the window, but only on its E.
side, there is a boldly splayed base-course. Above this,
near the centre of the bay, there is a window, now con-
verted into a doorway (Pl. 89 A); this has moulded jambs
and a lintel surmounted by a square hood-mould with
carved stops. The S. stop represents a griffin (Pl. 89 B)
and the N. one a mermaid (Pl. 89 C). The jambs and
head provide evidence for a stout grille. In the S. return
of the bay there is an inserted window at ground-floor
level. At the angles of the bay, and also at the centre of
its E. side, shafts rise from the offset-course and support
flat niches, now empty; subsidiary niches are set out on
either side of these shafts, about half-way up, and with
one exception still contain figures, very much wasted.
The shafts and their niches enclosed the original lights
of the bay-window; these lights, which were long and
narrow, had transoms, those of the lateral lights being
fancifully linked. The corners of the lintels are rounded
and have carved spandrels. Over all there runs a string-
course enriched with paterae, Beneath the offset-course
that defines the base of the windows a carved stone
seems to have been inserted as an after-thought at each
angle of the bay. On the N. of the bay-window a fore-
stair, which is of 18th- or 19th-century date, masks
the small turnpike stair in the re-entrant angle between
the bay-window and the main wall. None of the open-
ings on the ground floor is original. Above the offset-
course, the two tiers of windows lighting the barrack-
rooms, and the other windows which light the halls
and staircases within, are obvious insertions, but traces
of the original fenestration are still discernible. The
niche between the northernmost pair of windows
survives, and its base is carved with a grotesque head.
Below this niche, and a little to the S. of it, a corbel
projects from the wall; this is unlikely to be an original
feature, and is probably connected with the provision of a
service lobby at this end of the Hall in the 16th century
(cf. p. 213). At the N. end of the wall is a small
stair-window, now built up. An original open round has
been removed from the NE. angle and the corbelling
restored at this point.
The turnpike stair is an original feature, but its upper
and lower parts differ both in the character of the external
mouldings and also in the diameter of the stair within.

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