Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/325

 GIRNIGOE CASTLE 309 FOURTH PERIOD The rocky bottom of the ditch slopes in a dangerous manner (as shown on the section, Fig. 761) towards the arch which opens in its northern wall above the sea. To render the access easier, there was probably in times of peace a moveable platform along the ditch, conducting to steps at the north side, which led up to the west courtyard. SECTION LOOKING NORTB FIG. 761. Girnigoe Castle. Section. The keep is on plan a parallelogram, 36 feet by 28 feet over the walls, having two wings on the east or seaward side of the rock. The south wing is a small building containing the staircase, a kind of pro- jection very common in connection with simple keeps, and is undoubtedly of the same age as the keep. The northern wing, from the way in which it joins the keep, may possibly be an addition or after-thought. The principal entrance doorway of the keep is in the west front, and was reached by a moveable bridge over the ditch or moat, the corbels for supporting which still exist, as seen at the door-sill on the sketch (Fig. 762). A passage leads through the keep along its north side to the kitchen door, where it bends at right angles before entering the courtyard. The kitchen is in the north-east wing, the floor being down a few steps from the passage. The guard-rooms occupy the main portion of the building. From one of these a narrow stair leads down to what was probably the well-room. The well has been filled up, and all traces of it lost, but the drain for keeping the floor dry still exists (Fig. 760). There is a chamber beneath the other guard-room, reached by a stair from the main staircase. Beneath the first floor the whole of the apartments and passages are