Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/36

FOURTH PERIOD 20 AMISFIELD TOWER modern one, we shall endeavour to arrange each list of houses so as to show the gradual progress of this transition. Each series of descriptions will therefore commence with the buildings of the period which have most of the Scottish style in their design,, to be followed by examples in which the transitional features are prominently visible, and concluding with designs in which the Scottish style is absorbed in the modern or Renaissance type. AMISFIELD TOWER, DUMFRIESSHIRE, This striking tower is situated on level ground above the steep bank of a stream about four miles from Dumfries, and near the station of Amisfield. It is one of the most picturesque of the late tower-built houses in the county. In plan it is a simple parallelogram, 31 feet 6* inches by 29 feet (Fig. 488). The ground floor contains the entrance 4- FIG. 488. Amisfield Tower. Plans. door, and a straight stair to the first floor. It has one vaulted apartment, forming the usual cellar or store, and a smaller cellar next the entrance door which may have been a guard-room.