Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/322

 TU1RD PERIOD 302 WHITTINGHAM TOWER wards from the tower towards the steep bank there is a mound of earth about 10 feet high by about 80 feet long, having a retaining wall along the west side and south end, with a slope towards the east. This is of later date than the tower, and was doubtless erected for guns. The FIG. 257. Whittingham Tower. Interior of Dining-Room. mound stops short of the tower, and the space between is occupied with vaulted chambers of seventeenth-century work, shown hatched on plan. Two open staircases from opposite sides lead up to the mound, and there seem to have been apartments over the above chambers entering from the mound platform ; but the whole of this addition is now very ruinous and indistinct. This tower (Fig. 258) is of superior design to many of the keeps of the period,, the windows, parapet, etc., being somewhat ornate, and carefully finished. It corresponds, however, in details with many of the larger castles of the reigns of James iv. or v., at which period it seems to have been built. It is satisfactory to find that Whittingham Tower is well taken care of, for, as the scene of some important events in Scottish history, it is well worthy of preservation. It was here, in