Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/112

FIRST PERIOD - 92 DUNSTAFFNAGE CASTLE style to the windows adjoining, only somewhat richer ; and probably few things of this kind in Scotland have equalled it. It had beaded angle- shafts and elaborate mouldings with dog-tooth enrichments continuous on jamb and arch. The arch is gone, but it was doubtless semicircular. Of the chancel nothing can be said, as it is inaccessible. The side walls are evidently original, and there are no openings in them. The fully developed Early Pointed style, of which this chapel is a fine example, prevailed in Scotland from about the middle of the thirteenth century till its close ; and, inferring from its details, the erection of the chapel may be assigned to about the year 1250 ; and there is every pro- bability, and almost certainty, that the castle is of the same age, and built by the same men. The peculiar widely-splayed windows of the chapel are to be seen in a very marked manner in the interior splays of many of the castle loops, where they are unaltered ; and the Early Pointed lancets in the curtain walls, already referred to, point to the same conclusion, while the plan of the castle, with its round or partially rounded towers, forms an intermediate link between the simpler form of castle, like that of Kinclaven, and the completed style of the first period, like Bothwell and Kildrummie. We have also in the Introduction called attention to the resemblance between this castle and the walls and towers of St. Andre at Villeneuve, built about 1300. The latter, as seen from the south-west, has the same rounded angle containing a tower as we find at DunstafFnage, and the walls of the enceinte are of the same plain and massive description. The long loops are also similar. It is remarkable to find such a striking similarity in castles so remotely situated from one another, although pro- bably belonging to about the same period. The shape of the towers has been limited in both instances by the outline of the rock, which circum- stance has prevented them from being built with the usual bold salient such, for instance, as we see at Inverlochy. Tradition and legend carry Dunstaffhage back to a much remoter period, and probably the site early commended itself as a strong place. By nature it is so, and but little art would be required to render it almost impregnable against the simple modes of warfare practised in those times. If any earlier castle stood here, nothing of it now remains. While the existing castle was still new, in the year 1308, Bruce, as related by Barbour, " That stoute wes, stark, and bauld, Till Dunstaffynch rycht sturdely A sege set ; and besyly Assaylit the castell it to get. And, in schorl tym, he has thaim set In swilk thrang, that thar in war than, That magre tharis he it wan. And ane gud wardane tharin set ; And betaucht hym bath men and met, Swa that he lang tyme thar mycht be, Magre thaim all off that countre."