Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/116

 FOURTH PERIOD 100 - ELCHO CASTLE from the hall to the upper floors, the bedrooms on which are thus all provided with separate private entrances, and each room has a fireplace and a garde-robe in the thickness of the wall. FIG. 567A. Elcho Castle. Plan of Second Floor. The north-west staircase, entering from the hall, leads to the third floor (passing the second floor without communicating with it) and to the rooms in the north-west tower. The south-west staircase, which does not enter from the hall, but from the lobby at the door, leads to the second and third floors, and to the rooms in the south-west tower, and by various windings to the battlements (Figs. 564, 56?A and 567fi). The staircase in the round tower on the north side runs from the basement to the top of the castle. At the third floor level it leads off, as above described, by a side flight to an open passage, thus in the usual way leaving the space occupied by the staircase free for a small room in the top story of the tower. The apartments at the east end of the building, communicating with the " private room " and hall by the north stair- case, were no doubt the family chambers. Fig. 563 shows the height of the floors, that of the hall being about 14 feet. Fig. 564 shows the rooms in the turrets and the battle- ments round the great tower. The other roofs have no parapets at the eaves, but are constructed in the style of the later houses and castles. The design of the exterior (Figs. 565, 566, 56?, 568) shows that this