Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/423

 THE DEAN CASTLE 403 THIRD PERIOD short, this keep, like many others of the same date, had probably no kitchen within the building. Either the cooking was done in the hall or in an outer shed in the courtyard. The staircase above referred to is of peculiar construction. The builder seems at first to have intended to insert a wheel staircase, running from the entrance door of the basement to the roof, and serving every floor ; but after building the first eight steps, he appears to have changed his plan, and from the point then reached a crooked and irregular stair runs up in the thickness of the wall to a mural chamber on the first floor (Fig. 349), from which a very narrow passage leads to the hall. This is, in fact, an ill-constructed private stair to the cellars, such as is found in almost every castle. It is here, however, so contrived as to give access likewise from the lower entrance door to the first floor ; and, to prevent its being abused, it is securely defended by the guard- room, into which it opens on the first floor, and by the narrow doors and passages which block the ingress. The base of the keep is formed by a bold slope 3 feet 6 inches high and projecting 2 feet. II FIRbT FLOOR P LAIN SOur* WINC FIG. 349. The Dean Castle. Plans and Section. The original entrance to the hall was, as usual, on the first floor (Fig. 349), at which level the round arched doorway, although now built