FIELD MEETINGS. 189 
the end of the main building, and communicating therewith by an 
arched doorway on the first floor. The remarkable structure 
has withstood the ravages of time to a wonderful extent, and 
while the original woodwork has disappeared, the masonry is 
almost intact. The basement consists of a vaulted chamber of 
small dimensions. The walls of the basement are almost eight 
feet thick. This chamber or dungeon is entered by a doorway 
communicating with the outside, but the stone work round the 
doorway being of a much more recent date than the castle itself, 
indicates that originally the dungeon was entered only by a trap 
door in the vaulted roof which forms the floor of the first storey. 
The first floor of the peill was the entrance hall of the castle, and 
round the walls are remains of carving which indicate that it was 
originally handsomely decorated. The floors above the entrance 
hall were of timber, and have long since disappeared. The 
main entrance, which is approached externally by a flight of 
steps, has an arched doorway formerly leading into the rectangu- 
lar dwelling portion of the castle, which has now fallen away. 
The walls on the first floor measure six feet in thickness, 
and the side door from the hall leads to a circular 
staircase, built in the thickness of the wall, to the 
upper floors and the roof, which has a flagged path- 
way, some eighteen inches wide, surrounded by battlements, still 
in fair preservation. . . . It is quite probable there was a 
castle on this spot before 1456, but there is no doubt that the 
circular tower and other improvements were added about this 
period by John Cairnis, who made this his residence, giving it the 
name of Orchardton, the name by which the lands of the present 
estate shortly afterwards came to be known. Orchardton is first 
mentioned as the residence of John Cairnis in the records of 
1467. The round peill was an object of renown through Scot- 
land, and is still visited by many tourists and antiquaries. 
All accounts seem to unite in overlooking the fact that the tower 
was merely a stronghold or keep of a larger residence, now 
almost entirely demolished by the ravages of centuries.’’ In the 
wall of the first storey of the tower is a recessed apartment, with 
an arched framework of light-coloured sandstone and Gothic 
design, and set into it is a carved stone, hollowed on the upper 
surface and with a small central hole, which is obviously a 
fragment of a piscina. This suggests that the apartment had 
