Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/587

 DUNNOTTAR CASTLE 567 THIRD PERIOD original access to which may have been by a flight of steps from the gateway. The probable position of these steps may be indicated by the FIG. 482. Dunnottar Castle. View of Keep from the South-East, and Upper Entrance to Castle. existing stair at the south-east corner of Benholme's Buildings. The access to the keep from this side passes through a tunnel cut in the rock, which is well protected with doors, and other- wise similar to the tunnels of the main entrance. Having now reached the platform on which the buildings of the fortress are situated, let us examine these in the probable order of their erection. The oldest building is undoubtedly the keep at the south-west corner of the platform. It was probably erected after the Keith Marischals obtained the property, and is of the early part of the fifteenth century. The plan presents the usual arrangements of the period, being of the L shape, and four stories in height. It had originally, on the ground floor, the ordinary vaulted store- rooms, with a small prison under the stair, the common hall on the first floor (Fig. 483), and the upper hall and the lord's private apartments in the top stories. The ambry (Fig. 484) in the upper hall is in the usual style of the above period. The entrance door (Fig. 482) is on the FIG. 483. Dunnottar Castle. Plan of First Floor of Keep.