Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/405

 MAINS OR FINTRY CASTLE 389 - FOURTH PERIOD The kitchen or " new wark at the north syde of the close " was next added by the Sir William Muir who lived about 1650. We are told that he also built the " battlements of the back wall and reformed the whole house exceedingly." The interior bears ample evidence of his "reformation" in the panel- ling and carved work of which some specimens have been given. The fine entrance gateway to the courtyard, shown on the ground plan, and in Figs. 823 and 829, was built by the Sir William Muir who succeeded in 1657, and died about 1686. It is thrice dated l66'l, and bears his monogram (see enlarged sketch) intertwined with that of his wife, Dame (Elizabeth) Hamilton. There were doubtless enclosing walls extending to the stream, of which only the fragment remains containing the gateway. This Sir William suffered considerable persecution from his adherence to the Covenanting cause. He was a friend of Guthrie, the Covenanter, and held conventicle meetings in the neighbourhood, if not in the house. We have now endeavoured, w r e trust not unsuccessfully, to appropriate the several parts of Rowallan to their respective builders. It is to be hoped that every means will be taken to preserve such an interesting house, containing as it does, within its walls, the memorials of so many periods and events connected with our national history, and particularly that the part now identified as having been erected by the poet pro- prietor will be protected from the further destructive influence of the weather. The other parts of the building are in good order, and well cared for. The Earl of Loudon is now the proprietor of Rowallan. MAINS OR FINTRY CASTLE, FORFARSHIRE. This castle stands on the brow of a steep bank which rises above a small stream in the strath of the Dichty, about three miles northwards from Dundee. The estate belonged in the fourteenth century to the Earls of Angus, who are said to have had a castle on this site. It after- wards passed to the Grahams, who are supposed to have given the castle the name of Fintry from their ancestral home at Fintry in Stirlingshire. The property comprised Claverhouse, and the famous Viscount Dundee belonged to this branch of the Grahams. The existing castle is in the style of the sixteenth century, and in the form of a courtyard (Fig. 834), with buildings surrounding it on the north, east, and south sides. The west side is enclosed with a wall which contains the entrance gateway, and has also had some buildings applied against it.