Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/413

 KILBIRNIE CASTLE 393 THIRD PERIOD near Lenzie. There is also a porch at Rosyth, but of a somewhat different character. Entrance doorways in projecting towers containing the stair- case are of frequent occurrence, but this may be regarded as an early specimen in embryo of the modern porch, and distinct from the open pillared porch, such as that of Argyll's Lodging in Stirling. The passage from the porch continued right through the house and into the court- yard beyond. The basement (now in a state of great ruin) has been vaulted. The position of the kitchen is not quite clear, but projecting from the keep on the north are the ruins of an oven and other buildings, which seem to indicate that it was situated there. The top story, with its row of dormers, is quite ruinous. FIG. 339. Kilbirnie Castle. View from the South-East. In the New Statistical Account it is argued that, from the absence of gun-ports in its walls, the keep was built at the latest in the early part of the fourteenth century, " and consequently in the days of the Barclays, the most anciently recorded lords of the barony." But this is quite a fallacy. There are no gun-ports in Borthwick keep, and we know that it was built about the middle of the fifteenth century, and this tower is, we are inclined to think, even of a later date than Borthwick. From the admirable County History entitled Cuninghame, by Timothy Pont, continued by James Dobie and his son, John Shedden Dobie, we learn that the male line of the Barclays became extinct in 1470, and that a daughter of the house, marrying Malcolm Crawfurd, a scion of the Crawfurds of Loudoun, became the founders of the family long known as the Crawfurds of Kilbirnie, now represented by the Earl of Glasgow. As far as the style of the keep permits one to judge, we think it not unlikely that it was built by Malcolm Crawfurd.