St Peters-Section 12 Appendices - Historic Scotland

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Kilmahew Castle and Estate Cardross, near Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute Analytical notes (June-July 2007) 1. Introduction The following assessment was undertaken as part of a wider appraisal of the Kilmahew Estate and the ruined remains of the A-Listed modernist St Peter’s Seminary, Cardross. The present assessment was undertaken on site by Tom Addyman between 20 June and 4 July. The work was organised in close association with Charlotte Maclean, landscape consultant to the project. 2. Analytical Assessment of Kilmahew Castle i. Introduction Kilmahew Castle, the ancient seat of the Napiers of Kilmahew, occupies a localised area of level ground on the W side of the Kilmahew Burn, which at this point forms a substantial ravine (NGR NS 3516 7866). The castle overlooks gently downwards-sloping ground to the S and SW; a slight gully, a probable former burn course runs from NW to SE skirting the W side of the castle site. This, seen as a prominent crop-mark feature on wartime aerial photographic coverage, may have contributed to the past defensibility of the site. At least in its later period of use it seems that the castle may have been accessed by an approach from the N, running along the upper side of the Kilmahew Burn. MacGibbon and Ross : view from the NW (1889) As it stands today the major portion of Kilmahew Castle consists of a rectangular tower house that is of four full stories rising to a parapet. All four walls are almost entire to their wall heads. In plan the CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT - VOLUME 1: ST PETER’S SEMINARY FEBRUARY 2008 273 Final Issue 12. APPENDICES tower is aligned N/S, measuring 14.00m by 7.63m. The building however comprises a number of individual phases that, in addition to the early fabric, also include a substantial rebuilding at the end of the 18 th century, the majority of the S and W walls being of this period. ii. Early castle remains The surviving early walling of the castle, to the E, N and NW, is for the most part of sandstone rubblework construction, the sandstone employed generally being of deep pinkish to purple-brown hue; there is also occasional occurrence of a much blonder sandstone. Generally there is relatively little dressing of the rubblework. However the dressings themselves – quoins and dressings around openings - are well detailed and regularly cut with relatively fine joints. The quoining to SE, NE, and NW is all very regularly cut, long tails extending back. In contrast to the masonry elsewhere the lower E part of the S wall and the lower southern part of the E wall there are areas of walling that are largely composed of small whin boulders. In both areas this masonry fabric rises up to between 1.0m and 1.5m in height. It is possible that this is a remnant of an earlier construction. Midway along the foot of the E wall, slightly offset to the N, are three or four small projecting boulders that seem to have formed part of a footing course. These also appear to be of whin or some metamorphic rock. The walls rise up to a wall head that is detailed with a continuous corbel table supporting in turn continuous lintelling. The individual corbels are rounded below with a small fillet above, the lintel above is similarly detailed but less substantial. The parapet detailing survives best to the NE with further fragments remaining at the very NW. A further well-preserved section occurs at the S end of the E wall. This runs to a bartizan turret at the SE corner that extends up from the storey below. This has a corbelled base and although it has seen some reconstruction on the S side higher up, the lower S side and the majority of the E side of the bartizan appear to be original. At the S end of the E wall the early masonry returns along the S wall for a short distance (about 2m), beyond which the tower has been substantially rebuilt. Externally two main moulding details are employed for window and other openings. Larger window openings on the E wall and the N wall are both detailed with a rounded aris, whereas two garderobe windows on the E wall are detailed with a substantial quirked angle roll. Window openings on the W wall are similarly detailed with a rounded arras as are the dressings of the principal entrance. The quirked roll is also seen in a number of reused stones throughout the later parts of the castle. Ground floor 12.2 Archaeological Assessment Report by Addyman Archaeology The principal entrance to Kilmahew Castle lies at the N end of the W wall. Its dressed jambs are surmounted by a substantial lintel with small relieving arch over. According to some accounts this lintel had been detailed with a motto or biblical quotation; MacGibbon and Ross note that it bore the motto - “The peace of God be herein.” The entrance jambs have a double rebate that perhaps suggests that there had been both door and a yett. The jambs also retain the sockets for a substantial draw-bar that retracted into the wall to the N. Internally the lower floor of the tower is quite substantially clogged by debris and the wall bases cannot be seen. At the extreme SE corner there is a springing that represents remaining evidence for a vault, most likely a long barrel vault. It is probable that the majority of the lower level was vaulted throughout. However to the N, offset to the E, there remains the rear side of a substantial kitchen chimneybreast and, towards the N end of the E wall, there is a further springing that may in fact represent the beginning of the arched opening for the chimney fireplace (or, possibly the point at which the vaulting met the chimneybreast, immediately adjacent to the fireplace arch). In their plan
MacGibbon and Ross indeed suggest an archway springing from this point and apparently still surviving at that time. The N interior wall showing the kitchen flue, off-set to the E MacGibbon and Ross : ground floor plan (1889) CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT - VOLUME 1: ST PETER’S SEMINARY FEBRUARY 2008 274 Final Issue 12. APPENDICES As one enters the castle immediately to the N there is a small chamber that appears to have been intramural – a possible guard chamber, but, as suggested by the MacGibbon and Ross plan, actually accessed from within the kitchen fireplace (with increased collapse this arrangement can no longer be confirmed). The chamber had been lit by a small light in the N wall, later blocked.
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St Peters-Section 12 Appendices - Historic Scotland

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