Edzell Castle-Its situation-General description-Age of towers-SculpturingsVisited by Queen Mary and King James-The kitchen of Angus-Baths discovered-Flower-garden-Dilapidations of Edzell, and of Auchmull.

THE castle of Edzell lies in a hollow about a mile west of the village, and within a gun-shot of the West Water. In old times this river was augmented by a considerable stream that flowed through the little den in front of the castle, and although this channel is now partly under tillage, perhaps the most romantic portion yet remains in the shape of an irreclaimable marsh. Towards the northern extremity of this, under an arid and almost perpendicular point of Drummore hill, was situated the fatal "pit" or draw-well of the ancient lords, while its twin-brother the "gallows" stood about a mile south-east, in the muir or wood of Edzell.

Both those feudal appendages are still represented, although from natural deposit and the exuberance of brushwood the former is barely traceable; but the site of the latter rises considerably above the adjacent ground, and forms a prominent object in the landscape. The "pit and gallows" were used for the punishment of felons in almost all countries from remote antiquity, and were not only employed for avenging the misdemeanours of vassals, but for the execution of even princes and kings. They appear to have been first used in Scotland in Malcolm Canmore's time; for his council ordained "that fre baronis sall mak jebbattis and draw wellis for punition of

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criminabyl personis." In old writings they are respectively known by the names of furca and fossa-the former was commonly used for the execution of men, and the latter for the drowning of women convicted of theft.'1

Like a few other great barons, those of Edzell vied with Parliament in the possession of an hereditary dempster or doomster, whose duty lay in repeating the doom or sentence awarded by the judge; and, from time immemorial, the office was held by a family of the name of Duray, who had certain emoluments from the proprietor and his tenants.2 From each principal tenant the dempster had two pecks, and from each sub-tenant a bassyful, of oatmeal annually, while the laird gave him the free grant of eleven acres of fertile land on the banks of the North Esk, called Duray Hill, and from that place the family designed themselves of that Ilk. To these perquisites, according to tradition, were added the farcical privileges of fishing in the adjoining and almost waterless burn of Whishop, and of hunting on the hill of Wirran with a hawk blind of an eye and a hound crippled of a leg! Besides, as they had four pennies Scots for ringing the bell of St. Lawrence on high occasions such as at the births and funerals of the lords and ladies of Edzell-they may be supposed, in addition to the office of dempster, to have enjoyed that of master beadle.1

Some are of opinion—indeed, it is not unfrequently believed that the den in which the "pit" lay was the original channel of the West Water. It appears to us, however, that the north-west part of the den had been formed by being made a quarry; and perhaps, as already hinted, the remainder of the channel had been a natural fosse, and the course towards the main stream for the accumulated waters of the marshes on the hill of Edzell. For the purpose of forming a pond or moat round the original castle (which stood on an isolated mound in

1 See Dr. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, in voce.

2 Lives, ii. p. 258.

3 The Bassy, or wooden bowl, for lifting meal from the girnal, is of various sizes, but rarely holds more than half a peck.

• See APPENDIX No. IV., for some notice of the Durays.

the broadest part of the den), it is highly probable that this streamlet was dammed up or confined on the southern parts. This theory has at least plausibility in its favour; and, waiving the consideration of the many thousands of years that the West Water would have taken to form its present rugged course, the circumstance that the "castle hillock" has all the appearance of having been moated-that the level of the den at the northern extremity is twenty or thirty feet above that of the West Water, and that the remains of a great natural fosse or ditch may still be traced running from the hill of Edzell to near the top of the den-contributes to favour this notion.

As already mentioned, no trace of the oldest castle exists; but the ruins of its successor, or perhaps rather those now standing, are the largest, and, taken as a whole, the most magnificent of any in the counties of Angus and Mearns. Even those of Dunnottar cannot rival them in grandeur of conception or strength of building, although they may do so in point of extent and natural position. The donjon, or "Stirling Tower,” as it is called, is yet an imposing and, so far as relates to the outer wall and ground floor, a pretty entire structure. It stands about sixty feet high, is the most carefully executed part of the whole building, and, for beauty and solidity of workmanship, will bear comparison with any of modern times. It is popularly believed to have been erected by the old family of Stirling, but beyond its bearing their name, no other evidence exists; and, although "mason-marks" mason-marks" are discernible on most of the principal stones, it is not supposed that they afford a sufficient criterion for fixing its date.

