Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/577

 TULLYALLAN CASTLE - 5.57 THIRD PERIOD and England. The windows of this room are of unusual size for a ground floor, and have trefoil arched heads, and stone seats in the recesses. The small wing at the north-east corner was probably intended both as a garde-robe and as a flanking tower for defence. The other apartment on the ground floor, which is 37 feet by 22 feet, seems to have been used for stores, as it has no fireplace, and only small square openings for windows. 1 The projecting north-west wing, with separate staircase attached, was probably the cellar, but might also be used for purposes of defence. The upper floor (Fig. 471) contained the great hall, 38 feet by 22 feet 6 inches, and private hall, 21 feet 6 inches by 22 feet 6 inches, with a bedroom off it over the cellar. A staircase contained in the projecting octagonal tower between the two latter rooms leads down to the cellars and upwards to the floor above. A peculiar feature connected with the common hall is an outside entrance door on the first floor level (Fig. 469). This was probably reached by an outside stair of some temporary kind, which might be removed in case of attack. This arrangement would make it unnecessary to lower the drawbridge and open the principal entrance doorway except on special occasions. It also explains why the main staircase led to the private hall, instead of, as usual, to the common hall, as without the above separate entrance to the latter all the traffic to the hall would have passed through the private room, which would have been very inconvenient. The principal entrance, with its drawbridge and portcullis, has con- siderable resemblance to that of Morton Castle, and the side entrance to the hall on the first floor is like that at Rait Castle, and also like one which originally existed at Morton, but was subsequently built up. The finely dressed ashlar-work of Tullyallan is another point of resemblance to Morton, but the fine groined vaulting of Tullyallan is entirely its own. The mansion seems to have been enlarged, probably in the sixteenth century, when the north-east wing was doubled in size, and carried up several stories so as to provide bedrooms (Fig. 473). The house was surrounded with a rectangular enclosure of consider- able extent, with a ditch and mound (the latter no doubt palisaded), traces of which are still distinctly visible. 1 The vaulting in this apartment is in a state of great ruin, and has nearly all fallen in, while that in the other room requires the help of wooden props to keep it up. Unless effec- tual means are soon taken to keep out the damp, this vaulting, which is one of the finest things of its kind in Scotland, will soon be entirely lost.