Standing Building Recording

Date 6 July 1998 - 10 July 1998

Event ID 1084907

Category Recording

Type Standing Building Recording

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1084907

NH 9799 5778. An archaeological recording exercise was undertaken during the removal of harling from all walls of the 16th-century NE tower, and from the N walls of the 17th-century W wing and the 18th-century stair wing. The NE tower forms a component of the current Z-plan castle. Earlier sources suggest that the NE tower may initially have stood in isolation, a hypothesis which was tested by the recording exercise.

A number of episodes of building and repair were recorded, indicating that the NE tower may originally have formed a part of an L-plan castle, the form of which has subsequently undergone various alterations, most notably the reworking of the wall-heads along both the tower and the W wing, probably during the earlier 18th century. As the stonework of the E wall of the NE tower continues along the line of the E wall of the adjoining hall without any clear change in build, it is likely that the two structures are contemporary. The implication is that an L-plan castle was modified in the mid-16th century by the addition of the SW tower to form the Z-plan central to the castle complex of today.

Changes in fenestration and access reflected the addition of adjoining wings in the earlier 19th century, as well as changes in the internal arrangements of the buildings.

A Dunn 1998

Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland

Kirkdale Archaeology