fife-kinross-clackmannan-1933/03-313

Transcription

KILMANY.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [KILMANY


measuring externally 43½ feet by 26 feet, and
has had three storeys beneath the wall-head.
The lowest storey is vaulted. The masonry
is whin rubble with freestone dressings. The
windows are unusually small, and one on the
first floor, looking southward, has a broad
chamfered margin and has been heightened.
At each of the angles there is a turret supported
on a corbel of four members. The parapet has
only a slight projection over the wall face and
is borne on small corbels, each of two members.
The tower has been considerably altered, but
full examination is at present impossible owing
to the growth of ivy, which threatens the
stability of the walls. West of the tower there
has been a small courtyard open to the north.
The western buildings are two-storeyed and
have, at the south-west angle, a circular tower,
the upper part of which is used as a dovecot.
Although the southern buildings have been
removed, the entrance remains, and its lintel is
inscribed HIC . . . PONS ESTO I.C M.L 1682, which
presumably records the date of the extension.
The first pair of initials are for James Crawford,
for whom see HISTORICAL NOTE. The entrance
to the castle has been from the north, where
part of a transe, dated 1683, is incorporated in
the farm buildings.

HISTORICAL NOTE.--George Balfour was in
"Munquhane" in 1459.¹ In 1493 these
Balfour lands were erected into a free barony
in favour of Michael Balfour.² A charter of
1547/8 specifies "the tower, fortalice, and
manor-house." The Balfours continued till
the beginning of the 17th century, but in 1668
James Lumsden of Mountquhanny was retured
heir in these lands to his father General-Major
Robert Lumsden of Mountquhanny.³ Towards
the close of the century the lands came into
possession of James Crawford.4

¹ Reg.Mag.Sig., s.a., No. 701. ² Ibid., s.a.,
No. 2149. ³ Inquis. Spec., Fife, No. 1034.
4 Sibbald's Hist. of Fife, etc. (ed.1803), p. 411.

iii S.E. 1 June 1927.

320. Tower, Easter Kinnear.-- On the farm
of Easter Kinnear, 3¼ miles west-north-west of
Leuchars, beside some cot-houses, is the
fragment of a tower. Only the north-east
angle remains, standing to a height of 17 feet
and indicating that the basement floor had

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been ceiled and the upper floor vaulted. The
masonry has been rubble, built with pinnings.
iv S.W.("Kinnear, Remains of"). 27 May 1927.

321.Dovecot, Rathillet.--The dovecot at
Rathillet probably dates from the 18th century.
It is oblong on plan, measuring 19¼ feet by
14¾ feet, and has tabled skews, the western
skew-put bearing a cubical sundial with iron
gnomon.

vii N.E. (unnoted). 1 June 1927.

322. Dovecot, Lochmalony.--This is a 17th-
century dovecot, square on plan, measuring
15feet 1 inch by 15 feet 2½ inches, built of
harled rubble, and having crow-stepped gables.

vii N.E. (unnotted). 1 June 1927.

323. Dovecot, Starr.-- A 17th-century dove-
cot, recently re-roofed, stands in a park south-
west of the buildings at the farm of Starr. It is
oblong on plan, measuring 20½ feet by 15¼ feet
externally, and is built of rubble originally
harled. The flanks are crow-stepped and there
is one string-course. The entrance faces south
and there have been small windows in the side
walls above the string-course, but these are now
built up. The nests are of stone.
vii N.E. 25 March 1930.

MISCELLANEOUS

324. Stone Circles in Drumnod Wood.--
These constructions, although designated
"Stone Circles" on the O.S. map, are more
accurately described as circular enclosures with
defining ridges of stone. They closely resemble
in size, setting, and other characteristics the
enigmatical enclosures that have been noted
near Clune Craig in Ballingry parish (No. 56).
The Drumnod examples are situated on the
crest of a high knoll about 300 yards south of
Hazelton smithy and at an elevation of 500
feet above sea-level. The form a group of
three, and the outline of the one on the south
remains clearly marked by a wall founda-
tion. having an average width of 4½ feet and
rising slightly above the immediate surroun-
ings. The other two enclosures, which impinge
on the north and east sides of the better defined
example, are considerably broken up and can

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