Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/337

 PRESTON TOWER - 317 THIRD PERIOD The floor above the hall has evidently been an upper hall with large windows, but it is now inaccessible. In the wing there were two stories in the height of the hall, and other rooms above. It is not clear whether these had a separate stair from the hall, or whether they were approached by passages in the thickness of the walls leading from the staircase in the south-west angle. The latter was the plan adopted at Crookston, and probably here also. The whole character of the building, including its massive walls, with closets, stairs, and passages in their thickness, the vaulted hall, with its stone-seated windows and great fireplace, all seem to point to its being of about the same period as Borthwick, or towards the middle of the fifteenth century. The castle has been surrounded with a high wall enclosing a court- yard, along the east and south sides of which there have been extensive ranges of buildings. The original plan seems to have contemplated buildings along the south wall, where the entrance gateway, with its remarkable arch (sketch, Fig. 268), is situated. These no doubt con- tained a guard-room, stables, etc. The range along the east wall, however, appears to be of more recent date, and to have been pushed out beyond the original wall. From the large fireplaces, ovens, etc., still remaining, these buildings have evidently contained the kitchen offices. The round tower at the north-west angle, with shot-holes enfilading the walls, is also an addition of late date. PRESTON TOWER, HADDINGTONSHIRE. Preston Tower, for many ages the property of the Hamilton family, to whom it still belongs, has some peculiar features. The ground floor is unconnected with the rest of the building save by a trap in the vault. The main entrance to the tower is by a circular-headed doorway (now cut square) on the first floor (Fig. 270), and the defences of this door seem to have been of a rather remarkable kind. There are corbels over the door, and also round the corner on the south side of the tower, which, together with the apertures for joists at the floor level, appear to indicate that there has been a projecting wooden hoarding, with lean-to roof, round this part of the tower. The moveable stair for access would be lowered from this hoarding, which would also form a passage with a door, to give additional security to the entrance. A recess for this door, when open, is visible at the south-east angle of the building (Fig. 270). The stair to the upper floors enters from the recess (Fig. 271) of the door in the south wall entering from this outside passage, so that access to the stair could be got directly from the passage without passing through the hall. The two immense corbels at the parapet immediately over the main doorway were also no doubt intended to carry a wooden platform, which