argyll-1971/01-210

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CASTLES, TOWER-HOUSES AND FORTIFICATIONS

No.314
oblong on plan measures 17.1m from E. to W. by
11.1m transversely over walls some 2.1m in thickness.
The S. wall has been almost entirely removed, and the
N. wall has been pierced to form a large round-arched
entrance-gateway, both these alterations presumably
having been carried out during the conversion of the
castle into a court of offices at the end of the 18th
century. Elsewhere the walls are generally preserved to a
height of two storeys, b ut in places they show traces of
an additional storey, and reach a maximum elevation of
about 8.2m. All the evidence goes to suggest that the
hall-house did, in fact, comprise three storeys, of which
the lowermost was a cellar while the two upper were
residential in character; the building was unvaulted,
the timber floors having been supported upon mural
scarcements.
The masonry is of local mica-schist rubble, roughly
coursed and bonded with an abundance of small pin-
nings, and the dressings are of red sandstone, The same
materials were used throughout the greater part of the
castle, the rubble probably having been quarried from
the exposed rock-outcrops that can be seen about 400m
to the SE. of the site, and the sandstone dressings from
quarries on the Isle of Arran.1
A heavy splayed plinth some 1.5m in height formerly
returned round all four walls of the building, the eastern
section now being visible within the adjacent basement-
apartment of the E. range. Although now wholly
incorporated within the fabric of the later castle of
enceinte, the hall-house appears originally to have been
free-standing and all four external corners can still be
identified, the NW. angle being wholly exposed, the SW.
angle being visible high up in the inner face of the N.
wall of the latrine-tower in the W. curtain, and the two
eastern angles being partially preserved at their junction
with the E. range. The existing walls contain no original
openings at ground-floor level, and access to the cellar
is likely to have been gained by means of a doorway in
the S. wall. A small depression at the E. end of the cellar
marks the site of a well, which is said to have been filled
up within fairly recent years.2b The well was presumably
constructed to serve the hall-house, but it evidently
remained in use after the castle was enlarged at the turn
of the 13th and 124th centuries; this appears to have
constituted the only internal source of water supply.
There is now no trace of the original means of access
to the two upper floors, but it may be conjectured that
the first, or principal, floor was approached by means of a
forestair leading up to a doorway situated towards one
end of the S.wall. This floor appears to have comprised
a single large apartment, presumably a hall; it was lit by
a single window in each of the gable walls, by either one
or two windows in the N. wall, and by an unknown
number of windows in the S. wall, which may also have
contained a fireplace. All the surving windows appear
to have had round-headed inner arches of dressed
sandstone, splayed embrasures and sloping heads. The
E. gable-window (Pl.58c) was blocked up when the
late 13th 0r early 14th century courtyard buildings were
erected, but its upper portion was opened up again in

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the late 18th century to give light or access to the first
floor of the tower-house during the latter's occupation
as part of the farmsteading of this date. The opening has
since been re-blocked, apart from its lower portion ,
which serves to ventilate a timber floor within the tower.
The original ingo is thus partly preserved, and shows a
stepped sill and a window opening having a daylight of
0.32m; the jambs and sill of the window are wrought
with a plain 0.04m chamfer.
In the opposite wall there may be seen traces of a
blocked-up window apparently similar in all respects to
the one just described, while towards the W. end of the
N. wall there are the remains of a larger and more
elaborate window such as might have lit the dais end of
the hall. This appears to have comprised a double
lancet having a monolithic head pierced by a small
central lozenge-shaped light, the whole set within a
segmental-headed outer arch wrought on jambs and
arch-head with an angle-roll between single fillets
(Fig.168,Pl.58A,B). There are indications that the
windows were provided with internal shutter-frames;
there are also traces of what appear to be glazing-
grooves, although these may not be original provisions.
The only other feature at this level is a garderobe at
the NW. angle, which is provided with a slit-window in
the W. wall and with a stone seat; there is presumably
a mural discharge-chute, but no trace of an outlet can
now be seen at the base of the wall. The garderobe itself
appears to be an original provision, but it has been some-
what altered, the entrance doorway having been en-
larged and a second windoe (now blocked up) inseted
in the N. wall.
Little can be said about the arrangements on the
second floor except that the apartment or apartments at
this level were lit in part by a window in the E. gable-
wall, of which some traces may still be seen (Pl.58C).
This window, like the one below it, was blocked up during
the late 13th or early 14th century enlargement of the
castle, but a stone seat can be seen outlined in each ingo.
The external opening (now visible within the adjacent
first-floor apartment to the E.) has a width of 0.28m,
and the jambs and sill are wrought with a plain 0.07m
chamfer; the form of the head is uncertain (Pl.58D).
The hall-house probably had a pitched roof, and the
width of the wall-head would have provided ample
space for a parapet-walk.

THE CASTLE OF ENCEINTE. The incorporation of the
free-standing hall-house and chapel within a sub-
stantial castle of enceinte was evidently conceived as a
single building-operation, but the work is likely to have
taken several years to complete. There is some evidence
to suggest that the first stage of the building programme
saw the completion of the N. and W. curtains with their
towers, and the extension of the E. curtain southwards
as far as the NE. corner of the chapel. The E. gable-
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1 Information from Mr. G. H. Collins, Institute of Geo-
logical Sciences.
2 Information from the late Mr. C.A.M. Oakes of Skipness.