fife-kinross-clackmannan-1933/03-488

Transcription

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

having three storeys and the western having
four, with a wing projecting on the southern
side. The wing contains the main staircase,
above which are two chambers, entered from
a turret-staircase corbelled out within the
eastern re-entrant angle. At the back of the
house - that is, to the north - a newel-stair
projects within a turret and serves all floors.
The elevations are simply treated but have a
certain dignity. The masonry is of rubble and is
harled, but two turrets corbelled out at the
southern angles of the stair-wing and a bartizan
corbelled out above the front door, between the
south-east turret and the adjoining stair-turret,
are of ashlar. The entrance is in the east wall
of the wing. The door-piece is moulded and is
surmounted by a large panel in excellent
preservation, which has a delicately moulded
border enriched with cherubs' heads. The panel
contains a shield parted per pale: within a
bordure; dexter, a chevron charged with a
crescent, between three cinquefoils, for Halli-
day*; sinister, three crescents, for Oliphant.
Enclosing the shield are the initials M./I.H. and
H.O., for Master John Halliday and Helen
Oliphant, his wife. ² On the dexter side of the
shield is the inscription: THE LORD IS / ONLIE
MY DEFENCE / 2 APRIL 1608; and, on the
sinister side: PEACE BE / WITHIN THY WALLES
AND / PROSPERITIE / WITHIN THY HOUS /.
The bartizan, with its machicolation, covering
the entrance, is unexpected at this date. It is
borne on two massive corbels. The slab forming
the floor or platform is perforated for the
machicolation, the upper surface having a little
kerb round it, probably for a wooden cover.
The surface water from the bartizan has been
carried along a stone gutter to a spout wrought
on the south-east turret. In the western re-
entrant angles are little circular shot-holes, and
on the southern wall of the wing is a stone
bearing a sunk circular panel, cable-moulded.
The original windows were only half-glazed.
The majority of them have been enlarged. A
dormer on the main block beside the southern
stair-turret has a pointed pediment, delicately
moulded and enriched with scrolls, initialled
M.I.H. and H.O., and dated 1608.
The entrance to the house opens at the foot
of the main staircase. At ground-floor level the

* But these are not the arms given by Nisbet to
Halliday of Tullibole.

main block contains three apartments, none of
them vaulted. The eastern chamber is the
kitchen, and the original fireplace arch is still
traceable in the gable. The mid-chamber has
probably been a store-room, and it seems
originally to have been entered from a lobby
opening at the foot of the main staircase, but
this has been closed and now forms a large
cupboard,* while a new entrance to the mid-
chamber has been formed from the kitchen. At
the north-west angle the mid-chamber com-
municates with the north or newel-stair, at the
north-east angle a straight service-stair within
the thickness of the wall rises to the upper floor.
The western chamber of the basement can be
entered only from the mid-chamber. It was a
living-room and contains a fireplace. On the
first floor also there were originally three
chambers, but the two eastern ones now form
a single apartment, modernised as the dining-
room. It is lit from each of the three outer
walls. The partition wall at the western end
contains the fireplace, and to the south of
this a mural chamber, while to the north is a
mural lobby, which leads to the north stair.
The western chamber has been modernised
and is now the drawing-room. The upper rooms
are bedrooms and these also have been modern-
ised.
DOVECOT. - A rectangular dovecot, measuring
18 feet 8 inches by 16 1/2 feet, stands about 100
yards to the north-east of the house. It is
built of harled rubble, but the nests are of wood.
The roof is ruinous. Above the entrance,
which faces south, is a panel bearing the date
1751.
HISTORICAL NOTE. - John Halliday (" Haly-
day"), advocate, bought the lands of Tullibole
("Tullieboyle") in 1598. ¹ He was dead before
1607, but in 1605 he had granted these lands
to his eldest son John, also an advocate, and
his future wife, Helen Oliphant. ² The erection
of the house followed in 1608, the date beside
their initials on the heraldic panel and the
pediment. This John, afterwards knighted,
was dead by 1620, in which year his son William
was served heir to Tullibole. ³

1 Reg. Mag. Sig., s.a., No. 769.
2 Ibid., s.a., No. 1912.
3 Inquis. Spec., Fife, No. 311.

xxv N.E. 14 May 1929.

* This compartment was not available for inspection
at the date of visit.

[Page] 292

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