The Castle Of Lochbuy Was Secured By Double
Doors, Of Which The Outer Was An Iron Grate.
In every castle is a well and a dungeon.
The use of the well is
evident. The dungeon is a deep subterraneous cavity, walled on the
sides, and arched on the top, into which the descent is through a
narrow door, by a ladder or a rope, so that it seems impossible to
escape, when the rope or ladder is drawn up. The dungeon was, I
suppose, in war, a prison for such captives as were treated with
severity, and, in peace, for such delinquents as had committed
crimes within the Laird's jurisdiction; for the mansions of many
Lairds were, till the late privation of their privileges, the halls
of justice to their own tenants.
As these fortifications were the productions of mere necessity,
they are built only for safety, with little regard to convenience,
and with none to elegance or pleasure. It was sufficient for a
Laird of the Hebrides, if he had a strong house, in which he could
hide his wife and children from the next clan. That they are not
large nor splendid is no wonder. It is not easy to find how they
were raised, such as they are, by men who had no money, in
countries where the labourers and artificers could scarcely be fed.
The buildings in different parts of the Island shew their degrees
of wealth and power. I believe that for all the castles which I
have seen beyond the Tweed, the ruins yet remaining of some one of
those which the English built in Wales, would supply materials.
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