Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/377

FEDERATE CASTLE 357 THIRD PERIOD been well finished, having been lighted with lofty arched windows, pro- vided with stone seats, and one of them having an ambry above the seat with an O.G. arched lintel. The ruinous fireplace at the east end is very remarkable. It has measured about 9 feet 6 inches by 7 feet 6 inches, having a flat arched opening to the hall. This fireplace seems to have been contrived "a double debt to pay/' being at once the hall fireplace and the kitchen. It has the usual stone sink and drain to the outside, and is lighted by a small high window. The small apartment about 7 feet 6 inches square adjoining probably entered off the fireplace, and may have been used as a part of the kitchen. The turret roof, built with stone, on the top of the staircase still exists, but it is in a very threaten- ing condition, and unless some repairs are made on it, it will soon fall to the ground. It is a picturesque structure of a lofty bee-hive shape, unlike that of any other tower known to us. There is a projecting garde-robe from the upper floor at the west end, and remains of a circular corbelled turret at the north-east corner. The name of John Lyle of Stoneypath occurs as early as 1446 in a charter by James ir. to Robert de Lyle of Duchal, and on a shield near the south-west, corner of the tower what seems to be the Lyle arms are scratched rather than carved. The arms are fretty of six pieces. At a later time the tower belonged to the Douglas family. The build- ing probably belongs to the early part of the sixteenth century, but there are no features to enable its age to be accurately determined. FEDERATE CASTLE, ABERDEENSHIRE. Federate Castle is situated within two miles of New Deer. It now stands amidst corn-fields, but in the days of its strength it was surrounded with a morass and a fosse. The castle was reached by a causeway and drawbridge, traces of which were visible when the first Statistical Account was written. What remains is a building of the L plan (Fig. 310), with rounded corners, measuring 58 feet 8 inches by 44 feet, with walls 7 feet and 8 feet thick. The castle has the appearance of having been crashed right through diagonally, as if by heavy artillery (Fig. 311); and it is said to have been besieged by King William's troops when held by some of the partisans of James n., who fled thither after the battle of Killiecrankie. But it also appears, from a note in Dr. Pratt's Guide to Buchan, inserted after his account of Federate was written, that a great part of the ruin was caused by an attempt to blow up the castle with gunpowder, the result being that the area floor and part of the first floor lie buried in ruins. The ground floor and first floor were vaulted, and there seem alto- gether to have been four floors, although Dr. Pratt mentions that it was six or seven stories high. Above the hall there is a set-off all round, as