Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/274

FOURTH PERIOD 258 MUNESS CASTLE carried up as a square stair to the second floor, where it gave access to the room over the hall, which was probably the drawing-room, the rooms to the east entering through it. FIG. 712. Muness Castle. Plan of First and Second Floors. The castle is surrounded by a modern wall, as shown on the plan. One of the gate pillars opposite the entrance is old, although not pro- bably in its primitive position, as the original enclosing wall included a much larger space. Its foundations exist about 52 feet to the south of the present wall, and at its east end, 31 feet from the present east wall, are the grass-covered ruins of a square tower. As already noted, the staircase at Muness is square, like those at Scalloway and Earl's Palace. These three buildings were all erected about the same time, and it seems probable, from the similarity of their details, that they were designed by the same hand. The corbels of the turrets, the mouldings, and the fanciful shape of the shot-holes, all suggest this conclusion (Figs. 713 and 714). It is rather remarkable to find in the far North three buildings of this date, so similar in style, yet so diiferent in plan. It so happens, however, that these different plans represent