p 



1864.] 



The Pillar Towers of the British Islands. 



563 



upper windows is 2 feet 10 inches, and at the doorway 4 feet, including 

 the projection of the door-lintels, which is 2 inches. 



There are seven openings in this tower. One of these is the door- 

 way, which faces the west ; and there are two oblong openings facing 

 the south and east, to afford light to the interior ; and four oblong 

 rectangular windows, near the top, facing the cardinal points. Over 

 all these openings are built large stones, and that over the door of 

 the tower is scooped out, so as to give it an arched form. Those 

 which surround the doorway are large blocks of sandstone, more 

 prominent than the other stones of the building, and sculptured with 

 bas-reliefs. That over the door is the crucifixion; and those on 

 the lintels are the supposed figures of St. John and the Virgin Mary. 

 At the side of the bottom of the doorway, are sculptured, on one 

 side, a crouching animal, and on the other, a monstrous griffin ;* and 

 the lozenge ornament in the middle of the door-sill appears to have 

 been filled with tracery. The double rows of button-like orna- 

 ments surrounding the doorway bear a resemblance to those upon 

 the Inch-brayoc and Brechin sculptured pillar-stones. f All these 

 figures and ornaments are now much defaced by time. J The other 

 stones used in the building of the tower are grey-coloured freestone. 

 Many years ago a second entrance was made, leading to the adjoining 

 church, by removing a number of stones from the tower, which 

 weakened it, and which perhaps accounts for "the large mass, in 

 storms of wind, being seen to sway from side to side."§ There are 

 six unequally sized stories, with platforms of wood, resting upon 

 abutments or supports of hewn freestone, each of which projects 

 from six to ten inches, and bears a strong timber floor. The top of 

 the tower is reached by a series of six ladders. The only ' mason- 

 marks' jet discovered in Pillar Towers are in the interior of this 

 building, and have been delineated by Mr. Chalmers. || They are 

 often repeated, particularly about the middle, and are generally cut 



* Perhaps symbolical of evil. See Eusebius' Life of Constantine, B. 3, ch. 3. 



f See Sculptured stones of Scotland (Spalding Club,) plates 86 and 138. 



X This opening was built up in 1847 by order of the Commissioners of Woods and 

 Forests. I am indebted to the accurate Mr. Jervis for this and other particulars 



§ Black's History of Brechin, p. 259. 



|| Mr. Chalmers, of Aid bar, was so kind as to allow me the use of a beauti- 

 ful drawing of the doorway, which is here lithographed on a reduced scale, and 

 which was intended to illustrate a posthumous work of his late able and lament- 

 ed brother, prepared by the distinguished antiquary Cosmo Innes, Esq, 



4 c 2 



