Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/436

THIRD PERIOD 416 SANQUHAR CASTLE yard is reached through a vaulted passage, and the castle is found to consist of buildings round an oblong square, with a keep forming the original nucleus at the south-east corner. The keep measures about 23 feet square over the walls, and from 10 to 11 feet inside, and although this is a very small building, it has been well designed, with good moulded windows, a sketch of one of which is given (Fig. 360). The ground floor was vaulted, and probably one of the upper floors ; but the ruin that has overtaken, not only this part, but the rest of the castle, is so complete that it can only be described in a very general way. Adjoining the keep, on the west, is the bakery, with the oven outside the wall. This oven seems to have been an insertion. The kitchen is in the south-west corner. It has had an arched fireplace about 10 feet by 9 feet, with a stone drain to the outside. In the west wall, entering from the inner court, was the wheel stair, with steps 4 feet wide, to the upper floors. The round tower between this and the entrance is nearly all away. The basement floor, which was vaulted, is at a lower level than the court- yard. It is square on plan internally, and evidently continued so to the top. The sketch (Fig. 36 1) shows that the two remaining walls of PIG. 360. danquhar Castle. Window in Keep. Fia. 361. Sanquhar Castle. View from the South-West. this room, as they get towards the top, are corbelled inwards on a con- tinuous corbelling at two different heights. This diminished the size of the room, and the object of it is not clear. The same thing occurs at