. The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland, from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Fio. 10.—Duart Castle. View from North-East. Sound from the east. It was for long the stronghold of the principalbranch of the Macleans, but the history of its erection is unknown. DUART CASTLE FIRST PERIOD The earliest notice of the castle is in 1390. Its most prominent featurefrom a distance is the great oblong keep, 63 feet long by 46 feet wide(Fig. 10), with high and massive walls varying from 10 to 15 feet in thick-ness, which towers above the lofty and precipitous site. On the north andwe
. The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland, from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Fio. 10.—Duart Castle. View from North-East. Sound from the east. It was for long the stronghold of the principalbranch of the Macleans, but the history of its erection is unknown. DUART CASTLE FIRST PERIOD The earliest notice of the castle is in 1390. Its most prominent featurefrom a distance is the great oblong keep, 63 feet long by 46 feet wide(Fig. 10), with high and massive walls varying from 10 to 15 feet in thick-ness, which towers above the lofty and precipitous site. On the north andwest sides the walls of the keep are close to the edge of the rock, therebeing just room enough left at the north side to permit of a passage tothe entrance doorway, which is placed there. On the east of the keep isthe courtyard (Fig. 11), enclosed on the south and east sides witha sreat wall of enceinte, from 6 to 10 feet thick, and still about30 feet high. Beyond this the castle was further protected by a deepditch cut in the rock, of which traces still D I T C Fig. Castle. Plan, What the age of this building may be it would be difficult to determinebut for the analogy of others of the same description. Castles of somekind no doubt occupied important strategic points such as this in theWestern Islands from a very early date. Of the existing structure theprimitive portion undoubtedly consisted of the great wall of enceinteenclosing a courtyard, 80 feet by 65 feet. This fortress would thus cor-respond in design with other rude castles of the first period, such asMingarry, Castle Roy, and Kinclaven. The keep of Duart is of a diflferent style from the wall of enceinte,and is clearly an addition of the second period, its construction beingexactly similar to that of the other large keeps of the period on the FIRST PERIOD — 48 DUART CASTLE mainland, such as Dundonald in Ayrshire, and Drum in Deeside. Thekeep has in this case, as in many others in the West, been
Size: 1890px × 1322px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectarchitectur, booksubjectarchitecture
