Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/578

 THIRD PERIOD 558 RAIT CASTLE RAIT CASTLE, NAIRNSHIRE. There is no account of the origin of this interesting and almost unique building. It stands on a hillside about three miles south from the town of Nairn, and commands the level and fertile country between it and the Moray Firth. Tradition says that it belonged first to the Raits of that Ilk, and afterwards to the Comyns. In plan (Fig. 474) this castle is a simple oblong, 64 feet by 33 feet over the walls, which are 5 feet 6 inches thick, with a round tower, 21 feet in diameter, at the south-west angle only. The only entrance to the castle seems to have been on the first floor near the east end of the south wall (Fig. 475). The doorway is still entire, and has portcullis grooves near the outside, with jambs for a wooden door within. The form of the arch is very unusual, and the workmanship is superior to that of ordinary castles. This doorway appears to have led directly into the hall, or there may have been a guard-room screened off at the east end, forming a passage to the hall. The hall is lighted with windows of a form and design very uncommon in Scotland. They are all about 3 feet wide, have pointed arches, and are furnished with mullions and stone seats. The round tower enters off the hall, and contains a private room, which also has a mullioned window. The arch of all the windows has been filled with the simplest kind of tracery, formed by the mullion branching at the impost, with a pointed arch to either side. The ingoing of the windows is roofed over with a depressed arch, having two ribs in the depth (Fig. 474). There are no mouldings in the building to give an idea of its date ; only plain splays are used. The ruins of a projecting garde-robe, somewhat like that at Tullyallan, remain at the north-west angle (Fig. 476). The ground floor is lighted with several small square windows, varying from 12 inches to 18 inches in width. That nearest the north-east angle is a loop with a pointed arch. There is no fireplace on the ground floor, but the hall has a plain one. The building was 110 doubt three stories in height, but the walls of the top floor have now been removed. This building possesses several features which recall similar ones at Tullyallan and Morton Castles, which indeed are almost the only other buildings with which it has affinity. Fio. 474. Rait Castle. Plans.