Castle Leod (6)
From this angle, we can see how the tower-house developed.  In the centre of the building, there is a chimney stack with 6 pots on it.  Beyond that, with the ridge of its roof running parallel with the chimney, is the castle's main block, with a parapet across the gable to the left (west).  The out of sight east gable has a parapet across it too.  From the east end of the main block, a wing extends to the gable on the right, which also has a parapet - all of which gives us a typical 17th century 'L-plan' tower-house (built c.1600).  As usual, the wing is a storey higher than the main block, its top floor being a watch chamber.

Then, no sooner than it had been completed, it was decided (in 1616) that it was neither big enough nor grand enough, so an extension was built in the re-entrant.  The roofline of the extension is parrallel with the main block, but a storey higher, leaving it level with the roof of the watch chamber on the wing, to which it connects.

The object of the extension was to provide a wide square staircase to the first floor - a convenience which was considered essential as the seventeenth century progressed, and also to furnish some additional bedrooms in the floors above.
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