Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/402

FOURTH PERIOD - 38t) - ROWALLAN CASTLE table of this turret one is able to say positively that it is not earlier than the dates above quoted for other later portions of the work. This build- ing seems to have been a kitchen. There would thus be two kitchens in the castle, as was not infrequently the case. We have several examples of houses having double kitchens, as at Crichton, Balgonie, and other places, and there is an instance at Auchans, in the same locality. There is still further evidence that the above views regarding the age of this building are correct. It is quite obvious from the Historic, as continued by Sir William Muir, the grandson of its first writer, that this part of the house was built by Sir William himself. He succeeded about 1639, "and lived Religiously and died christianlie in the year of his age 63 and the year of our Lord 1657." We further find that he " had ane excellent vaine in poyesie ; he delyted much in building and planting, he builded the new wark in the North syde of the close and the battlement of the back wall and reformed the whole house exceed- ingly." Besides, we have conclusive evidence that the kitchen above described is the "new wark" referred to from the fact that the tym- panum over the entrance doorway of the porch leading to it (Fig. 833) contains the initials of Sir William, with those of his wife, Dame (Jane) Hamilton, in the form of a monogram, accompanied with the Muir and Hamilton arms. It also appears that he built the battlements or enclosing wall on the west side, which still remains, being a continuation of the gable of the " new wark." With such evidence before us the idea of this kitchen being a build- ing of the thirteenth century must be abandoned. This Sir William Muir is well known to all readers of Scottish literary history. His translation or version of the Psalms attracted considerable attention at one time. Baillie, when a Commissioner at the Westminster Assembly, writes, in a letter to a friend, " I wish I had Rowallan's Psalter here, for I like it better than any I have yet seen." With regard to the doorway above noticed, it may be pointed out that the carved wooden door shown on the sketch (Fig. 833) is in reality hung on the plain entrance doorway, on the opposite side of the courtyard. The building marked "ruined" on plan occupies the highest part of the site, and its ground-floor is 8 or 9 feet above the level of the court- yard. The wall towards the courtyard is thus merely a retaining wall. The building which formerly stood here has now almost entirely dis- appeared, its outline, as shown on the plan, being only discernible. There is a considerable accumulation of ruins and vegetation on this site, and it is possible that there may be a vaulted floor beneath, at the courtyard level, but only a thorough clearing away of rubbish would reveal any information on this subject. Rowallan, as the birthplace of Elizabeth Muir, the first wife of King