Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/20

FOURTH PERIOD 4 - PLANS that it is scarcely possible not to recognise it at a glance as belonging to this period. It is very commonly supposed, and is frequently stated by writers on this and kindred subjects, that this style of Scotch Architecture is " French." In Billings' work no opportunity is omitted of impressing this idea on the reader ; but we believe, and shall endeavour to show, that this is an entire mistake. There is certainly a general and superficial resemblance between the castles of France, Germany, and other countries of Europe, and those of Scotland at this period, but when the designs are considered architecturally and in detail, the Scottish buildings are found to be essentially distinct from the others. Turrets, steep roofs and gables, corbels, ornamental dormers, and similar features were common to all the Architecture of Western Europe as well as to that of Scotland at the close of the Gothic period and the beginning of the Renaissance, and to the extent of following this general tendency, Scotland may be said to have derived her style from abroad. But when we examine the Scottish buildings carefully and in detail, we discover that the design is of native growth, that it has a national and distinctive character, and forms a style quite as independent as, if not even more so than, any of the Renaissance styles of the other countries of Europe. FOURTH PERIOD Plans. Let us first examine the plans of the castles and houses of this period. So far as we are aware these have never been well illustrated or explained, and it may be that from want of sufficient attention to the internal arrangements the mistaken view above referred to may to some extent have arisen. The plans adopted during this period are either the same as those of the previous period, or consist of modifications which have grown out of them. Thus we have (first) the simple rectangular tower, the direct lineal descendant of the old Norman keep. This is represented by the numerous Border peles, and similar simple towers in every part of the country, such as Hallbar, Lanarkshire ; Coxton, Morayshire ; and Scot- starvet, Fifeshire ; or such plain rectangular buildings as Udney Castle, Aberdeenshire, and Spedlins Tower, Dumfriesshire. It has already been noticed that during the Third Period various slight modifications of this form were introduced. But now that defence was no longer such a primary object a& formerly, the severity of the simple keep was in many instances gradually done away with, and the rectangular tower house received a more fanciful treatment. Of this we have a good specimen at Amisfield in Dumfries-