Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/275

 CHAIGNETHAN CASTLE 255 THIRD PERIOD CRAIGNETHAN CASTLE, LANARKSHIRE. This castle now the property of the Earl of Home is of peculiar interest, whether we regard its picturesque situation, the exceptionally good state of preservation of the enclosing walls and towers, or the romantic charm which has been imparted to its ruins as forming the prototype of Sir Walter's Tillietudlem. The approach to the castle from the Vale of Clyde at Crossford, about six miles below Lanark, lies for about a mile through the beautiful valley of the Nethan, with its precipi- tous and wooded banks. The castle occupies the top of a lofty and rocky promontory formed by a sharp curve in the river, at the point where the narrow pass widens into an opener country to the south. The site is further isolated by a deep cleft on the north, through which a small burn flows. The road to the castle from the north crosses this stream by an old but substantial bridge. It then ascends the steep hill by zigzags, and, on reaching the level platform on which the castle stands, it seems formerly to have passed through a gateway with towers, which defended the access. Of this some slight remains may still be traced. From this point a view of the west or entrance front of the castle (Fig. 211) is obtained. This consists of a battlemented wall with a square tower at either extremity, and an arched gateway in the centre, all provided with horizontal em- brasures near the ground for guns. The gateway leads into the outer courtyard (Fig. 212), 190 feet by 140 feet, which is surrounded with walls similar to the front enclosure on the north, west, and south sides, and by a dry ditch or moat 30 feet wide on the east, which divides it from the inner courtyard of the castle. The latter is 82 feet by 65 feet, and con- tains the central citadel or keep, which is in the form of a parallelogram 70 feet by 54 feet. This court has also been surrounded with high walls and towers, the tower at the south-east being of unusual size. The oldest part of the castle is undoubtedly the keep. It is built on a plan very unusual in Scotland, being a simple parallelogram divided into a double keep by an internal wall running from east to west the whole length of the building. Another unusual circumstance is that the principal floor is in this case on the ground level, instead of being, according to the ordinary rule, on the first floor. But this may be explained by the fact that there is here a vaulted basement floor under the ground level. The entrance door in the centre of the west front (Fig. 2 1 3) is arched in the usual manner, and is surmounted by a panel with a shield contain- ing the Hamilton arms. It has been provided with double doors, and has a groove in the wall for the ordinary strong bar. This leads into an entrance lobby of unusually large dimensions, from which access was