Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/484

 FOURTH PERIOD 468 ABERDOUR CASTLE to the modern spirit of innovation,, and in our Fourth Period we find numerous buildings in which the traditional plans are departed from, and modern varieties of internal arrangement are introduced. This change is more apparent in the keep plans than in those built round a courtyard. The latter is a form of plan which has continued to be often adopted, even till the present day. Modern houses being, however,, more generally designed as solid blocks than with an open central courtyard, it is naturally in the former kind of plans that we find the greatest departure from the old forms. Hitherto in such houses we have invariably found the ancient keep forming the solid nucleus on which have been grafted the various modifications and additions, an account of which has been given. In the buildings about to be considered there is scarcely an indication of the keep observable. The rooms are arranged simply with regard to convenience, and so as to make the site or exposure properly available. The idea of defence is now almost entirely abandoned, and comfort- able arrangements become the chief desideratum. It has been above pointed out that the Z plan fell into disuse when defensive features ceased to be required. About the same time another form of plan was introduced, which may perhaps have taken its general form from the Z or L plan. This consists of an oblong main building with two wings projecting from the opposite ends of one of the faces, but both jutting out on the same side. These wings are generally arranged so as to balance one another, and thus produce a symmetrical elevation, symmetry and balance being now considered essential in all architectural designs. This form of plan w r as much used, as we shall immediately see, in the later Scottish mansions, but the other plans are not reducible to any definite system. In the following descriptions we shall continue the method already adopted of taking those examples first in which the Scottish style is most apparent, and continuing with those in which the advance of the Renaissance becomes gradually more apparent and pronounced. ABERDOUR CASTLE, FIFESHIRE. Aberdour Castle is situated near the village of the same name, on irregular swelling ground rising from a small burn called the Dour, within a few hundred yards of where it falls into the Firth of Forth. The castle consists of buildings of three periods (Fig. 900): 1st, A keep on the height at the north-west corner ; l 2d, An addition attached in advance to the south-east ; and, 3d, Another addition attached to the latter, and still further advanced to the south-east. The various. 1 The chapel shown on the ground-plan gives the orientation.