134 .Proceedings of the Society, February 13, 1922
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134 .PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , FEBRUAR , 1922Y13 . III. THE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF HUNTLY CASTLE. BY W. DOUGLAS SIMPSON, M.A., F.S.A.Scor. Huntly, or Strathbogie Castle, situated in the angle formed by the confluenc e Bogith f eo e wit e Deveronhth a shor, t distance northward from the town of Huntly, ranks among the noblest old bai-onial ruins in Scotland. In former times it was celebrated far and wide as '' a full fayre house" —"the best furnished of any house I haue seen in the country"—t e wordn Englisa th f e o sus oh ambassado n 1562.- i r Re 1 peatedly injured during the civil broils of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, the castle, phoenix-like, rose each time from its ruins in greater splendour than before. Under the first Marquess of Huntly reigne th Charled Jamef n i s,o an . sVI s I. t reache,i summie dth t politicas oit f l consequenc architecturad ean l residence glorth s e ya th f eo "North,e Coc th greae ' ko chiee th "th f to fGordo e th n n i family t Bu . downfal Gordone th f o l s durinfortunee th e castlCivie r th gth f elo Wa s were involved. During the vicissitudes of the struggle it suffered plunder and defacement; and, after the execution of the second Marquess in 1649, it ceased to be regularly occupied as the messuage of the family, thereafted an s deca it rapids r ywa . As might be expected in a building with so long and stormy a record, the existing ruins bear the mark of several periods. Hence the archi- tectural history of the castle is somewhat complex. Though sufficiently paten o instructet t d observation s beeha n t i ,misunderstoo e th y b d majorit f writerso y . Mos f theso t e ^misle e frequenth y db t references totao t l demolishings, " razing, "d cassinan " g down," e indulgeth y b n di old chroniclers—have assumed that on each occasion little was left of the former structure, and that afterwards the castle was rebuilt practically from its foundations. The chief feature in Huntly Castle is the great oblong keep (fig. 1), about 76 feet in length and 36 in breadth ; having a large round tower, 38 fee n diameter,i t attache s south-wesit o dt t corner, and, diagonally opposite to this, another tower, also round but far smaller and slighter. As it now stands, the keep thus falls into the Z-class, but the smaller round tower is a late addition, has extremely thin walls, lacks shotholes, and is altogether inadequate to perform the flanking defence which is the raison d'etre of the three-stepped plan. The keep cannot, therefore, be deemed a true example of this class; and to place it in this category is wholly to ignore the main structural features of the building, which 1 Historical MSS. Commission, 1st Report, . 114p . HUNTLY CASTLE PLANS OF KEEP W. Douglas Simf>son , . HuntlFig1 . y Castle: Plan f Basementso , Ground Floor Firsd an , t Floo f Keepro . 186 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 13, 1922. betoke antiquitn na y higher tha latee nth r sixteenth century, whee nth Z-plan of castle flourished. The kee fous pi r storey basemene th st a high walls d it tmore an , sar e than 8 feet thick. The basement is a souterrain, and is barrel-vaulted throughout e maith nn I buildin. t containi g s three large, dark cellars, wit hcorridoa r along their north face, enterin descendiny gb g stept sa the east end. From the opposite end of this corridor a narrow mural passage e thicknesirth ie westh f t o swal l gives acces a terribl o t s e dungeo greae th n ti round tower t botA .h end murae sth l passags eha Fig . Hunti2 . y f CastleLono d g En Corrido: basementn i r . [Photo W. Norrie. been defende dooa y "r d b ryett.o dungeon e Th " fee9 diamete1 ,n i t d ran 15 feet 7 inches in height to the apex of its octagonal vault, has been aired rather than lit by a loophole rising through the vault on the east side, but now built up inside. The door from the mural passage opens at springine th vaulte th f gfeeo ,7 t abov e flooreth . Altogethere thion s si of the worst examples of a feudal prison or "pit" in Scotland. The cellars in the main building are entered through doorways whose upper ends terminate in three sides of a hexagon (fig. 2), wrought with a plain chamfer, which is