Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/68

 FOURTH PERIOD 52 TOWIE BARCLAY groined vault in the entrance lobby, exists at Gight, and a correspond- ing ribbed vault at the original entrance still remains at Delgaty. The basement contains the usual cellars, with small loopholes, one cellar having a private stair to the hall. The principal staircase leading to the first floor is partly straight, with a wheel round the corner of the tower and a good landing at the door to the hall. The hall is of the usual form, but is much more ornate than in most castles. It is 30 feet by 20 feet, and is vaulted in two compart- ments, with a groined and ribbed vault, springing from corbels carved with. foliage. There is also a small and carefully finished and vaulted gallery in the thickness of the wall over the door to the hall, with a wide opening towards the hall. The gallery has ribbed vaulting, and the bosses are carved with the monogram I.H.S., and with a heart and the pierced hands and feet of our Saviour. The corbels from which the ribs spring have shields containing the emblems of the four Evangelists. On each side of the opening towards the hall are canopied niches for statues. Everything seems to point to this gallery having been an oratory or chapel. It is entered by a small stair from the floor above, so that the baron and his family might use it privately, or by drawing a curtain it might be opened to the hall, when all assembled there might witness the service. Billings' view of the interior gives a good idea of these features, which all seem to point to the work having been designed by some one accustomed to ecclesiastical architecture. Groined vaulting of the kind here adopted is rare in the castles of Scotland, but one other example occurs at Balbegno in Kincardineshire, which is of the same period. The hall of Auchendoun was also vaulted in a similar manner, but it belongs to an earlier period. From the ecclesiastical features of the building Mr. Billings infers that it is at least a century earlier than the date upon it (1593). But from the similarity of the vaulting at Balbegno, the date of which is 1569, and from the correspondence of the plan, and the little ribbed vault at the entrance, with such castles as Gight and Delgaty, we have 110 hesitation in assigning it to the middle of the sixteenth century. At Edzell too we find ribbed and groined vaulting in the summer-house, along with features which are undoubtedly of the latter half of the sixteenth century. There is a small private room over the entrance lobby. As already mentioned, the upper floors have been altered or removed. DELGATY CASTLE, ABERDEENSHIRE. This mansion stands about two miles eastward from the town of Turriff. Although now much altered by various additions made at different times, the main block of the original square keep is easily