Mr. G. Turnbull on Edin's Hall. 13 



whose sides converge to 2 feet 6 inches at one of its ends. Like 

 those that are more entire, they may have had entrances from the 

 inner court, but these entrances are not at present discernible. 

 It is said that these openings were covered, but this fact cannot 

 be ascertained in the present dilapidated state of the building. 

 Neither can it be ascertained whether any of them were used as 

 staircases or inclined ascents to the top. In the earlier accounts 

 they are all described as separate cells*. 



Windows. — If windows ever existed in the building, no indi- 

 cations of them now appear, nor indeed could reasonably be 

 looked for, in consequence of the very inconsiderable height of 

 the remains of the walls. In none of the accounts of it is any 

 mention of windows made. 



Height. — It is impossible to form any conjecture as to the 

 original height of the structure, but it must have been consider- 

 able, as may be inferred from the quantity of materials rolled 

 down the bank and carried away, and from what still lies within 

 and around the building. 



Roof. — It is very improbable that an edifice of such magni- 

 tude, and erected by rude artists, could have had a roof which 

 covered the whole of it. 



Such was the principal building, or what may be called the 

 Keep of Edin's Hallf. 



Subordinate buildings. — Eastward from this keep the ground 

 is marked by the foundations of other buildings. These foun- 

 dations are now mostly overgrown with turf, and exhibit the. 

 appearance of low mounds, having the larger stones protruding. 

 On a careful examination of these mounds, the foundations of 

 four circular buildings can be traced, and there may have been 

 others ; but this circumstance is uncertain, the inequalities of the 

 ground not being sufficiently unequivocal to establish it. Of 

 these subordinate buildings, the largest, and now the most di- 

 stinct in its remains, is situated at the distance of about 75 feet 

 south-east from the Hall. Its diameter outside is 62 feet, and 



* In the ' Scots Magazine' the cells are described thus : — " In the heart 

 of the walls there are several square holes, which seem to go perpendicular 

 downwards." In Mr. Blackadder's MS. it is said, that at the time he sur- 

 veyed the ruins (about 1793), " the cells were quite distinct, and apparently 

 had been closed at the top with large stones in the form of an arch." It 

 is impossible, however, to suppose that the builders of a structure in which 

 no cement was used understood the art of forming an arch. It is more 

 probable that the roofs of the cells, if they had any, were constructed of 

 large stones projecting the one over the other (a mode of construction called 

 corbelling by masons). If this were the case, when the building became 

 ruinous, these stones falling against and resting on each other would pro- 

 duce the appearance of a rude arch. 



t It is extremely probable, that by carefully removing the rubbish with- 

 out disturbing the stones built on one another, the entire ground plan may 

 be recovered. 



