Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/247

 LIBERTON TOWER 227 THIRD PERIOD barrel vault, which carries the stone roof. Each vaulted compartment is divided into two stories, with wooden floors resting on corbels. The Fir,. 188. Liberton Tower. Plans, Sections, and Elevation. timbers of the upper floor are still partly preserved (Fig. 1 89), and show the mode of construction then in use. The beams, on the corbels, are 6^ inches by 5 inches, laid at 2 feet 6 inches apart, and the joists are 3 inches by 2 inches, laid on the flat and mortised into the beams. The ground floor is only 6J feet high, and has probably been used for sheltering cattle. It has a separate outer door, and had no com- munication with the upper floors unless, as is most likely, there was a hatch in the floor above. The first floor is in the lower vault, and communicates with the hall by a stair down from the hall in the north- west angle. This has been the cellar and stores, and has a hatch in the centre of the vault. * The principal entrance to the tower (Fig. 190, N.E. view) is on the level of the hall, whence the above stair goes down, and two other stairs