Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/285

 SAUCHIE TOWER 265 THIRD PERIOD may have been erected in the south-west angle, where a more modern house now stands. Exterior kitchens in courtyards are not infrequent in later castles. The crow-steps on the pigeon-house tower are of the same form as those on the kitchen buildings in the courtyard. The gable of these buildings next the entrance archway (Fig. 215) contains a panel and shield with the arms of James Hamilton of Finnart, and beneath it a stone stoup, which was probably used for conveying water into the kitchen from the adjoining well. An old oak door is preserved in the new house, which is apparently of the date of the older work (Fig. 21 6). It is ornamented with good specimens of the linen pattern, which are rather rare in Scotland. The house in the south-west angle of the enclosure was erected by Andrew Hay, to whom the Duchess Ann sold the castle in 1665. The doorway in the round stair turret is surmounted with a panel (Fig. 21?) containing the arms of Hay with the above date. In erecting this house the old walls and south-west tower have been made available, and have been incorporated in the new building. The outside kitchen is a peculiar feature in this structure. This building has been somewhat modernised, and is still inhabited, but all the remainder is more or less ruinous. It is sad to see the rapid dilapidation which is overtaking the keep and other portions of this most interesting and historic building. Only quite recently the north-west angle bartizan of the keep, a large part of the vaulting, and some of the stairs fell, and unless some attention is paid to it, the whole of the castle will soon become a shapeless ruin. SAUCHIE TOWER, CLACKMANNANSHIRE. Old Sauchie Tower, not far from Alva, in Clackmannanshire, is a well-preserved specimen of about the middle of the fifteenth century. Externally it is a simple parallelogram (Fig. 218) 38 feet by 34 feet, with walls about 6 feet thick. The entrance door, which is in the west wall, is on the ground floor, and communicates with all the upper floors by a circular staircase in the north-west angle of the walls. Adjoining the entrance there is a small recess for the guard. As usual, the ground floor is vaulted, but what is not common, is that the upper chamber in the vault has been used as a hall or good apartment, having a large window at the south end, with stone seats in the recess (see Section). The ground floor has been a storeroom, with a draw-well in the south wall, and small cellar adjoining in the thickness of the west wall. This wall is made 1 1 feet thick, so as to contain small apartments on the ground floor, first floor, and second floor. On the entresol (as seen on the Entresol Plan and Section) this small apartment forms the kitchen, with a fireplace in the south wall under than the room. The first floor contains the hall, 2 feet by 18 feet 6 inches, with a deeply recessed