stirling-1963-vol-1/05_228

Transcription

No. 192 -- CASTLES AND TOWER-HOUSES -- No. 192
Terrace, which runs beneath this part of the old fore-
wall, and on the NE. by a breast-wall looped for hand-
guns (Pl 64 C). This breast-wall is later in date than the
Forework, but is probably as old as the 16th century.
The Lower Terrace formerly had a balustrade on its SE.
side, no doubt the one supplied in 1628-9 (cf. p. 187),
but of this only a small portion remains at its SW. end.
Access to the Queen Anne and Over Port Batteries from
the roadway is obtained by a ramp rising to the former.

THE FOREWORK. The Forework (Pls. 65 A and 66),
erected between about 1500 and 1510 (cf. p. 183),
runs from one side of the Castle Hill to the other, i.e.
from WSW. to ENE., ¹ and shuts off approach to the
Castle from the SE. It may have replaced an earlier line
of defence in much the same position, although for this
no very definite evidence remains above ground; on the
other hand, the rubble masonry at the base of the fore-
wall may represent an earlier work, this conclusion being
suggested by the masonry at the base of the Prince's
Tower (cf. p. 195). As it stands it is incomplete, yet
enough remains to show how it must have looked when
entire. At each end there is a salient rectangular tower,
the Prince's Tower ² on the W. balancing the Elphinstone
Tower ³ on the E., the former complete to its wall-head
and the latter reduced to its two lower storeys, of which
the upper one supports the Three Gun Battery. In the
middle of the Forework there is a gatehouse, with its
central entrance-gateway recessed between two round
towers, all now considerably reduced in height, while on
either side of this gatehouse may be seen the much
reduced remains of a D-shaped tower. These D-shaped
towers, which appear in Slezer's view (Pl. 57), may
perhaps be the ones referred to in an account of 1687 as
the "Wallace Tower" and the "Colledge Tower". ⁴ If
this suggested identification is correct, and if "Wallace"
is a corruption for "Well-house", as is not improbable,
then the Wallace Tower is the one that stands on the E.
side of the gatehouse, close to the well in the Lower
Square. Apart from alterations, the whole of this fore-
front is built of ashlar. Like the contemporary section of
the curtain-wall beneath the Grand Battery (pp. 215 f.),
the Forework appears to have been equipped for defence
by small cannon or other types of firearms.
On the E. side of the Forework the much reduced
remains of the Elphinstone Tower (Fig. 71) rise from a
splayed plinth about 4 ft. above the present level of the
Counterguard; above this plinth the original masonry
rises to a maximum height of twenty-three courses on
the S. and W. sides, but elsewhere the tower has been
much rebuilt in rubble masonry. This rebuilding dates
from the early 18th century. An original window in the
S. wall at ground-floor level has been slightly enlarged;
there are four openings at first-floor level, the two to the
W. being original windows and the others insertions. In
the re-entrant angle of the tower and the curtain, also at
first-floor level, there is a gun-loop facing NW., now
somewhat disfigured in shape. Between the Elphinstone
Tower and the base of the D-shaped tower to the W. of
it the plinth is stepped upwards. Here the old masonry
rises to a moulded corbel-course, probably the lowest
member of an original corbelled parapet. Above this
point the curtain has been rebuilt, probably in the 19th
century. Close to the D-shaped tower and about 8 ft.
above ground there is a window with chamfered
arrises, apparently a 17th-century insertion. All three
windows below the level of the corbel course are inser-
tions, the two easternmost being rather older than the
other one. The D-shaped tower is reduced to its founda-
tion, but the tusking of its outer walls remain to a
considerable height at each side; the rubble infilling that
today completes the Forework here is modern, as is the
battlement above. Above the tusking there is some old
corbelling in secondary use. A gun-loop, now blocked,
can be seen in the masonry between the tower and the
gatehouse, and a little to the W. there is a vent shaft
visible in the plinth. This presumably served a building
which formerly stood against the inner side of the curtain,
as shown in Dury's plan (cf. Pl. 59).
The gatehouse (Fig. 72) is built of ashlar except at the
base, within the limits of the ramped approach, where
it is of rubble. The slope of the ramp was formerly a
little steeper than it is now, the original sill level of the
entrance doorways having been about 1 ft. higher than
it is at present. Both Slezer and Dury show a pit stretch-
ing between the drum towers and spanned by a wooden
bridge, but of this there is now no trace (cf. Pls. 56 and
59). The superstructure of the gatehouse, some six or
eight courses in height, is modern, and the appearance
of the work when entire can best be appreciated from old
illustrations (cf. Pls. 55 B and 57). Slezer's views indicate
that the gatehouse finished in a corbelled parapet, above
which there rose the conical roofs of the angle-towers. As
it stands at present, the gatehouse has at ground level a
wide central transe flanked at either side by a narrower
one; all are vaulted and have both a portcullis and a door
at each end (Pls 65 A and 65 B). The doorways are round-
arched and have square hood-moulds with carved stops.
The flanking towers are provided with gun-loops of
dumb-bell shape (Pl 65 c).
The D-shaped tower to the W. of the gatehouse
(Pl. 66) rises to a height of about 10 ft. above the Lower
Terrace, but much of the masonry is modern, as is the
infilling along the general line of the Forework. There
is a gun-loop, now blocked, in the curtain between the
tower and the gatehouse. The stretch of curtain running

1 In the description that follows, compass points have been
given on the basis of an alinement from E. to W. The Palace,
the Great Hall, the Chapel Royal and the King's Old Building
have likewise been described as if on true cardinal alinements,
though the last actually runs more nearly from NW. to SE.
2 This name is given on Dury's plan of the early 18th
century (Pl. 59). It may have originated from the use of the
building by Prince Henry, son of James VI, who was born in
the Castle in 1594.
3 This tower probably takes its name from Alexander
Elphinstone of Invernochty, who was appointed Keeper of
the Castle in 1508, when the building was in course of erection
(Reg. Sec. Sig., i (1488-1529), No. 1590).
4 M. of W. Accts., MSS., Miscellaneous Stirling Castle
Accounts, 1667-1705.

-- 193