Field Visit
Date 10 May 1920
Event ID 1115572
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1115572
Craigmillar Castle.
The castle of Craigmillar, stands on a rocky eminence three miles south of Edinburgh. Its most prominent feature is a massive tower, L-shaped on plan, built on the verge of a terrace, from which the rock drops sheer for 30 feet. The tower, however, was enclosed with a quadrangular curtain-wall embodying the south wall of the wing, and against this curtain lower buildings were erected, except at the southwest where the space was restricted by the tower. Only the lower parts of the structures on the south-east and south-west are contemporary with the original wall, while the building against the north face has disappeared. On north, east, and west is an outer wall, within which are separate buildings.
The buildings and enclosure walls are constructed in the fine light-coloured freestone which abounds on the site. The stone throughout has weathered well, and with time has mellowed to a harmonious shade of grey. The approach is from the north, but returns westward along the brow of the hill beneath the outer wall to the main entrance gateway, 7 ¾ feet wide, with a semicircular head; beside the entrance, but outside the enclosure, there can be traced a range of building, probably stabling. The outer enclosure is a 16th-century construction nand contains the following buildings. A circled tower at the north-east angle is a dovecot; its lower stage is furnished with gun-loops aligned on the main entrance, and on a second gate in the east wall. On the east is the chapel, which is a late pre-Reformation structure, on the west a garden with a long range of building on its north, against which building there has been a lean-to on the north side; at the north-west is the "presbytery," a Protestant Presbyterian meeting-house erected after 1687, upon the Indulgence granted by James VII (1).
The curtain returns on the south, incorporating the south wall of the tower wing, along the crest of the upstanding rock for a distance of 128 ½ feet, then turns northward and completes the enclosure. At the angles are salient circled towers with loops enfilading the exterior surface of the walls. The curtain entrance is on the north. It is a wide gateway with a semicircular head, and has been contracted. Above it, within a moulded border, is a panel, probably dating from the 16th century, which bears, according to Nisbet (2), " a shield couche, three unicorns' heads couped . . . supported by two lions; and for crest, a unicorn's head issuing out of a coronet instead of a wreath; motto, PRIESTO UT PRIESTEM. Below, on the stone, is the year of God 1427." The achievement is greatly weather-worn, but the armorial bearing can be deciphered, and is correctly stated by Nisbet. There is no trace of the motto and date, but on the outer surface of the upper border there appear to be a coronet, a wreath, and a saltire flanked by two roundels, one of which might be foiled. On the lower border there has been an inscription in capitals, which reads CRAGM[Y]LLOR. It should be noted, however, that the curtain is a 15th-century construction, for which 1427 is a possible date. Above, on the parapet, is a second and smaller panel bearing beneath a coronet a shield charged with a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory, the Royal Arms of Scotland. From the curtain gate a passage round three sides of the tower leads to the entrance, which is situated in the west wall of the wing.
HISTORICAL NOTE. In 1544, on the occasion of Hertford's invasion, the property of Edinburgh people was taken to the castle for safe custody. The place was surrendered to Hertford on condition that no damage should be done, but it was "brunt and destroyit"(4), which necessitated reconstruction. On the Prestons and their successors in Craigmillar, see Introd., pp. xxxvii-viii.
[for a detailed architectural description see RCAHMS 1929 pp.120-6]
RCAHMS 1929, visited 10 May 1920.
(1) Archaeologia Scotica, i, p. 328 ; (2) Nisbet's Heraldry, i, p. 305 ; (3) See Introd. , p. xxxvii; (4) Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 32.
