Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/48

 FOURTH PERIOD KINNAIRD HEAD CASTLE ment is almost dark, the only window in it being a mere narrow slit 6 inches wide, with the ingoing carried diagonally through the wall, and so arranged that no one could see in from the outside even had the interior been brilliantly lighted. Fio. 499. Plan and Section of Wine Tower. The intermediate floor is reached from the upper floor by a trap ladder leading down to it. This is shown as a hatch in Fig. 501, while the upper floor itself is reached by a ladder from the ground. This upper floor is most interesting and remarkable. Inside the door is a small FIG. 500. View of Towers at Kinnaird Head. porch, so that there is a double door, and immediately inside the latter is the hatch leading to the floor below. The chamber measures about 18 feet by 10 feet 6 inches, and is lighted by four small windows, one in each wall. The fireplace is in the north wall. From the vaulted roof (see interior view, Fig. 501) hang three finely carved pendants. These are shown to a larger scale in the upper row of sketch (Fig. 502), while those of the under row are in the arched soffits of the windows. There are one or two more which we could not get a sketch of. The first series has the Royal arms and supporters, with the crest and motto " In Defens " on a scroll round the top. This crest and motto were first assumed by James v., so that this fixes the erection of the tower as subsequent to the first quarter of the sixteenth century. The next