stirling-1963-vol-1/05_081

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE MIDDLE AGES AND LATER
ashlar and incorporates three ranges of windows above each of which there is a triangular
pediment inscribed with initials or a motto.
Two public buildings within the burgh also call for mention here. Cowane's Hospital
(No. 231) was erected between 1637 and 1649, as an almshouse for the accommodation of
twelve "decayed" brethren of the merchant guild, in virtue of a benefaction by John Cowane,
a prosperous merchant. The original internal arrangements of the building were unfortunately
destroyed when it was remodelled as a Guild Hall in 1852, but much of the exterior remains
unaltered. The building is E-shaped on plan, the wings that project from each end of the main
block flanking a small courtyard. In the centre of the principal façade there is a projecting
bell-tower, which rises to an ogival leaded roof and incorporates in its second storey a statue
of the founder, carved by John Mylne, the King's Master-Mason, who was also the designer
of the building. The Town House (No. 232) was erected between 1703 and 1705 to a design
of Sir William Bruce and, with the contemporary tolbooth of Dumfries, to which it bears a
strong resemblance, is one of the first Town Houses in Scotland to be conceived on strictly
Classical lines. Both at Stirling and at Dumfries, however, the bell-tower finishes in a timber
superstructure topped by an ogival leaded roof in the traditional Scottish manner.
The only other burgh that contains any notable examples of domestic architecture is
Airth (No. 251), in which a few houses of 18th-century sea-captains and merchants remain to
attest its one-time prosperity as a trading port. In contrast to a compact mediaeval burgh like
Stirling, in which most of the houses present their gable-ends to the street, Airth is both more
loosely planned and more spacious in its lay-out and the houses have long street-frontages. In
size and general appearance the buildings resemble the typical small laird's house of the period
(cf. p. 46), and this similarity no doubt originally extended to the internal arrangements as
well, although these have for the most part been obscured by later alterations and subdivision.

HOUSES OF THE 16TH TO 19TH CENTURIES (GENERAL)
In Stirlingshire, as elsewhere in Scotland, the transition form the mediaeval tower-house to
the typical laird's residence of the 17th century was a gradual one, and it is impossible to draw
a sharp dividing-line between castellated architecture on the one hand and domestic
architecture on the other. Torwood (No. 299), for example, was built in 1566. The vertical
lines of the elevations, the vaulted basement and the provision of gun-loops for defence all
demonstrate its affinity to the tower-house. But the accommodation is more spacious than
that of a tower, and the additional living-space has been provided by extending the building
horizontally rather than vertically, while at the same time a certain degree of symmetry has
been given to the long south façade thus formed. At Old Leckie (No. 343) which is of late
16th-century date, there is an elaborately guarded main entrance, equipped with an iron yett
and machicolations, but otherwise the building retains no defensive features whatsoever. The
structure is designed on a T-plan, the wing having originally contained in its lower part a
scale-and-platt stair which rose to the first floor. Part only of the basement is vaulted. As at
Torwood, the length of the main block allows a spacious withdrawing-room to be placed on
the same floor as the hall. The T-plan is also found in two 17th-century houses of more modest

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