Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/320

 FOURTH PERIOD 304 BOYNE CASTLE towers, and was no doubt further protected by a drawbridge in the raised causeway. The entrance seems to have led to a vestibule connected with a circular staircase 10 feet 8 inches in diameter, leading to the great hall in the western range of buildings. One of the towers at the entrance probably formed a guard-room, and the other contained a staircase to the defences above. The hall and withdrawing-room seem to have occupied the whole of the west range, with a private room off each in the angle towers. A small stair has been corbelled out in the angle of the south-west tower at a later date, which may have conducted to the owner's private apartments over the hall. But the first and upper floors are so entirely ruined internally that nothing can clearly be ascertained as to the arrangements. The base- ment floor of this range is the only part of the castle still in fair preser- vation, and is divided into vaulted cellars, each furnished with a door and window to the courtyard. The kitchen alone can be distinguished in the eastern range, from its fireplace being preserved. The basement is well provided with defensive shot-holes, each angle tower having four so placed that the adjoining walls on each side are well flanked. One embrasure in the west wall has the outer splayed opening divided into two by a pillar in the centre, as is not unfrequently the case in sixteenth and seventeenth century work. Little is known of the history of this building. The Thanedom of Boyne was granted by David n. in 1368 to Sir John Edmonstone. In I486 the estate passed by marriage to Sir John Ogilvie, in whose family it long remained. Sir George Ogilvie of Dunlugas acquired the estate in 1575 from the elder branch of the family, and it continued in his family till purchased by the Earl of Findlater in 1731. It has been supposed by some, both from the antiquity of the barony and from the design of the edifice, which somewhat resembles the castles of the thirteenth century, with their great enclosing walls and towers, that the building is of very ancient date. There can be no doubt, how- ever, from the style of the building, but that itjs of comparatively recent origin. The remains of an older castle may be traced on a site nearer the sea, and this seems to have been the original fortress of the proprietors. The present castle would appear to have been built about the end of the sixteenth century in lieu of the older one, which was probably found too small and incommodious for the requirements of that period. As the property passed in 1575 to Sir George Ogilvie of Dunlugas, the new castle may have been erected by the new proprietor. The plan is unusually complete, but the difference between this castle and many others of about the same size and of the above date arises from the fact that most of the castles of the period were enlargements of older buildings, and had to be designed to suit the existing structures.