Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/273

MUNESS CASTLE 257 FOURTH PERIOD The castle stands on a rising moorland about half a mile from the sea. It is oblong on plan (Fig. 711), measuring 74 feet 3 inches by 28 feet over the walls, with two large round towers projecting from dia- gonally opposite angles, over which the entire length is 96 feet 8 inches. On the upper floor the two other angles are ornamented with project- ing turrets (see Plan of Second Floor, Fig. 712). The building is three stories high, the ground floor being vaulted throughout, and still quite entire. MODERN WAL MUNESS UNST SHETLAND FIG. 711. Muness Castle. Plan of Ground Floor. The entrance doorway is in the south front, and leads by a passage to the kitchen in the west end, which has a wide arched fireplace, with a round oven opening from it, and the usual stone sink and drain. The other chambers on the ground floor are dark, or only dimly lighted with shot-holes and mere slits. The staircase to the first floor is of the scale and platt kind, as at Scalloway and Earl's Palace, and intrudes in an awkward manner between the hall and the adjoining room. From the eastmost cellar the usual private stair leads up to the hall, which is situated in the centre of the first floor, with rooms at either end enter- ing off it. A newel staircase, partly in the thickness of the north wall, and partly over the passage from the hall to the private room, leads from the first to the second floor, which is now inaccessible, the joists and flooring being gone. This staircase, however, only gave access to the bedroom over the private room and tower adjoining, which were doubtless the proprietor's apartments, and were thus rendered very private and secure. The principal staircase is, in an exceptional manner, VOL. II. R