stirling-1963-vol-1/05_234

Transcription

No. 192 -- CASTLES AND TOWER-HOUSES -- No. 192
side of the Prince's Tower (cf. p. 196) to a building on
the N., most of which was removed about 1540 when
the Palace was erected. Above the level of the ground
floor the walling is for the most part contemporary with
the Place, but the indications are that it was never of
ashlar, not did it incorporate recesses with statues like
the remainder of the façade. The enriched encorbellment,
however, is similar to that which occurs elsewhere on the
Palace, and at the SW. angle a stout shaft is set out from a
great corbel in the form of a lion. The two large windows
at first-floor level are original, but when the single-
storeyed structure to the W. of the Prince's Tower was
heightened to form an outshot of three storeys (cf. p. 196)
these windows were blocked. Subsequently the outshot
was demolished and the easternmost window was un-
blocked and contracted in height and width. Between the
windows, and at a lower level, there is a doorway with
chamfered arrises, now blocked. Like one of the arched
openings on the ground floor, this doorway seems to form
part of an arrangement older than the Palace. It may
originally have given access from a terrace or walk above
the single-storeyed structure to the W. of the Prince's
Tower (cf. p. 196) to the building on the N. that was
largely demolished about 1540 (supra). When the Palace
was built, the doorway was utilised to give access from
the Queen's Guard Hall to the terrace or walk, and sub-
sequently to the three-storeyed outshot that relaced it.
The doorway was blocked up when the outshot was
demolished. The window in the parapet was inserted at
the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Of the original W. façade only a stretch some 35 ft. in
length at the S. end has survived, as the rest was taken
down in the 17th century and never rebuilt (p. 187); but
the gallery on its E. side was spared, and the partition
that separated gallery and "quarter" has become the main
W. wall of the Palace, apart from the fragment just
mentioned. The S. portion of this fragment, some 23 ft.
long, is not in alinement with the partition and is for the
most part earlier in date than the Palace. Both the arched
opening at ground-floor level and the window on the
floor above were inserted in it when the Palace was built.
At the point where the alinement changes there is a rough
tusking, which is usually taken as the scar of the return
of the old S. wall of the missing W. quarter. This is
difficult to reconcile with the existence of an apparently
original and undisturbed window of the type found else-
where in the Palace, a little to the N. of the tusking and
at first-floor level. Whatever may have been the original
intentions of the builders, therefore, it seems that the S.
wall of the W. quarter as built returned, not at the tusk-
ing, but about 12 ft. to the N. of it. The part that was
originally a partition is built of rubble and shows evidence
for three storeys below the parapet; the gallery now
contains four storeys, an additional storey having been
introduced in the 18th or 19th century. Most of the
base of the partition is covered by a modern cook-house
which incorporates earlier masonry in the lower part of
its walls, and the only openings visible on the ground
floor are a modern doorway and window situated
respectively to the N. and S. of the cook-house. Higher
up, however, there are windows dating from the 17th
century. These were made after the W. quarter itself
had been demolished. The original openings traceable
in the partition are a built-up doorway on the first or
principal floor, and three doorways on the floor above,
two of which have been made into windows; these door-
ways formerly led from the gallery to the quarter. There
are also traces of a cross-partition on the top floor, which
shows that the missing quarter was divided in two, at
least on that floor, each part having its own entrance
from the gallery beyond.
The central court of the Palace, known as the Lions'
Den, has yet to be described. The name may derive
from the occasional use of the courtyard as an exercise
ground for the wild beasts of the Royal menagerie. In
December 1537 it was suggested that a young lion, which
had been bought in Flanders, should be presented to
James V, the "Prince delighting in such things". ¹ The
lion seems to have arrived, however, only in 1539, the
year in which the erection of the Palace was begun. ²
Today the court is entered near the SE. and NW.
corners. All its four sides are built of rubble with ashlar
dressings, and there is a splayed intake-course about
11 ft. above ground level. The walls on the N., S. and W.
sides have been raised about 3 ft., and the uppermost
windows have been correspondingly heightened. It will
be convenient to consider the W. wall first. although it
shows many signs of extensive alteration. On the ground
floor there are three inserted windows and an inserted
doorway near the NW. angle, all of 18th- or 19th-
century date. Above these openings, on the first floor of
the gallery, a large central doorway rises through the
intake-course, which ends in a carved stop on each side
of the opening. This doorway, which is an original
feature, has a very bold quirked edge-roll on its jambs
and lintel; it was formerly reached from a forestair rising
from the courtyard. On either side of this doorway there
was a pair of great windows similarly moulded, but these
were contracted in the 18th or 19th century. Above them
there is a tier of three windows, formed in the 18th or
19th century when the new floor was inserted in the
gallery. On the top floor there are three windows which
date from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries; they
were heightened at some still later date. The E. side of
the courtyard, like the W. side, consists of a gallery, but
in this case the quarter behind it has survived. On the
ground floor there is a gun-loop at each end of the wall
(Pl. 85 F), and between the loops there are two small
windows, of which the N. one has been rebuilt; in 1719
this opening was shown as a doorway opening into the
courtyard. ³ On the first floor there are four small original
windows. The roof of the gallery stops short of the main
wall-head, except at the N. end where there is a little
cap-house which contains a stair. On the top floor there
are three windows, set in the wall of the quarter and
looking out over the roof of the gallery. Of these, the S.

1 State Papers, Scottish, i, 39.
2 Hamilton Papers, i, 56.
3 National Library of Scotland MS. 1645, Z 2/18.

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