Excavations at Kirkcudbright Castle. 117 



have a break in it at the same distance from the centre of 

 the passage as the break already noted in the west curtain 

 wall. On the other side of this break, although all masonry 

 had disappeared, the line of the wall could easily be traced. 

 A trench was next cut on the inside of the south curtain wall, 

 but the faced building had disappeared, with the exception of 

 one large stone, which afterwards turned out to abut on the 

 entrance to the south tower. Along the whole of the inner 

 line of the southern curtain wall was found a thick layer of 

 clay, no doubt the floor of the apartments abutting on the 

 wall. This south curtain wall was found to be 9 ft. 6 in. 

 thick. Attention was then directed to the large mound at the 

 river front, on which was conjectured to have stood the largest 

 tower of all. A series of trenches was cut on the outside, and 

 although there was abundant evidence of building material, 

 still not one faced stone was found. Fortunately the de- 

 spoilers had not disturbed, at least to any extent, the bed 

 of the outside course, and this was easy to follow. The mass 

 of packing stones continued right round the front, and where 

 lost the lime bed proved an invaluable guide. The trenches 

 were continued on the inside, and here it was found that the 

 stones had almost entirely disappeared, but again the lime 

 beds were strongly in evidence, indeed more so than in any 

 other part of the building. There was, however, a space of 

 five feet where there was not the slightest trace of stone or 

 lime, and this proved to have been the continuation of the 

 passage which had already been discovered on the outside, 

 and where, in addition to the bolt of the door, part of a spiral 

 staircase was found. The passage had thus extended right 

 across the tower from the inside to the angles formed by the 

 west and south curtain walls. The conclusion come to seems 

 to be irresistible, that the outer and inner faces of this tower 

 formed one huge buttress, with the passage in the centre, and 

 that this buttress rose to the height of the passage, at the 

 inner end of which would be a spiral staircase to the upper 

 rooms and battlements. Measurements were made, which 

 showed the tower to have had the extraordinary diameter of 

 44 feet. When it is remembered that the towers uncovered 

 the previous year had each a diameter of 36 ft. 6 in., and that 



