Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/195

 TORTHORWALD CASTLE 175 SECOND PERIOD The castle garth was divided into an outer and inner court by a wall 5 feet thick, running parallel with the east front of the castle, and about 30 feet distant from it. In the centre of this space are the ruins of another parallel wall 16 inches thick, probably for offices. There is a FIG. .140. Dundonald Castle. View showing Additions at South End. series of shields with armorial bearings (Fig. 136), carved at intervals along the west wall. Two of these contain the Royal arms and the Stewart arms, but the others are not now legible. TORTHORWALD CASTLE, DUMFRIESSHIRE. This ruinous memorial of the power of the middle ages is situated on high ground overlooking Lochar Moss, about 4 miles east from Dumfries, the ground rising considerably higher than the castle to the eastwards. This castle has, on a smaller scale, a good deal of the massive character of Dundonald. It is an oblong keep on plan (Fig. 141), measuring 56 feet 6 inches by 39 feet 2 inches over the walls by about 45 feet high from the ground to the inside apex of the upper pointed vault. The building is divided into two compartments in the height, with stone vaults. The lower vault was semicircular, about 15 feet high, and contained two floors. The upper vault is pointed, and built with dressed ashlar. Nearly the whole of the north gable and about half of the west wall are gone. The