Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/182

 FOURTH PERIOD l66 KNOCKHALL CASTLE vaulted, provided with gun-holes, and lighted with small windows, while the doorway is secured with a sliding bar. There are two full stories above, entering off the staircase, and the attic story is reached by an inside stair, the main staircase, as usual, being converted into a room on the top story. None of the upper floors remain, and the stairs are entirely demolished. Nearly all the rooms are pro- vided with garde-robes. On the lintel of the entrance doorway is the date 1565, probably that of the original erection, and above the lintel are two empty panels. Over these, at the eaves level, there is a projecting stone shelf, sup- ported at one end on a corbel, and fixed into the wall at the other end. This shelf is in the position usually occupied by the hoarding in earlier castles for defending the door, but in this instance it is not apparent how the inmates could get access to it, nor how their persons could be protected ; so that it is probably nothing more than a resting-place for the pigeons, whose dovecot is situated nearly opposite. It is important, as showing the connection between the date of a building and its style, to note that the window rybats have a raised back fillet rounded on the angle of the ingoings. The date above mentioned as being carved on the lintel of the entrance door is in this case mislead- ing. From the raised fillet round the windows, the deviation from the traditional L plan in the position of the staircase, and the character of the building generally, we have no doubt that it was reconstructed late in the seventeenth century. The castle has had an enclosed courtyard towards the south. At a distance of 26 feet to the south-east will be seen on the plan and view a round tower, which fortified the south-east angle of the enclosure. It is about 14 feet in diameter, with shot-holes on the vaulted ground floor, and is entered by a narrow door from the courtyard. Over this door is the entrance to the upper floor, which contains the dovecot already referred to. A narrow stone shelf runs round the cot a little below the roof. The start of the courtyard walls is seen on either side of the door. This tower, with its dovecot, is similar in position and purpose to the one at Craigmillar shown in connection with that castle. Kiiockhall belonged to the family of Udny, whose fine castle of that name (Udny) is about ten or twelve miles distant to the west. In the New History of Aberdeenshire, we are informed that in 163Q Knockhall was taken by the Earl Marischal on -the part of the Covenant, and that its capture was attended with spoliation and annoyance to its inmates, who were anti-Covenanters. In the following year a foraging party from Aberdeen assailed Knock- hall, and, the laird being absent, Lady Udny gave them free access to the castle. In the year 1 734 the building was accidentally burned, and has since continued in a ruinous state.