Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/98

 FIRST PERIOD 78 LOCHMABEN CASTLE The locality of Inverlochy is supposed to have been the site of an ancient Pictish town, which was demolished by the Danes. But apart from this tradition, we think there can be no question about the antiquity of the castle. Its thick walls, without openings, and unconnected with other buildings, associate it with the style of castles erected in the thir- teenth century, while its boldly projected round towers give it a striking resemblance to the castles of the period in France and England, such as Coucy and Pevensey. The form of the staircases in the towers is also characteristic of thirteenth-century work, as for example at Conisborough Castle, Yorkshire. LOCHMABEN CASTLE, DUMFRIESSHIRE. Lochmaben Castle, in Dumfriesshire, the hereditary castle of the Bruces, was the most powerful fortress on the Borders. The lordship of Annandale was bestowed on the Bruces by David i. in 1124, and it is said that their original castle was on the Castle-hill, close to the town of Lochmaben, and that the present castle was built in the thirteenth century by Robert Bruce (King Robert's grandfather), the competitor for the crown, who died here in 1295. There are some relics of masonry on the top of the Castle-hill, and there is an intrenchment round the base, indicating that the original castle was of the earlier order of strongholds, whose chief defences consisted of earthen mounds with palisades and ditches. The existing castle is built on a peninsula or spit of flat ground running into Lochmaben from the south-east (Fig. 54). A wide ditch cut across the neck of the penin- sula, which joined a burn on the east, and was filled with water from the loch, separated it from the mainland, and formed an island about 16 acres in extent. Before reaching the castle the interven- ing ground is defended by two additional ditches, running east and west, through which also, no doubt, the water of the lake flowed. These ditches would all be provided with well-fortified drawbridges. Close to the castle, and partly enclosed within its & fourth ditch MABEN LOCH FIG. 54.-Plan of Site. The plan (Fig. 55) shows that this ditch or moat, about 20 feet wide, was enclosed at either end of the castle with a great wall, each having