Stirling Castle (23)
So, we're still exploring King James IV's foreworks here!  As we saw in the previous engraving, his gatehouse was fronted by 4 high round towers.  By the time William Byrne made this beautiful engraving in 1781, there were only two round towers, neither of which could be described as being particularly tall.  So was KJ4's gatehouse swept away and replaced with a new version, which was also in ruins by 1781?  

No, this is the remains of James IV's gatehouse, although much altered.  We know that J4's gatehouse consisted of 4 arches between the middle two round towers - a central arch for vehicles and pedestrian arches to either side.  That is all still visible in 1781, even though the western (left) pedestrian tunnel had been converted into a guard house.  The line of the top of the towers and intervening wall have all been tidied up since this engraving was made, but it remains essentially the same.  

Of at least equal interest, is the history of the two outer towers and the curtain walls.  As I pointed out before, the Prince's Tower, visible to the left, was originally a free-standing tower at the western end of the curtain wall, until it was incorporated into the Palace.  The crenellated wall connecting it to the gatehouse, behind which is what is now known as the Prince's Walk, is the old curtain wall, and below the point where the curtain wall meets the gatehouse, is the stump of the western outer tower.  I have indicated it on the engraving above and if you look back a couple of photos, you can see it is still there.   

The two outer towers were both semi-circular and were effectively built against the curtain wall, with access doorways through the curtain wall to the towers.  The access passage to the western tower still exists, providing access to Queen Anne's garden, and the base or stump of the old tower acts as a small terrace in front of it.  Although none of it remains, the location of the eastern tower is still clearly visible on the curtain wall - which isn't very clear in this engraving, but is clearly visible in the photo after next!
stirling stirlingcastle scotland fortress williambyrne engraving forework gatehouse