Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/23

 DETAILS, ETC. 7 FOURTH PERIOD FOURTH PERIOD Details and Ornament. As the plans are evidently of native growth, so the ornamentation of this style may also be proved to be of direct descent from the earlier Scottish Architecture, and to be derived from the features which were necessary in earlier times for defence. Hence we find that the further back we trace its component parts the more real and necessary they are. In the castles of the fifteenth century which we have considered every feature was useful. In the sixteenth century also, however exaggerated some of the corbels and other features might be, they are still dis- tinguished from the later examples of the seventeenth century by their genuineness and utility. Thus, as we have seen in examining the plans, the position of the towers and turrets is arranged for the purpose of defence, and the buildings are provided with loopholes and angle turrets really intended for use. The corbelling, although no doubt introduced greatly for effect, is at least in a natural position, i.e. assuming that a change of plan is required, such as from the lower circular part of a tower containing the. staircase to the upper square part containing rooms, or that an angle turret, a staircase turret, or a bow window is to be projected, it could not be effected in a simpler or more natural way than by the corbels so universally employed in the buildings of the greater part of the sixteenth century. In contrast with this we find in the latest sixteenth-century and in the seventeenth-century work that the old forms are continued and imitated, while their true purpose and significance are lost. Thus the gargoyles, which in the early work were used for carrying off the water from the parapet gutters, and were sometimes carved in imitation of small cannons, are in the later work stuck on as ornaments in places where they cannot be required, there being, in fact, often several stories between them and the roof, as is the case at Castle Fraser and Craigievar. The corbelling becomes even more fantastic than before, and is often applied where it is not necessary, as, for instance, to carry staircase turrets within a few feet of the ground, where it would be simpler and better construction to bring the turret wall up from the foundation. These heavy corbellings near the ground always indicate late work. At the Earl's Palace, Kirkwall, we have a striking example of this, the angle turrets being several stories in height, and the corbelling being within a very short distance of the base. The angle turrets were originally, even after they were roofed in, designed and used for defence, but in later examples they are often stuck on for ornament only, while in other cases they are enlarged, so as to form small apartments. In early work the parapets are provided with machicolations, or are