Cardross House (4)
Ben Ledi in the background.

So, the first stage of building work, dating to the early 16th century (Tranter*), was a comparatively small L-planned free standing tower-house, with a circular stair-tower in its re-entrant angle.  It is best viewed in photo #2, but from this angle, as I have indicated on the photo, we see the south side of the main block in the middle of the photo, with the conical roof of the stair-tower sticking up beyond it.  The wing is lower than the main block, which is unusual, although the original roofline has been altered, so it may not always have been.  The wing is now indistinguishable from the late 16th-century extension attached to it.  

A curious feature of Cardross is the design of the stair-tower in the re-entrant.  It is normal for a wide stair to rise only as far as the first floor, where the public rooms including the Hall are situated, above which a narrower stair would be corbelled out in a long turret to give access to the private accommodation, the stair-tower itself only containing small rooms above the 1st floor.  In the case of Cardross, the circular stair-tower carries the main stair as far as the first floor, after which it narrows abruptly, becoming more 'turret' than 'tower' and leading right up to roof level, where it ends in the usual conical roof.  Whether this is original or part of the late 16th century alterations, is uncertain.

( * Canmore state that the early tower is of late 16th-century date, but as they also state &quot;There is little other evidence to precisely date this tower house that does not already appear in MacGibbon and Ross&quot; despite the fact that Cardross does not appear in MacGibbon &amp; Ross, I'll stick with Tranter!).
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