Editing Edinburgh Castle (section)

===Portcullis Gate and Argyle Tower===

[[File:Edinburgh Castle Portcullis Gate.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The Portcullis Gate]]

The [[Portcullis]] Gate was begun by the Regent Morton after the Lang Siege of 1571–73 to replace the round Constable's Tower, which was destroyed in the siege.<ref>MacIvor (1993), p. 67.</ref> In 1584 the upper parts of the Gatehouse were completed by [[William Schaw]],<ref>MacIvor (1993), p. 71.</ref> and these were further modified in 1750.<ref>McWilliam, ''et al''.. p. 91.</ref> In 1886–1887 this plain building was replaced with a [[Scots Baronial Style architecture|Scots Baronial]] tower, designed by the architect [[Hippolyte Blanc]], although the original Portcullis Gate remains below. The new structure was named the Argyle Tower, from the fact that the 9th Earl of Argyll had been held here prior to his execution in 1685.<ref name=MI114/> Described as "restoration in an extreme form",<ref name=MI114>MacIvor (1993), p. 114.</ref> the rebuilding of the Argyle Tower was the first in a series of works funded by the publisher William Nelson.<ref name=MI114/>

Just inside the gate is the Argyle Battery overlooking [[Princes Street]], with Mills Mount Battery, the location of the One O'Clock Gun, to the west. Below these is the Low Defence, while at the base of the rock is the ruined Wellhouse Tower, built in 1362 to guard St. Margaret's Well.<ref>McWilliam, ''et al''.. p. 89.</ref> This natural spring provided an important secondary source of water for the castle, the water being lifted up by a crane mounted on a platform known as the Crane Bastion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/52073/details/edinburgh+castle+crane+cradle/ |title=Edinburgh Castle, Crane Cradle, NMRS Number: NT27SE 1.13 |website=[[Canmore (database)|CANMORE]] |publisher=[[RCAHMS]] |access-date=13 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916233157/http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/52073/details/edinburgh+castle+crane+cradle/ |archive-date=16 September 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>