Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/364

 THIRD PERIOD 344 BALVAIRD CASTLE Stormont and Lord Scone, and the title of Lord Balvaird became there- after merged in that of Viscount Stormont. BORTHWICK CASTLE, MIDLOTHIAN. By far the finest of our castles built on the model of the keep is Borthwick in Midlothian, about two and a half miles south-east of Gorebridge. This keep, together with its courtyard and outworks, are fortunately all in good preservation, and have been little added to or altered (Fig. 295). The date of Borthwick Castle is known, as the licence to build it was granted by James i., in 1430, to Sir William Borthwick, afterwards Lord Borthwick. The site of this castle, like that of so many others, is a tongue of land jutting out into the middle of a valley, at the junction of two streams, towards which the ground slopes precipitously. FIG. 295. Borthwick Castle. General Plan. The general plan of the main block of the keep is, as usual, a parallelogram, containing the great hall ; but in this case, instead of one projecting wing to give additional accommodation, as in several instances above referred to, there are two such projecting wings. The outer walls enclose a courtyard of irregular form, about 240 feet in length by 120 feet in average breadth. These walls stand at the top of steep banks, at the bottom of which there is a ditch. The angles and curtains are defended with towers and bastions, that flanking the gate- way being circular, and of great strength ; it is 35 feet in diameter, and the walls are 12 feet thick, leaving a chamber in the centre only 1 1 feet wide. The gatehouse has had a drawbridge and outer gate, as well as a portcullis in the inner archway.