east-lothian-1924/05-137

Transcription

NORTH BERWICK.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN EAST LOTHIAN. [NORTH BERWICK.

which traces can still be seen. A series of beam
holes and weather tables indicates that there
were wooden structures against the inner face
of the east wall. Within the enclosure or
courtyard there is a circular well, which is
sunk through the rock to a depth of 106 feet.
With regard to the different periods of building
shown in the castle it may be said generally
that the earlier masonry is coursed rubble of a
reddish freestone with an admixture of ashlar
relieved by offset and corbel courses, while the
later work is rubble built in a greenish volcanic
stone with red freestone bands and dressing.
The front of the gatehouse has been greatly
altered, and what remains is largely obscured
[marginal note]
J.S.R.
by the great frontal addition built after 1528.
In the original arrangement the entrance, pro-
tected by fosse, drawbridge and portcullis, lay
within a forework formed by two rectangular
piers salient to the curtain and surmounted by
massive and lofty circular turrets joined by an
arch at the present height of the curtain
parapets. Into the recess formed by piers and
arch the drawbridge fitted when raised. The
turrets probably terminated in embattled para-
pets and rose three storeys to the height of the
Mid-tower ; the space between them was not
covered but enclosed by a parapet in front and
[marginal note]
So originally
at Dirleton
by the walls of the turrets and Mid-tower at
the sides and back. The first alteration,
apparently executed shortly after the Mid-
tower and forework were completed, was the
addition of a barbican carried outwards from
the forework to the main ditch ; this was
probably open and provided with parapet
walks entered from a mural stair, part of which
still remains, in the southern wall of the
barbican ; the drawbridge seems to have fallen
out of use at this time, for the fosse or pit
between the piers of the forework was semi-
permanently bridged with timber transoms and
[marginal note]
As at Dirleton
decking. In the 16th century the barbican
was closed at the inner end by a door some
11 1/2 feet out from the forework, and this door,
which is now the outer door of the castle, was
repaired and provided with a new head at the
time of the main addition i.e., after 1528.
In or following the siege of 1528, the upper
part of the forework seems to have been
demolished but was subsequently reconstructed
and entirely altered in appearance. An ar-
morial panel was placed high up on the new

63

front ; this is now greatly decayed, but what
remains suggests that the bearings and sup-
porters are those of the Earl of Angus. The
recess between the piers was filled in with
masonry leaving a low vaulted trance between
the original entrance and the door of the
barbican and the whole front was carried
11 1/2 feet forward in solid masonry, save for a
tiny chamber above the door in the barbican.
The forework now terminated upwards in an
open platform at its present level, approxi-
mately that of the parapets of the curtains.
The north-west turret and the barbican were
extensively repaired, and the latter was ceiled
and floored with stone vaults. Gun-ports were
formed just beyond the old piers to rake the
main ditch, and these contained recesses for a
cross-beam on which a light gun might be
mounted ; a similar provision may be ob-
served very clearly in the forebuilding at
[marginal note]
Ravenscraig
Dunnottar Castle, Kincardinshire. A gun-
loop commanding the barbican trance is
found in the chamber above the barbican door,
and fragments of a second loop, probably a
later insertion, in the barbican wall.
What is here termed the gatehouse had thus
come to consist of what was known later (see
Historical Note) as the Fore Tower or forework
and the Mid-tower or inner structure. The
latter is an oblong structure over 70 feet in
height measuring 41 1/4 feet from north-west to
south-east by 28 feet ; it rises two storeys
above the curtains and provided five storeys
beneath the wallheads, which were surmounted
by parapet walks. The roof appears to have
been flat. The entrance is a lofty archway,
9 1/2 feet wide, having an obtusely pointed head,
which springs from a moulded impost on the
ingoing ; the archivolt is moulded and stops
on chamfer planes. In the archway, which
opens on a central trance, are the remains of
the portcullis chase, and above this may be
traced provision for the mechanism of the
drawbridge. The trance penetrates the Mid
Tower and opens to the courtyard through a
large arched gateway, above which there
appears to have been a machicolation ; this
archway was subsequently contracted. There
were great double doors at either end of
the trance and a third almost midway in its
length.
Opening off the trance on the south is a