Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/58

 FOURTH PERIOD 42 SCOTSTARVET TOWER after the older fashion. This fireplace, as is apparent from the sketch (Fig. 508), shows decided traces of the Renaissance in the panelled jambs and frieze with the Ionic volute effect in their caps, and the egg-and- dart enrichment, a style of fireplace altogether different from the earlier buildings. The tower is oblong on plan (Fig. 509), with a slight projection southwards at the east end for the staircase. The oblong measures 33 feet 6 inches by 27 feet, with walls on the ground floor from six to FIG. 510. Scotstarvet Tower. View from the South-West. seven feet thick, and about 50 feet high to the top of the parapet, and 65 feet to the ridge. There are two vaults, each subdivided, with wooden floors (see Section), and altogether the tower contains six stories, served by the narrow inconvenient wheel stair which leads to the summit. Small and confined as is its accommodation, it was one of the principal