FOURTH PERIOD 200 LESLIE CASTLE Externally (Fig. 659) the building is plain, but it shows in the finish of the gables and chimneys a departure from the old forms, and an attempt to follow the English style, which had recently been introduced at Heriot's Hospital, Winton House, etc. The crow-steps are gone, and flat overlapping skews are substituted for them, with mouldings on the under edge, and the chimneys, instead of being all included in one plain stack, are each carried up in a single square shaft, built with ashlar, set diagonally on a moulded base, and finished with a moulded cope. The old form of angle turrets, with shot-holes, and the iron gratings on the windows, are however still retained. HOPETOUN TOWER, LINLITHGOWSHIRE. This interesting fragment of an ancient mansion consists principally of the octagonal tower, containing the staircase in the re-entering angle, of a house built on the ordinary L plan (Fig. 660). The walls and vault of the ground floor still for the most part remain, but, as the sketch shows (Fig. 66l), the vault is low, and this space does not appear to have been used 'for any purpose but cellars. There is no large fireplace to denote the position of a kitchen. The stair down to the eastern cellar indicates that the hall was above this portion of the building, as indeed would be inferred from FIG. 660.-Hopetoun. the position of the division wall. Fortunately the tower containing the staircase is almost entire, and is a remarkably interesting example of a small building in the style of Heriot's Hospital and Argyll's Lodging at Stir- ling. The octagonal form of turret is very rare, although it occurs occasionally in late examples, such as the Renaissance north side of Lin- lithgow Palace (1620), the latest stair turrets of Argyll's Lodging (1674-), Sir J. Hamilton's house at Preston (1628), Moray House (1618-2.8), etc. The elevation of the tower also corresponds in detail with the above buildings. The entrance doorway has a carved and broken pediment, with 'the tympanum filled with scroll ornament, and a shield bearing a monogram of the letters I. M. O. The angle quoins are shaped and ornamented like several of the above examples. The pointed ovoid form of the small staircase windows is unusual in this position, but examples occur of similar windows in angle turrets at Glamis, Lickleyhead, and Castle Fraser. The curved shape of the cope of the parapet is almost unique in Scotland, but recalls similar instances in England and elsewhere.
