Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/239

 CRICHTON CASTLE 219 SECOND PERIOD entered by a very handsome square staircase (Fig. 183) with steps 5 feet 6 inches wide. The solid newel is ornamented with attached pillars at each landing, having ornamented caps and bases, and carved and flowered string- courses at the landings. The roof of the staircase is of stone, and is wrought with raised ribs in imitation of the plaster ceilings of the Eliza- bethan period (see sketch, Fig. 183). This is certainly one of the hand- somest staircases of its period in Scotland. Entering from this staircase, on the first floor is a spacious private dining-room, and beyond it a private sitting-room or withdrawing-room. This dining-room is so placed as to be in communication with the kitchen. On the upper floor the same accommodation is repeated, the rooms over the dining-room and drawing-room having probably been bedrooms. There was also an attic floor above this, which would con- tain several bedrooms. The buildings on this side of the quadrangle evidently belong to about the year 1600, with the exception of the lower part of the exterior wall, which is very thick, and has a very old appearance. This was no doubt the ancient wall of enceinte, which has been incorporated in the new buildings. There is the same mixture of the Renaissance and Scotch styles in these buildings as may be seen in most of the other buildings of the same period. We have in these examples the turrets and corbellings (Fig. 184) so common in Scotch work, mingled with features which strongly recall many Renais- sance buildings on the Conti- nent, especially in Germany and the Low Countries. The square facets Covering the FIG. 187. Crichton Castle. Doorway and Window walls above an arcaded cor- in North Gable of stables. ridor, with multangular columns and peculiar caps, which are the well- known characteristics of Crichton Castle (Figs. 182, 185), may be seen at the Rath-haus of Liibeck.