stirling-1963-vol-1/05_259

Transcription

No. 192 -- CASTLES AND TOWER-HOUSES -- No. 192
the highest parts of the Castle Rock and commands an
extensive prospect to the W. and S. It has been some-
what less drastically remodelled than the E. wall, and
some old windows remain on the ground floor as shown
on the plan (Fig. 85). On the first floor there is evidence
of a range of large mullioned windows which have
evidently lit a spacious apartment within; these windows
are now blocked and have been replaced by later
insertions. In the S. gable of the main block a large roll-
moulded entrance-doorway remains at ground-floor level;
it is now partially blocked up and used as a window.
Internally the King's Old Building has been very much
altered. In the original arrangement the ground floor of
the main block contained a range of some seven compart-
ments, while there was an additional room or pair of
rooms in the E. wing. No doubt all these were vaulted,
though some of the vaults have now been removed, and
most of them probably served as cellars for storage. The
northernmost compartment but one in the main block
is a kitchen, but the large fireplace in the N. wall seems
to be a renewal dating from the 17th or 18th century.
Beneath the northernmost of the two windows that light
this room from the W. there is a sink outlet, now blocked.
There are now no features of interest on the upper floors
of the main block apart from one or two cast-iron fire-
grates dating from the reign of George III, whose cipher
they bear. There is now no access to the outshot at the
NW. angle of the range; on the first floor this seems
originally to have contained a garderobe serving the
northernmost room in the main block, and there may
have been a similar arrangement on the floor above. The
museum already mentioned as occupying the first floor
of the E. wing contains a number of relics from the
Castle, the most interesting of which are the following:
(a) A pulpit of oak from the Chapel Royal, which may
be as old as the 16th century (Pl. 95 A). Its front is
roughly semicircular in plan, containing five straight
sides each of which frames a moulded panel; the back
once carried a sounding board but this is now missing.
(b) A wooden door of 16th-century date containing two
panels carved with figures in relief (Pl. 95 B). (c) A door-
frame in which there are set two plaster panels (Pl. 95 C),
which may be casts of timber originals. The upper one
bears the Royal Arms with the initials I R 6, for James VI,
while the lower one bears within a wreath the date 1578.
A door in the E. wall of the museum leads into the
Douglas Room, so called as being the traditional place
of the murder of William, 8th Earl of Douglas, by
James II in 1452. This room cannot, however, have
existed before 1594, as it is set over the vaulted transe
that divides the King's Old Building from the Chapel
Royal and the transe is in turn contemporary with the
latter building (cf. Fig. 83). A fragment of carved wood-
work, which is said to have been rescued from this room
during the fire of 1855, is preserved in the Smith
Institute, Stirling, and is described under No. 405.

THE NETHER GREEN. The space N. of the King's Old
Building is known as the Nether Green or Douglas
Garden, At its NW. corner there stands a powder
magazine of early 18th-century date, now used as an
armoury. ¹ It measures 51 ft. 3 in. by 27 ft. over walls
6 ft. thick, and is built in rubble with dressed quoins.
The building contains a single vaulted chamber; it is
now entered from the N. by an inserted doorway, but
the original doorway, now blocked, remains in the S.
gable, which is concealed by a later addition. None of the
windows is original. ² In the Nether Green there stands
part of the shaft of a sundial of 17th-century date, of
which the head is missing. The shaft is square in section
and is divided into panels, most of which contain
geometrically-shaped sunk dials.

THE CURTAIN-WALLS (Fig. 86). The N. curtain,
which divides the central portion of the Castle from
the Nether Bailey, runs WNW. from the Mint across
the full width of the Castle Rock. The portion immedi-
ately to the W. of the Mint is of early 16th-century date,
and this has already been described (cf. p. 213); but
about 50 ft. W. of the entrance-gateway below the Mint
a straight joint is visible in the masonry, and beyond
this point the wall is of later date. This may be the part
of the curtain that was reconstructed after the collapse
that occurred about 1583 (cf. p. 185); it contains a
triangular bastion which is provided with a splayed gun-
loop in each of its external walls. Beyond the bastion the
wall shows traces of repairs and alterations and cannot
be dated with any certainty; none of the masonry, how-
ever, is likely to be older than the 16th century, and
much of it is probably considerably later. Nevertheless,
the alinement of the present N. curtain, like that of some
of the other walls of the Castle, may follow an earlier
line of defence.
Of the two remaining stretches of the main curtain-
wall, not already described, one lies W. of the Palace
and borders the platform known as the Lady's Hole.
This wall contains a number of embrasures, now
blocked, in its upper part. An older curtain-wall in this
neighbourhood was probably destroyed during the
collapse or demolition of the W. quarter of the Palace
in the 17th century (cf. p. 187), and the present curtain-
wall is thus most probably of 17th- or 18th-century date.
The second stretch runs N. from the King's Old Building
to meet the W. end of the N. curtain, thus forming the
W. boundary of the Nether Green. It is for the most part
contemporary with the King's Old Building and may be
ascribed to the 16th century, Some of the footings look
older, however, while the upper courses, together with
the parapet, were rebuilt and perhaps reduced in height
in the 18th or 19th century.
Another curtain-wall encloses the Nether Bailey,
which occupies the whole of the N. part of the Castle
Rock; this wall is not older than the 16th century but
may follow the line of an earlier defence of stone or
timber. In its W. part, and a little to the S. of a ruined
dyke which runs off from it at right angles, there may be

1 Cf. p. 188.
2 A plan and a section of this building, made in 1719, may be
seen in National Library of Scotland MS. 1645. Z 2/18.

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