OS1/3/25/60

Continued entries/extra info

[Page] 60
[Continued]
from the adjoining rock, with corners and post holes etc of freestone, not superior, as when the former
Statistical Account was written, to any found in the Parish, But, as it is only of late years the freestone
quarries in the parish have been wrought, it must have been brought from a considerable distance. The length
building without the walls is 113 feet. the breadth 40 feet. At the South end, is the keep or prison
Consisting of two or three miserable looking arched cells nearly filled up with rubbish, which was
by form a distinct compartment, but are in reality a part of the original building. On the western wall
the arms of the Stewarts, with those of some of the more powerful barons, are carved in alto relievo
are so obliterated by time as to be almost indistinguishable. Parts of the wall. both of the outer
and inner courts are still standing, and appearances of a mound or fortification running round the whole
and of a moat at the bottom of the hill, are distinctly to be traced. Previous to the Reformation the
Castle contained a chapel dedicated to St. Ninian, with an endowment annexed, the patronage being
vested in the prince; but no remains of it are now to be discovered. We shall leave these dry bones of
proud and living architecture, with the quotation of a popular rhyme regarding them, which lays claim
to a high antiquity. The verse is certainly descriptive enough of the castle as it stands, but if it is as ancient
as is supposed it must have reference to a still older fortlet which is generally believed to have
occupied the same site
There is a Castle in the Wast
They ca'it Donald's Din;
There's no a nail in it awa
Nor yet a timmer pin!"
New Stat Acct [Statistical Account]