Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/322

 FOURTH PERIOD 306 - BOYNE CASTLE But when the various parts are examined in detail, we find examples of almost every feature at Boyne in other castles of the same date. Thus at Tolquhan the entrance front has the gateway between two towers, and a larger tower at each angle of the front, that on the right being circular, and the other on the left square. Similar projecting round towers at the angles are common in all the " Quadrangular " castles of the time. The shot-holes for small guns or muskets are almost the only details left at Boyne, but these point clearly, from their form, to the end of the sixteenth century. The divided port-hole above referred to is certainly a late feature. The corbelling at the level of the original parapet of the north-west tower (being the only ornamental feature left) is also charac- teristic of the same period (Fig. 758). Boyne Castle had the advantage of being designed for a new site, and the architect, being unhampered with existing buildings, has here shown us the plan of the castles then aimed at in the numerous additions and modifications which were carried out in James vi/s time. It is also possible that it may have been designed in imitation of an early castle, with its walls of enceinte and round towers, to which it certainly bears a considerable resemblance. In any case the design is remarkable, and it is greatly to be regretted that this interesting edifice has been suffered to fall into such a state of decay. It is now the property of the Earl of Seafield. GIRNIGOE CASTLE, CAITHNESS-SHIRE. Girnigoe Castle, one of the most important strongholds in the north of Scotland, is grandly situated about three miles north of Wick, 011 a long narrow rock, with perpendicular faces, projecting into the German Ocean. The rocky site runs out diagonally to the shore, and has on either side similar promontories from 50 to 60 feet high, separated from it by an arm of the sea about 30 to 40 yards wide, forming what is called a goe or voe. In various places high isolated stacks of rock stand above the waves, having all the appearance of advanced outworks. In order to give the castle additional security, the rock, where it joins the land, has been cut through at a level considerably above the sea (Fig. 759), and again in the centre, where an irregular ditch, some 12 or 15 feet deep by about the same width, has been formed across the peninsula, thus severing it in two. On the seaward side stands the keep, rising from one side of the ditch, and occupying the full breadth of the rock. The entrance to the castle from the sea-level is by this ditch or moat (see basement and ground-floor plans, Figs. 759 and 760) through a small door, above high-water line, in the wall which separates it from the goe.