Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/571

 CRAIGHALL CASTLE 555 FOURTH PERIOD each story having three arches, surmounted with a lofty curved pediment (Fig. 976). In the original building, shaded black, and indicated by dotted lines 011 plan, there was a square staircase tower in the re-entering angle of the north wing which contained the doorway, enriched with large bead and hollow moulding. The staircase, 11 feet 3 inches in diameter, started immediately inside the door. Of the projecting wing at the north end, not much remains, merely the return at the staircase tower, seen projecting at intervals from top to foundation. In the plan this wing is shown of the same form as the south wing. A tower corresponding to the staircase tower was built at the south end in the re-entering angle when the new front was added, as shown 011 the plan by the hatched walls, and the whole front was brought into a symmetrical arrangement with a classic cornice and balustrade continued along the top. FIG. 975. Craighall Castle. Plan of Ground Floor. The new entrance was in the centre, and the space enclosed on the ground floor became a vaulted entrance hall. The old entrance door led as before to the great staircase and the portion of the house on the north side, and a door on the south side led to a new wheel staircase and the rooms beyond. The whole of the ground floor has been vaulted ; many of the vaults are still standing. The back wall, which is of great thickness (7 feet 6 inches), has a tower projecting outwards near its centre, with a singular passage leading to it diagonally through the wall. At the north-east corner of this tower a wheel stair led upwards. From the view of the projecting south-west wing given in Fig. 976, it will be seen that it has two ruined turrets on its angles, the top member enriched with facets placed diagonal-wise as in the foreground sketch. The style of these ornaments shows that the old house was of the late type of Scottish mansions. Doubtless the other tower was