On Eclin's Hall, by John TurnbuU. 89 



Account (1792) it is stated—'' The building is not cemented with 

 any sort of mortar. The stones, which are whin and many of 

 them very large, are all grooved into one another — that is the 

 concavity of the one receiving the convexity of the other, so that 

 they are locked together, yet all these locks are different." 



There is only one entrance or doorway, and it is on the east 

 side. The wall where it pierces it is 1 6|- feet thick. The door- 

 way forms a passage, the south side of which is 16 feet long, and 

 the north side 17 feet long. For a depth of 7 feet from the out- 

 side it is 4ft. 9in wide. It then widens by the wall being re- 

 ceded at a right angle, 3 inches on the south side and 6 inches 

 on the north side, so as to become 5ft. 6in. wide for the inner- 

 most 9 feet. The intake is effected by large stones having a 

 square angle set upright. It is probable that this intake was 

 meant for a door closing against, but there is no socket or chase 

 into which a bolt or beam could be fixed behind it. There is 

 no special arrangement in the passage, as if for a second door, 

 which was common in such buildings. In the entrance part of 

 this doorway lie two stones, the larger of which measures 6ft. 

 Sin. long by 3ft. 3in. broad, and 1ft. 6in. thick, the other being 

 only a few inches less. They probably weigh 3^ tons each. 

 These have evidently been lintels covering the doorway. They 

 are sufficiently broad to cover only the outer half of it. No 

 stones large enough to form lintels for the inner half were found, 

 and this half was probably covered by the gradual convergence 

 of the walls on each side, as has been the case with the 

 chambers or cells to be presently described. The outside sill of 

 the doorway is formed by one large stone. The height of the 

 wall remaining on the north side of this doorway is 5ft. 3in. ; 

 and on the south side is 4ft. 6in. The highest stone remaining 

 on the north side of the doorway measures 3ft. 6in., by 3ft., by 

 1ft. 6in. It is close to this doorway, on the south side of it, in 

 the interior of the building that the great fire-place seems to 

 have been ; for here the stones are much calcined and blackened 

 by a fire having been made against the wall, and were crumbled 

 a good deal away. There is no appearance of a built fire-place 

 or chimney. The passage is paved. The central area to which 

 this doorway enters has a slope from west to east, and about a 

 fourth of it on the east side next the doorway is paved with flat, 

 rough stones, which are generally from 1 to 2 feet square, but 

 some of them are 3, 4, and almost 5 feet long. 



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