Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/315

LEVEN CASTLE 295 THIRD PERIOD here as at Edzell and Affleck, and the plan of the building also corre- sponds with these keeps. We may therefore assume that its date is similar, or about the end of the fifteenth century. LEVEN CASTLE, RENFREWSHIRE. Situated on the steep bank of a stream near Gourock on the Clyde, this castle (Fig. 249) is built on a plan very unusual at this period, viz., that of a double tower. This form of plan was however adopted in some cases at a later period. Leven Castle seems to have been originally a simple keep of the usual plan of the fourteenth or fifteenth LEVEN CASTLE NCAR GOUROCK RENFREWSHIRE FIG. 249. Leven Castle. Plan. century, the wing to the south-east being probably a later addition. The ground floor contains two vaulted cellars, one of them having a private stair down from the hall. The entrance door was on the ground floor, with a narrow straight stair to the first-floor landing, which is continued as a newel stair in the south-west angle to the upper floors. The hall windows have square recesses furnished with stone seats. From the style of the corbel table (Fig. 250) it may be inferred that the south- east wing was added about the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the old keep seems to have been remodelled, and the same cornice continued all round the building. It is of the ornamental pattern, in which mock corbels are introduced as ornaments. At this period addi- tional accommodation has been desired, particularly a kitchen, which has led to this peculiar form of wing being built. The larger newel staircase between the two towers has apparently also been introduced at the same time. This castle may possibly have been all built at one time, but we are inclined to think that the above account of it is more likely to be correct. In the later double-tower keeps, such as Burgie, one of the divisions is carried up as a watch-tower, which is not the case here. The numerous stairs from the basement are also very unusual features. The straight stair was all that was necessary, and is evidently original, together with