Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/102

FOURTH PERIOD 86 GILBERTFIELD GILBERTFIELD, LANARKSHIRE. This mansion is situated in a retired position on the lower slopes of Dechmont Hill, overlooking the Vale of Clyde, about two miles south- east from Cambuslang. It has a commanding and venerable aspect a remnant of quaint old Scottish life overlooking the smoke-begrimed and noisy valley, fuller of the stir and din of nineteenth-century life than any other valley in Scotland. The house is on the simple L plan (Fig. 551). It is four stories in height, and contains eight apartments, Hi FIG. 551. Gilberttield. Plans. not including the ground floor, and has been built both for strength and convenience. The whole of the ground floor is vaulted, the ceiling being about 10 feet 8 inches high, with walls 3 feet 4 inches thick, having few windows, and these of small size. There is a shot-hole from the kitchen commanding the entrance door, while others occur at the sills of some of the second floor windows (see views, Figs. 552 and 553). The house is thus one of those which form a kind of connecting link between the keep tower and the modern mansion. This design also shows how the gables gradually reasserted themselves at the expense of the angle turrets. There are only two of these turrets in all, and they