Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/368

THIRD PERIOD 348 BORTHWICK CASTLE entrance from the bridge is protected by the guard-room in the thickness of the wall. The stair from the basement also landed in this guard- room, so that all communication, in or out, up or down, was well watched. The kitchen occupies the north wing, and the private parlour the south wing, on this floor. The kitchen has an immense fireplace, with three windows opening into it, and the usual stone sink and drain. There is a small pantry between the kitchen and the hall, and at the north end of the hall there has evidently been a passage cut off by a screen, as there is a window provided in the east wall for lighting it. There is also a service window from the kitchen into this passage, which in England would be called the "screens." This is amongst the earliest examples of this arrangement, which afterwards became a common feature. From the " screens " the common stair in the north-east angle conducts to the upper flats and the roof. Over the " screens " was no doubt situated the minstrels' gallery. In the screens is a very handsome wash-hand basin (Fig. 298), with carved and ornamental canopy, and drain to the outside. An ornamental basin of this kind in the screens is a common feature in English halls, but is not so common in Scotland. PIG. 299. Borthwiek Castle. Transverse Section through Hall. The hall is 29 feet high to the apex of its pointed barrel vault (Figs. 299, 300), which has evidently been all open to the hall without any loft in the vault.