Cairnbulg Castle (6) - a photo on Flickriver

            This is from another mid-19th century James Giles painting, this time from the west end of the keep.  The ruin of the 'Low work' and the round tower can be seen in the distance.  

The stair tower undoubtedly looks less ruinous here than when Andrew Leith Hay made his lithograph in 1849, so we can be confident this was painted earlier.  

The upper part of the stair-tower collapsed while the castle was undergoing restoration of 1896-7 and was subsequently rebuilt with crow-stepped gables like the old one.  The stairs themselves were replaced in wood, not in stone.  In his 1949 article, Douglas Simpson remarked on the two corbel stones protruding from the south (right) wall of the stair-tower.  In his view they indicated that the parapet that runs round the keep also once ran round the stair-tower.  He was also of the view that the corbel stones were recovered following the tower's collapsed and re-used inside the keep.

There is another little bit of architectural information in this painting, that tells us more about what the original 'Low work' once looked like.  A little over half way up the stair-tower, there are three corbels in a line, facing this way (west).  They have gone now, removed when the tower was rebuilt at the end of the 19th century.  They mark the beginning of the parapet that ran around the 'Low work' - across its west gable, round the south-west corner (where there have been an open round, as there still is at the north-east angle) and all along the south side to the round tower.

The door shown here in the west gable is not original.  (Probably made by the pygmies!)

Taken on: March 13, 2020

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James Giles

Cairnbulg Castle

Buchan

Aberdeenshire

Scotland

Lord Saltoun

Fraser of Philorth

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