Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/339

 PRESTON TOWER - 319 THIRD PERIOD hall, with its usual arrangements, and an additional story in the vault. The private room is in the wing. The arrangement of what appear to have been the guard-room and dungeon of this tower is peculiar, and, so far as we know, unique. Under the floor of the passage leading from the hall to the private room, there is a straight stair down to the flat below the private room (see Section). This stair must have been entered from a hatch in the passage floor, as it still is. There is also a smaller hatch in the floor of the private room leading to the room below. From FIG. 271. Preston Tower. Plans and Section. this lower room there is a larger hatch to a similar room on the basement floor, which had no other means of access, the existing door on the base- ment floor leading to the cell in the wing being modern. This basement cell has apertures in the vault, apparently for ventilation, and a curious shaft or tube, 7 inches in diameter, recessed in one corner. Various theories have been started with regard to the use of these cellars ; but it seems most in accordance with the customs of the time to regard the