Down to the great hurricane of 11th October 1838, the battlements could be reached and walked upon with safety; but on that awful night, when many of the thatched cottages in the village and in other parts of the district, were almost instantaneously unroofed, the upper part of the stair was so much injured that the top cannot now be reached without danger. The walls of the Keep are from four to six feet thick, and, apart from the regular window lights, are here and there

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perforated by circular and oblong loopholes. A cluster of these guard the main entrance at all points, affording a striking proof of the sad insecurity of life and property, and of the intestine commotions which then rent the nation asunder, retarded the progress of the peaceful arts, and destroyed the soothing influence of domestic harmony.

The basement floor of the Tower consists of two damp gloomy vaults, to which a faint glimmer of light is admitted through small apertures. These are popularly believed to have been wards or prisons for holding condemned criminals in days of old, but in reality they were merely cellars used for the preservation of choice liquors and viands, which, we have the best of all authority for knowing, were far from strangers at the boards of ancient lords and barons. Apart from the entrance-doors in the main lobby, these cellars communicate with each other, and also with the dining-room by a narrow stair. Their arched roofs form the floor of that room (which is the only remaining floor in the Keep), and, occupying nearly the whole length and breadth of the tower, it had indeed been a spacious apartment, quite commensurate with the reputed power and influence of its owners, while the elevated roof and large windows may be considered as anticipations of our recently improved household ventilation. Seats of polished

freestone are raised on the inside of the windows that overlooked the flower-garden and the fine old castle green, where, in the hey-day of the family of Edzell

"The deer and the roe bounded lightly together."

The old castle is not presumed to have been of much greater extent than as now indicated by the Stirling Tower; but of this, as of its date, no positive evidence has been obtained. The new part, or the long range of building that stretches from the Keep northward, was the work of David of Edzell before his succession as ninth Earl of Crawford. Though comparatively recent, it is the most ruinous part of the whole, and, with the exception of a solitary base stone of the entrance-door of the

great hall (where the Episcopalians met in the last laird's time), no trace of the ornamental part of this section of the castle is supposed to exist; but from the beauty of this fragment-which consists of two pilasters and a fine cable ornament on the inner margin, all beautifully proportioned—some idea may be had of the former elegance of the place, and the advanced state of native sculpture. At the same time, something of the internal decoration of the great hall may be seen in the eight panels of oak, about 10 inches by 18 in size, and delicately carved, that were found about 1855 in a carpenter's shop at Edzell,' and which Lord Panmure at once had fitted up for exhibition and preservation in the lodge at Edzell Castle.2

Although niches for three various coats armorial are still over the front of the outer entrance, the sculptures are all gone, except the one, bearing the impaled arms of the ninth Earl and those of his lady of Lorn, that was found some years ago built into the old wall of the garden. It ought to have been mentioned before, that during the widowhood of that amiable lady, and while her family were all young, the castle of Edzell was honoured with the presence of the unfortunate Queen Mary. This occurred on the 25th of August 1562, while her Majesty was on her well-known northern expedition to quell the Huntly rebellion, on returning from which, accompanied by Lords Murray, Maitland, and Lindsay (the last of whom afterwards forced her to resign the crown at Lochleven), she held a council here, and remained for the night; from that time the room in which she slept was called the Queen's Chamber. Her son, King James, also paid a visit to "Egaill" when returning from the north in 1580.3

The outer walls of the castle, however, so far as they had been completed, are still pretty entire, but the inner are ruinous, as are also most of the vaults, which had been carried round the whole fabric; and, instead of the rooms being strewed with rushes or decorated with tapestry and oak carvings, as in the

1 By our author, Mr. Jervise.

2 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. ii. pp. 63, 70.

3 Misc. Sp. Club, ii. p. 53.