Courtyard, South West tower, view from roof to North East.

Description Courtyard, South West tower, view from roof to North East.

Date 16/11/1998

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number D 41607 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 764669

Scope and Content South-West Tower, Inner Courtyard, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway The castle, built of pinkish local sandstone, is very similar in plan to George Heriot's Hospital (now School), Edinburgh, and is constructed round an open courtyard, with a circular staircase tower in each corner. This view shows the south-west corner tower, a five-storeyed stair-turret rising to a domed lead roof topped with a ball finial. The doorcase is Doric and the tower has moulded string-courses above the two lower floors, and an eaves cornice over the second floor. The stair-tower is a reminder that Drumlanrig was constructed as a real castle. The lintels of the windows bear dates from 1679 to 1687, recording the dates of construction of the various storeys. The 17th-century arrangement of rooms provided no internal staircase for access to the upper floors, although, unusually, it did provide a passage or corridor linking the bedrooms in the west wing (left), a marked development in planning for the time. Except for the great 'State Stair', designed for the king or his representative and the royal entourage to ascend to the state apartments on the first floor of the south range (left), general access for family, guests or servants to the rooms in the upper floors was by the stair-tower. Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, stands within extensive parkland amongst the hills of Nithsdale. The mansion was built between 1679 and 1690 for William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, incorporating part of a mid-16th-century house and the remains of a late 14th-century Douglas stronghold which originally stood on the site. The architect was almost certainly James Smith who had worked on the construction of Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, and the builder was William Lukup who is buried in Durisdeer churchyard nearby. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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