Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/268

FOURTH PERIOD 252 KILCOY CASTLE KILCOY CASTLE, ROSS-SHIRE. This building is a fine specimen of the castle with diagonally opposite towers erected in the early part of the seventeenth century. It is situated near the top of a rising ground about two miles north from Killearnan Church, on the Beauly Firth. The property was acquired in 1618 by Alexander Mackenzie, fourth son of the eleventh Baron of Kintail. From the various coats of arms and initials on various parts of the buildings, it seems to have been erected by Alexander Mackenzie early in the seventeenth century. The entrance door is close to the re-entering angle of the south-east tower, which contains the principal stair to the first floor, while the other tower contains apartments, as is often the case in similar buildings of this date. The towers are not of the same size, each being built suffi- ciently large for the purpose it is intended to serve. Above the first floor small newel stairs conduct to the rooms on the upper floors. On the ground floor, which is all FIG. 706.-Kiicoy Castle. Plans. vaulted (Fig. 706), we find the usual kitchen passage leading to the cellars. In this case the kitchen is not in its usual place at the end of the passage, but is placed near the entrance door and staircase. It has a service window to the passage, and is provided with the ordinary stone filler for water-supply, and stone sink and drain. The central or wine cellar has the common private stair to the hall. All the apartments on the basement are amply provided with deeply splayed shot-holes, those of the towers flanking the side walls. The first floor contains the hall, with private room adjoining, and a bedroom in the north-west tower, all provided with cupboards, garde- robes, etc. The hall mantelpiece (Fig. 707) is carved with three well- preserved coats of arms and initials of the Mackenzies, and bears the date 1679. There are two mermaids playing on harps, one at either end, probably representing supporters, and adjoining them are carved