Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/165

 INTRODUCTORY 145 SECOND PERIOD the form of an animal, like those of the churches. The chimney-stacks are carried up on the inside face of the thick walls, so as to allow a free parapet walk all round for defence. There are sometimes a few, and sometimes a great many, small chambers formed in the thickness of the walls, which were used as bed-places, garde-robes, etc. The access to the upper floors and the roof is nearly always by a newel stair at one corner in the thickness of the wall. A tower thus constructed almost entirely of stone was well calculated to resist the effects of siege and fire, so common in those times ; and even if taken by assault, was not easily so much damaged but that it could readily be restored again. The accommodation of these towers is very circumscribed, and was soon felt to be so. There could be no privacy where one hall served as living-room and sleeping-room for the retainers and domestics, and where there was not even provision for the separation of the sexes. Accordingly, although the above form of tower was long retained in the smaller peles, we soon find efforts made to improve the accom- modation of the larger keeps built at this time. This was done by adding to the square or oblong block a small projection or wing at one corner, which gave at least one additional room on each floor. A larger number was often obtained by making the ceilings lower, and thus intro- ducing more rooms in the height of the wing than in the tower. This addition permitted the lord to have a private room, where he could receive visitors, apart from his retainers, besides supplying one or two separate bedrooms on the upper floors. In course of time, other modi- fications of the square keep were adopted, so as to provide additional accommodation, but it is remarkable how long and how persistently this form is adhered to. It may always be assumed in examining these old towers that the presence of numerous apartments (particularly when a distinct kitchen can be discovered) indicates that the building, or at least the part of it containing these apartments, is not amongst the early examples. Although specially characteristic of the fourteenth century, the simple style of keep above described continued to be erected during the fifteenth and subsequent centuries, and so plain and devoid of ornament are almost all these keeps, that it is often difficult to determine their exact age. Another circumstance which adds to this difficulty is that the same model of keep tower is common to all periods from the four- teenth to the seventeenth century. There are, however, sometimes a few mouldings or enrichments, or some slight modifications of the plan, which, together with historical evidence, enable the age of many to be approximately ascertained. There can scarcely be a doubt that all these keeps had, like their Norman prototypes, a courtyard connected with them, enclosed with a