Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/312

 FOURTH PERIOD 296 TOLQUHAN CASTLE keep is so small as to be of almost no account in the new building. We may therefore regard Tolquhan as a castle designed on the plan of a quadrangle. f 1 -4 FIG. 751. Tolquhan Castle. Plan of Ground Floor. The internal dispositions are on the usual plan, but they are here better preserved than is frequently the case. The entrance gateway, flanked by two round towers (Fig. 752) is specially interesting, as few such examples remain. The ornamental shot-holes, divided into three outlets (shown on the margin of Fig. 751), and the iron-grated windows, are common features of the period, while the grotesque figures carved on the turrets resemble those at Fyvie, Balbegno, and other examples. Many instances of arched gateways might be quoted, such as Edzell, Balvaird, etc., but in these the flanking round towers which occur at Tolquhan are wanting. Similar towers (as already pointed out) were usual in older buildings, such as Stirling Castle and Falkland Palace, and the gatehouse at Lin- lithgow is of similar design. Probably the gateway most nearly akin to Tolquhan, in point of date and design, is that of Boyne Castle, Banflfshire, where the towers are even more imposing than here. There the entrance