Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/455

 DIRLETON CASTLE 4-35 - THIRD PERIOD bably used as being better suited for resisting cannon balls, and less liable to splinter. The outworks at Tantallon are also of great interest in connection with the above siege and the use of artillery. Although cannons were used by James u. at the siege of Threave Castle, where Mons Meg was employed, and at the siege of Roxburgh Castle, where James was killed by the bursting of a cannon, still we have few traces of guns being used for purposes of siege till the instance above quoted at Tantallon in 1528. The means there adopted to resist the siege operations are still distinctly traceable (Fig. 375). As above mentioned, the outer court, beyond the great curtain and ditch, was defended by a deep ditch and high mound extending across the full width of the peninsula in front of the castle. The mound was faced with stone, so as to present a perpen- dicular wall to the outside. Most of this wall has fallen and disappeared, but some parts still remain, together with the gateway and gatehouse at the south end. At the time of James v.'s alterations the latter has been provided with embrasures for guns (Fig. 376) to flank the gate and sweep the ditch and the roadway, and there are traces of older works in this locality which these have superseded. The ditch itself has been provided with traverses to protect it from being enfiladed from the ground on the north or south ; while in the outer court to the west, earthworks in the form of a modern ravelin have been thrown up, and are still preserved. In 1639 Tantallon was taken and destroyed by the Covenanters. It is now the property of Sir Hew Dalrymple, Bart. DIRLETON CASTLE, HADDINGTONSHIRE. Dirleton Castle is a fine example of a thirteenth-century building restored in the fifteenth century. The earlier portions of this castle have already been described (pp. 114-116). As then pointed out, some fragments of the original buildings remain, and have been incorporated in the new work, and probably the remainder is erected on the old founda- tions. The entrance gateway and moat are well preserved, and give a good idea of that kind of defence (Fig. 380). The moat has been at least 50 feet wide, and to enable this to be spanned, four piers are built to carry a wooden bridge, which no doubt was moveable (Fig. 381). Between the nearest piers and the building there is an aperture of 1 1 feet, which was spanned by a drawbridge, and the sill of the door- way under the drawbridge slopes so steeply that no one could stand on it when the drawbridge was raised. The ingoing of the gateway is further defended with gates and portcullis (see Fig. 89, page 114), and