Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/584

SECOND PERIOD 568 SUMMARY SECOND PERIOD (fourteenth century). The Scottish castles of this period are of a very marked and peculiar description. The country, impoverished as it was by the War of Independence., could not attempt to imitate the rapid advance in military architecture which took place at that time in France and England. It had to content itself with adopting a simple form of tower similar to, and evidently derived from, the " Norman Keep " formerly so pre- valent in France and England, but now abandoned in those countries for more than a century. This type of habitation was found to suit the limited requirements and means of the time. Indeed, so admirably adapted was it to the circumstances of Scotland, combining as it did in the simplest and most economical manner, security from without, with the accommodation considered adequate within, that for nearly four centuries, the Norman keep, with various modifications, continued to form the model on which the plans of the great majority of the Scottish castles and mansions were designed. A barmkin or courtyard, surrounded with a wall, was attached to these keeps, but the enclosing wall did not present the great size and extent of the thirteenth-century castles. The ornamental features of this period, which, as might be expected, are somewhat rare, were founded entirely on the defensive requirements, such as the corbel table of the parapet and bartizans, with its machi- colations, corbels, embrasures, etc. THIRD PERIOD (1400 to 1542). During this period the keep plan was still the ruling one. But the original simple form was now in some instances modified by the addition of a wing at one angle, forming what is called the L plan. This plan was occasionally further modified by the insertion of a tower containing the staircase in the re-entering angle. In the case of Borthwick two wings were added, both on the same side of the main keep. These enlargements are clearly developments of the original quadrilateral keep, and are the natural result of the increasing ease and refinement of the country. There can be no doubt as to their being native developments from the primary simple form. The great number of small chambers formed in the thickness of the walls which are so common in many of the keeps of this date, are another feature peculiar to the Scottish castles. The kitchen in connection with these keeps was probably an outbuilding in the courtyard, or the hall fireplace may often have served the purpose. At this period, however, the keep plan, even with the additional accommodation provided by means of the above modifications, was found by the more powerful and wealthy of the nobles to be too limited for their requirements, and a new form of plan, derived from abroad, was now introduced. This was the system of arranging the buildings round