continued down the jambs. The long corridor was lit by a window at the west end, which has been built up, but still retains part of its ancient iron " grille." As usual, the mode of intersection of bare th reverses si oppositn di e quarters. This basemen plainls ti y much older tha e uppenth r keepe floorth f .o s The ground floor proper is at present entered by a service door in the E ARCHITECTURATH L HISTOR F HUNTLYO Y CASTLE7 13 . north walle mai Th e smaln. th entrancen li norths i buil w , no up ,-t eastern tower, 15 feet 7 inches in diameter, which contained the grand stair to the upper floors. This tower with its door and stair are late insertions, but the arrangement of the plan on this floor, and the steps down to the underground vaults, indicate that the main entrance has always bee thin i n s quarter. Lik e basementth e , this ground floos i r e vaultedmaith nn I buildin. a kitchen s i ge usua th , n li fitte p u d manner, wit hcellaa eithen ro large rth side ed rounan ; d tower contains a good bedroom. Each of the two cellars has a fireplace, and the west on a egarderobe . These features prove thae cellarth t s have been remodelled as living rooms, doubtless when additional storage was provide e extensioth y b d f officeo n s roun e courtyardth d . Froe mth bedroo e south-westh n mi t towe o newetw r l stair e suppe th lea o t dr floors. Though still vaulted and of massive structure, these rooms on the ground floor contrast strongly with the ancient basement, and their domestic arrangements bespeak the advanced requirements of e sixteentth h century. It has been already stated that the main stair of the keep, in its latest e smalth n i forml s rounwa , d e north-eastoweth t a r t angle. This stair destroyedw uppee no th s i d rkee e flooran , reachee th par f o s t presenda t only by the two mural stairs in the south-west tower. One of these stair carrie s si summi e towere th th o df t o t, whil othee eth r reachee sth first floor onlyn thiO s. flooe greath r t hall, wit a hdrawing-roo m adjoining, occupies the main house, and there is a bedroom in the south- west tower. Originally the whole area in the main house was one large apartment; the thin partition is an obvious insertion, being set obliquely, whil elarga e Avindo e nortth n hwi wals beeha l n divided portioe on , n lighting each room; and the partition engages with the inserted masonry botn O h. side f thiso s partition hale levee th l th f ceilingt o la , , are fragments of a fine seventeenth-century cornice in stucco (fig. 3). The hall measures 37 feet by 25, and the drawing-room 25 by 20. The bedroom towee inth r contain remarkablo tw s e squints fro e adjoininmth g newel stair. One commands the door and the other the fireplace, so that these spy-holes were doubtless insertee conveniencth r dfo attendann a f o e t occupying the bedroom made out of the cellar below. All the rooms on this floor are well finished, the quoins and depressed rear-arches of their large bay-windows being beautifully wrought, "with half-engaged rolls set on a broad chamfer. The remaining floor, over these apartments s situatewa , d partln yi the roof t containeI . additionan da l stateroom ovehalle th r , a private apartment over the drawing-room, and a bedroom in the tower, which, being carrie a store p u d y higher tha e mainth n house, contains thus 8 PROCEEDING13 E SOCIETYTH F O S , FEBRUAR, Y13 additionan a woodee th ll roomal ns floorA . s have perished roome th , s above the hall level are now quite empty and inaccessible. The upper portions of the keep differ greatly from the solid massive- ness and unadorned severity of its basement. On the south front the wall-head finishes in an exquisite composition of ornamental parapets, graceful oriels, cornices, turrets d sculpturean , d chimneys (fig which) 4 . , even ruined as it is, remains unsurpassed in Scotland—"one of the most charming," it has justly been said, "of the architectural relics left to us." The oriel windows in particular afford a noble specimen of early 1 Fig. Hunfcl3 y Castle: Plaster Wor partition ko n wall. [Photo H.M. Office of Works. Renaissance work. Thre thef eo m stan t boldldou y fro maie mth n front of the keep; a fourth, more highly ornate in its bracketing than the others, seems almos o cling—st t o cunningl t i contrived—t s i y e th o swelling face of the great round tower.