stirling-1963-vol-1/05_254

Transcription

No. 192 -- CASTLES AND TOWER-HOUSES -- No. 192
work above it, surmounted by the Crown and Crest of
Scotland (Pl. 92 A). At the level of the window-sill there
is a neutral-coloured band or architrave, and immediately
above this comes the frieze in which bunches of fruit
alternate with scrolled cartouches. The latter display the
Crown, with the Sword and Sceptre of the Honours
arranged saltirewise, and in the flanks the initials I and

[Handwritten in margin] 6

in monogram and R separately - presumably for
James VI and I , in whose reigns the Chapel
was decorated and re-decorated (Pl. 92 B). Above the
frieze there is painted a cornice, enriched with egg-and-
dart and dentil ornament. Of the original internal arrange-
ments of the Chapel little is known except that, at the
baptism of Prince Henry in 1594 (cf. p. 186), the pulpit
stood in the middle of the building, while in 1719 it stood
against the S. wall, between the second and third windows
from the E. ¹ An old pulpit from the Chapel Royal is
preserved in the Castle museum and is mentioned on
p. 128. In the anteroom the door to the W., which
formerly led into the Chapel, is now blocked, but to the
E. another doorway gives access to the gallery on the N.
side of the Great Hall.

THE MINT. The building now known as the Mint ²
(Fig. 84; Pl. 93 B) stands at the NE. angle of the Castle,
a little to the E. of the N. end of the Great Hall. The
structure has been much altered at various periods and a
complete structural analysis is now impossible. On the
evidence available today, however, the development of
the building may be summarised as follows. The earliest
structure of which a part still survives was a large
polygonal tower containing on its lowest floor an entrance-
gateway to the Castle. This tower may be identified with
some probability as the N. gateway, the construction of
which is recorded in 1381 (cf. p. 182). At some time
during the 15th century the tower was reduced in width
on its NE. side but extended to the S. and W. At this
period the upper floors were remodelled, the first floor
being converted for use as a kitchen and a large kitchen-
fireplace (p. 215) being formed within a compartment
which had formerly served as a portcullis chamber. At a
later date the upper floors of the tower were again
remodelled as were those of the S. extension, and the
kitchen on the first floor was provided with an additional
fireplace and was linked to the Great Hall by the con-
struction of a service lobby in the space between the
W. wall of the Mint and the E. wall of the Great Hall.
The 15th-century W. extension of the Mint probably
remained in use beneath the service lobby, which no
doubt replaced an older upper floor. These alterations
were plainly connected with the provision of adequate
service facilities for the Great Hall, and were probably
carried out early in the 16th century, perhaps about 1512
when masons are known to have been working on the
structure (cf. p. 183). The last major alteration took place
during the 17th century, when the upper floors of the
tower and its S. extension were again remodelled and
partially raised in height. In 1719 the first floor of the
Mint served as a brewhouse while the second floor pro-
vided accommodation for the gunners' stores. ³ By this
time the service lobby between the Mint and the Great
Hall had probably gone out of use; it eventually became
ruinous and was demolished. The apartment below the
service lobby may have gone out of use at the same time;
it is now filled up with debris. During one of the fore-
going alterations the entrance-gateway on the ground
floor of the Mint seems to have been blocked up; it was
rediscovered only in 1879. ⁴
The buidling comprises three main storeys. In the
NW. wall, at ground-floor level, there may be seen the
original 14th-century entrance-gateway (Pl. 93 C), which
opens into a vaulted transe. The arch of this gateway
has a pointed head, which is chamfered, but the jambs,
although partially renewed on the SW. side, were always
plain. There was originally a portcullis, the chases for
which still remain above the springing level, although the
portcullis chamber above must have gone out of use
when the kitchen-fireplace was inserted into it in the
15th century. The chases do not extend down the jambs.
Immediately behind the portcullis chases there is a
door-check. To the SW. of the main entrance-gateway
there was a postern provided with an inner as well as
an outer door, the former giving access from the transe
to an angled lobby situated behind the latter. The
passage from the transe is now blocked at its inner end.
The inner doorway remains in the SW. wall of the
tower; it has a pointed arch-head and provision for a
sliding draw-bar. The outer doorway is now represented
only by a single jamb-stone at the W. angle of the tower;
this stone has a chamfered arris and a door-check. In the
original arrangement a curtain wall ran SW. from the
outer postern, while above the level of the curtain the W.
angle of the tower was free-standing. In the 16th century,
however, the outer postern and its adjacent curtain were
almost entirely demolished and replaced by the present
curtain-wall, which abuts the main W. wall of the tower.
The line of the older curtain is preserved by an arch
which was thrown across from the W. angle of the tower
to the later curtain-wall at first-floor level. The quoins of
the W. angle of the tower are visible above the remaining
jamb-stone of the outer postern, but the masonry to the
SW. of the quoins, with its large double window, is
of 16th-century date. The NE. wall of the tower is of
14th-century date at ground-floor level, and only here
can the original width of the tower still be seen. At first-
floor level the wall is roughly intaken by about 8 ft., and
above this point most of the masonry is of 15th-century
date although the parapet is as late as the 17th century.
About 10 ft. below the parapet there may be seen a jamb
of an old window or loop, now blocked.
Within the main entrance-gateway the vaulted transe,
which is angled, rises to the Lower Square. On the NE.

1 Ibid.
2 It is commonly said that the building was used as a mint
in mediaeval times. No evidence can be found to support the
tradition, however, and it has been suggested that the mint,
which certainly existed in Stirling at this period, was housed
within the burgh rather than within the Castle (Cochran-
Patrick, G., Records of the Coinage of Scotland, i, xliv).
3 National Library of Scotland MS. 1645, Z 2/18.
4 T.S.N.H.A.S. (1878-9), 67.

-- 213