CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



**"*7- it hid bB injured by the fire. From thit third tower, 



^^ V^^ at about a mile and half still further up I!K- ^Icn, a 



fourth tower i situated upon a bold point of rock. 



to ami about 190 frrt above the river. Thii it of an 



oval shape. It> interior diameter i> in one direction 53 



feet, in the other 38 feet. In the iouthero quarter, there 



standing above the general surface 



of the rock, all the rest it demoli>hed. In tome parts, 



the (tone* are lying about the foundation, in other*, part 



of the rock ha* (riven way ; and, with the stone* of the 



building fallen down into the river, the thickness of the 



part now remaining is 12 feet. On the north-east side, 



there it a doorway 3 feet in width, and the height is from 



5 to 6 feet. At one place in the southern quarter, there 



it a patMge 2 feet wide, and 3 feet high. The external 



surface of the pan now standing is built of well-shaped 



tones, regularly laid, but not of a large size. From this 



tower, that which we have named, No. 3. is seen, but none 



of the others, and it u from No. 1. only that there is a view 



of the set. Th:re is also another of these sort of towers 



upon the shores of Loch Duich, standing upon a rocky 



eminence immediately above Tuteg ferry ; and it is said 



the remain* of others may still be traced in Glen Elg, 



but we have not received any authentic account of them. 



D Doe- In the largest of the towers of Dun Dornadilla, situat- 



"''l 1 - ed near the top of Loch Tongue, in Sutherland, the 



wall* are 30 feet high ; the outer circumference is about 



150 feet ; the diameter of the inner area is 27 feet, which 



leave* about 10 feet 6 inches for the thickness of the 



wall*, including the passage ; in this passage there is a 



stair from the first to the second story. 



Dunilu. The tower of Dunalaskaig, in the Dornoch Firth, is 

 ***f" not situated upon any promontory, but upon the side of 



a steep bank, opposite to the vitrified fort which occupies 

 the top of the conical hill of Criech. It stands about 

 50 feet above the level of the sea, and the vie- from it 

 is rather confined. The present height, on the upper 

 tide next the public road, is about 1 1 feet ; but on ac- 

 count of the steepness of the bank, the foundation of the 

 lower tide is about 7 or 8 feet under the level of that on 

 the upper side. The form appears to be exactly circu- 

 lar ; the diameter of the inner area is 31 feet ; and the 

 thickness of the walls, including the passage between 

 them, i* about 12 feet. On the inside of the inner wall, 

 at about five feet above the present surface of the ground, 

 there is a ledge or offset all round, of about one foot in 

 breadth, which of course reduces the diameter, at this 

 place, to 29 feet ; but from this the face of the wall ta- 

 pers downward, to that at the surface of the ground the 

 dutneter is 31 feet. Below the level of this ledge there 

 i* only one opening ; this is on the north east side, and is 

 4 feet 9 inches high, 3 fei-t 2 inches wide at the bottom, 

 and 2 feet 9 inches at the top. On each side of this 

 opening there is a jamb with a recess, as if to receive a 

 door to be fastened on the inside j there are also holes, 

 apparently for wooden bars, at the back of the door im- 

 mediately within the jambs. On each hand, there is an 

 opening like the entrance to a passage in the middle of 

 the wall; the one i* 1 foot 6 inches, and the other 2 feet 

 wide, and 3 feet 6 inches high. Round the outer wall 

 there n no other opening but this, but in the innrr wall 

 there are four opening* placed immediately upon the 

 aforesaid ledge, and opposite to each other ; one just over 

 the entrance doorway is 4 feet high anJ 3 feet wide, the 

 other* are partly broken down. In ihe passage between 

 the walls there arc itcps of a stair; thi* passage is about 

 3 feet 3 inche* in width at the entrance, but diminishes 

 to about IS inches near the upper part ; the middle is 4 

 fort 6 mches in width, from the steps or linfelling over 



2 



Hiitory. 



the head ; the height i* from 5 feet 9 inche* to 6 feet. 

 There have alto been two other staircases between the 

 walls. The masonry is composed of stones similar to 

 those now lying in the immediate in iglibmirhood. They 

 are large, naturally well-shaped, and laid with great re- 

 gularity ; but neither cxt-nully nor intirnally, is there 

 any appearance of artificial dressing by means of a 

 hammer or other instrument. From the light to the 

 passages in the middle of the walls, having, in all these 

 structure*, been procured from the inside area, it would 

 appear that this never was covered at the top ; and yet, in 

 those northern countries, it is improbable that people 

 could remain long thus exposed in these open inclosures ; 

 it is equally improbable that the narrow staircases and 

 passages could be employed as permanent dwellings. 

 These buildings must therefore have been only signal 

 towers, or very temporary places of refuge ; or they may 

 perhaps have been employed for religious purposes ; but 

 whatever were their original destination, it is sufficient, 

 in the present enquiry, to kn< w that they were all built 

 in a regular manner without mortar. 



During the 4OO years in which the Romans possessed Roman 

 Britain, the modes of building were completely changed : work*, 

 the introduction of lime mortar was alone sufficient to form jj me mw . 

 a new sera. The fortified ramparts constructed between ur. 

 the Forth and Clyde, and Newcastle and the Solway 

 Firth, were a school with which the northern moun- 

 taineers, from their constant efforts to destroy them, were, 

 no doubt, quite familiar. The art of combining into one 

 compact and comparatively impenetrable body, the smal- 

 lest and most irregular stones, must have immediately 

 struck a people eager to seize any means of obtaining 

 more perfect protection. We accordingly find the ves- Old castles 

 tiges of very old towers constructed in this manner upon 

 insulated rocky promontories, along the whole of the sea 

 coast of Scotland ; also on the shores and islands of the 

 numerous inland lochs ; and in the passes and com- 

 manding stations of the mountains. They are most 

 usually single towers of three stories in height, but not of various 

 unfrequently, in those reckoned royal residences, the formr. 

 buildings were of greater extent, as Inverlochy castle in 

 Lochaber, which is a regular square, with round towers 

 at the angles : or they consisted of one plain square on- 

 ly, as Balvarie, Elgin, and DutTus, in Moray. In other 

 places, in order to occupy the whole rocky or insulated 

 site, they were of an irregular shape, as at Urquhart 

 upon Lochness, and Dunstaffnagc upon Loch Etive ; 

 and Ruthvcn in Badenoch stood upon a neck of high 

 ground projecting into a marshy plain, terminating in a 

 conical mound, on which the castle was built ; the area 

 on the top was 100 yards by 30, the south wall 9 feet in 

 thickness, the other side was four feet ; there were two 

 turrets at the northernmost angles. This was the seat of 

 Comyn, Lord of Badenoch. 



What relates to the protection of towns, forms a part 

 of military architecture ; and in the country, until a very 

 late period, the rude and turbulent chieftains continued 

 to inhabit their castellated towers. 



With regard to places of worship, unless the circles ecle<ia<i 

 of rude stones placed in the ground are considered to cal edifice 

 have been appropriated to religious purposes, nothing 

 can be traced north of the Tweed prior to the 7th cen- 

 tury. About this time Old Melrosw, Coldingham, and a 

 church at Tynningham were founded. (See Chalmers's 

 t vol. i.) Respecting the first of these, it is said, 

 that within 16 years after Lindisfairn in Northumber- 

 land, (viz. 635,) a religious house was established in a 

 peninsula on the south bank of the Tweed at M.-.ol-ross. 

 On the death of Aidan, the celebrated Cuthbcrt entered 



