View of interior courtyard.

Description View of interior courtyard.

Date c. 1950

Collection Papers of George Hay, architect, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number B 40280

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 798493

Scope and Content Courtyard, Crichton Castle, Midlothian, from south This view, taken from the south in about 1950, shows the north-east side of the courtyard of the castle, with the extraordinary diamond-faceted frontages of the additions of about 1585, supported on an arcaded piazza. On the left is the start of a 'scale and platt' (straight flights and landings) staircase giving access to the upper floors, one of the first examples of such a staircase in Scotland. The remodelling of c.1585, for the Earl of Douglas, was grandiose, with a diamond-faceted frontage to the courtyard, and an open arcade on the ground floor, in an Italian Renaissance manner, the most remarkable work of its kind in Scotland. The castle was placed in State care (now Historic Scotland) in 1926, and is open to the public. The oldest part of Crichton Castle is a late 14th-century tower-house, with a walled enclosure on its west side. On the south-south-west side of this a keep-gatehouse was built in the early 15th century, and ranges were built on the north-north-east and east-north-east sides later in that century. The north-north-east range was rebuilt and extended in about 1585. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Accession Number 1991/27

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