Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/273

 Borthwick Tozuer, in Midlothian, 253 caps and a flowered band above, all in the Decorated style. This occupies the centre of the south end, and on each side of it, high up, are recesses of 5 feet opening ending in loops of i foot. The hood is broken down and the fireplace in decay, but its remains are very striking. Along the west side of the hall are various openings. In the centre is a window recess, 5 feet 10 inches broad and 9 feet deep, from which a side opening leads into a vaulted serving-room, 5 feet by II feet, which again opens into the kitchen. In the south end of this side a door opens into the withdrawing-room, and another door into a well-stair, which here commences, and communicates with the upper floors of the south wing, and the roof. Near the north end of this side a low arch or buttery-hatch opened direct into the kitchen. Besides these openings, there are two ornamental recesses. The one a niche in the north wall for a statue, about 5 feet high, with a handsome groined and floriated canopy and a base resting upon a half-shaft, probably for a statue of the patron saint of the family. Also in the west wall, near the fireplace, is a sort of sedile, 4 feet broad, with an ogee canopy, containing on a shield the three cinquefoils, the Borthwick arms. The walls of the hall seem to have been either painted or covered with devices, one of which, " Ye Temple of Honour," was recently to be seen. Here and in the staircases are many masons' marks. Two of the doors have heads as of three sides of a hexagon, something like the Berkeley arch. The Kitchen occupied the first floor of the north wing. It is 16 feet by 22 feet, and is spanned by a large flat arch, throwing the western half into a stone hood, under which the principal culinary operations were carried on. There are three recesses with loops in the north and west sides, one of which is blocked by a later oven. There is also a small fireplace. The entrances are from the main door of the hall and from the serving-room, and between is the buttery-hatch. The Withdrawing-room occupies the south wing, and is 19 feet by 14 feet. It was entered from the hall and from the well-stair, and has recesses and small windows towards the south and west, besides wall cupboards. The south wall contains, in a vaulted chamber, the head of the staircase from the well-room and its entresol ; and in this wall also is a mural chamber, 8 feet by 7 feet, with two doors, a window, and, in its flat slab-covered roof, a shaft, probably for a stove chimney. This is called Queen Mary's room, and was pro- bably her bed-chamber w^hen she visited Borthwick. This and the larger room are plugged for panelling, and the contiguous doorways from the stairs and the hall had a wooden porch shutting them off in the corner of the room, so that there was a passage either from the Queen's room or the staircase into the hall without entering the withdrawing-room. Above the hall, a corresponding space, 51 feet by 24 feet, is divided by a cross-wall into an upper hall and a chapel. The 2ipper hall, 27 feet by 24 feet, has a large fireplace, with a stone hood and