Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/401

 ROWALLAN CASTLE 385 FOURTH PERIOD from the ground. He lived gratiouslie and died in peace, the yeare of his aige 66, and in the yeare of our Lord 1581 ;" and again, from the Genealogical Tree drawn up in 1597, and quoted in the above Histone, we have the further particulars : " This Johne Muire 3 of yat name delytit in policye of plamtein and bigging, he plaintit ye oirchzarde and gairdein, sett ye vpper banck and nethir bank ye birk zaird befoir ye zett, he bigit ye foir vark from ye grouiide ye bak wall and vomanhous." The Tree, however, differs from the Histone in placing his death in 1591, and it is believed to be correct in this. The " woman house " referred to in the above quotations is probably the portion at the west end, with the separate stair- case. In a panel over the principal entrance doorway (see Fig. 824, and enlarged sketch in upper part of Fig. 832) are the Royal arms and supporters, with the Mure arms beneath. Above the panel is a carved head, probably intended for a " Moor's head/' the crest of the family, which, as the Editor of the Historic says, "may have its prototype in the bluidy head," to be afterwards referred to. The bosses, string-courses, and mould- ings of the round towers, carved with cable ornaments and imitation gargoyles (Fig. 832) are characteristic of the period when they were built, viz., 156?. The buildings on the north side of the courtyard are unfortunately very ruinous. The vaulted apartment in the north-west corner is now only one story high, that story being on the courtyard level, as there is no basement floor on this side of the house. This building is usually regarded as the ground floor of the original castle of Rowallan, built in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. This is, how- ever, quite a mistake ; its walls, about 3 feet 6 inches thick, and some of them even less, are much too thin for a tower of such an early period, nor would there have been so many or so wide openings on the ground floor. Besides, the windows are back-filleted with beads round the out- side (Fig. 833), always a sign of late sixteenth-century or of seventeenth- century work, to say nothing of the turret at the north-west angle, shown on the ground plan by a dotted line. From the mouldings of the corbel VOL. II. 2 B FIG. 832. Rowallan Castle. Details of Inscription and Arms.