Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/278

 FOURTH PERIOD 262 BURGIE CASTLE floor, with a fireplace and several windows in each. The two upper stories are vaulted, and the top floor has the entrance protected by a kind of stone porch. The roof is flat, and the battlements, which are well preserved, are ornamented with the usual small corbelling, and a great number of very prominent gargoyles (Fig. 718). It will be observed from the north-east view that the existing tower was carried a story higher than the main building. The marks of the junction of the roof of the latter to the tower are dis- tinctly seen. This enabled the parapet of the tower to be continued all round, thus rendering it fully available both for purposes of observa- tion and defence, while the stair turret was carried up still higher as a watch-tower. One of Nattes' views in Scotland (Fig. 71 6), drawn about 1799, l shows Burgie Castle complete, with a main building in the position indi- cated in the plan, and another square tower at the corner diagonally opposite the exist- ing tower. The demolished tower was, however, smaller FIG. 717. -Burgie Castle. View from the North-East. than the one which rem ains, and seems to have contained the principal staircase. The angle turret shown in the sketch on the corner of the main block is of a very unusual form, and must have been quite unique and remarkably picturesque. This makes it all the more a subject of regret that the building should have been removed, in order, as we understand, that the materials might be used elsewhere. Burgie is about two miles south from Kinloss Station, and about four miles from Forres. Originally the property of the Abbots of Kinloss, it 1 These views consist of four folio volumes of unpublished sketches by John Claude Nattes. They extend over a large part of Scotland, and show great appreciation of the natural scenery as well as the architecture of the country. These valuable volumes are the property of David Douglas, Esq., Publisher, by whose kind permission we are enabled to present our readers with the above striking view of this very interesting castle.