Editing Caerlaverock Castle (section)

== Architectural description ==
[[File:Caerlaverock Castle, ground floor plan, annotated with Ranges.jpg|thumb|300x300px|The castle ground floor plan from the architects [[MacGibbon and Ross]], showing<br> the ranges of the building.]]
The castle is most unusual in having a triangular form, one of only a small number across Europe and the only one in the UK. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Anon |url=https://www.historicenvironment.scot/archives-and-research/publications/publication/?publicationId=1a0b5734-e5d2-48dc-856a-a74500b28753 |title=Statement of Significance: Caerlaverock Castle |publisher=Historic Environment Scotland |year=2021 |location=Edinburgh |pages=35 pages}}</ref> As well, it is unusual for Scotland in having a moat and earthwork ramparts around it. It sits in a low lying formerly swampy area on the flood plain of the nearby River Nith, again unusual for a defensive structure in this area of Scotland. It is however, the finest example of a castle in south-west Scotland. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Stell |first=Geoffrey |title=Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway |publisher=The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland / HMSO |year=1986 |isbn=0 11 492459 7 |location=Edinburgh |pages=110 - 112}}</ref>

The basic form is triangular, with the Gatehouse to the north formed of two large drum towers (see plan). In the south west and south east corners there are further but smaller drum towers. Murdoch’s Tower to the south west is largely complete, but the tower to the south east was reduced to base level during the Covenanter siege of 1640.

Despite many sieges and slightings followed by rebuildings, the original form of the castle can still be appreciated, the curtain wall bases largely remaining at lower levels, these dating to the original construction in the last quarter of the thirteenth century (HES Statement of Significance ''op cit'', p10) The early parts of the castle were built of red sandstone quarried at nearly Bankend. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hawkins |first=James Irving |title=The Sandstone Heritage of Dumfriesshire |publisher=The Friends of Annandale and Eskdale Museums |year=2001 |isbn=1 899316 02 7 |location=Dumfries Scotland |pages=2}}</ref>  While of later build, to the west and east much of the curtain walls stand to parapet height.

Within the courtyard formed by the curtain walls there are four ranges: the Gatehouse, the west range, the Banqueting Hall range and the Nithsdale Lodging range (see plan), a small triangular courtyard being formed between them. <ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Neil |first=B H St J |title=Caerlaverock Castle  (Official Guide) |publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office |year=1952 |isbn= |location=Edinburgh |pages=10 - 16       SBN  11 490829 X}}</ref>  These ranges are of different dates. Especially to the south, the buildings are ruinous, the Banqueting Hall range in particular being reduced for the most part to no more than a few metres high.

A. The '''Gatehouse range''' is the earliest remaining part of the castle. It consists of the two massive drum towers faced in ashlar with the entrance passage between the towers. The west tower is largely original, but the east tower was largely rebuilt in the late fifteenth century. While ruinous at the upper levels, the drum towers still stand above the drawbridge to a height of some 15.5 metres to the [[machicolations]], these dating to the late fifteenth century rebuild.  Internally, the gatehouse has an entrance with [[portcullis]] and above a hall, later subdivided (Stell ''op cit'', p112).

B. The '''west range''' dates to around 1500 and while roofless is largely complete. The range consists essentially of a series of rectangular rooms on two floors, each with a fireplace, the rooms most likely used as accommodation (Stell ''op cit,'' p112.)

C. The south or '''Banqueting House range''' was reduced to walls of only a few metres high or less, largely as a result of the [[Covenanters|Covenanters']] siege in 1640, when artillery fire and then [[slighting]] reduced the walls (and at the same time the SE tower).  The Hall was of substantial size, and some evidence of its former grandeur can be gauged from the remains of the large fireplace on the north wall.

D. Sitting to the north east of the interior, and the last part of the castle to be built, the '''Nithsdale Lodging building''' is the most complete part of the castle. Although lacking its two eastern most bays it is perhaps the most spectacular part of the castle, with its magnificent Renaissance façade of the 1630s (SoS ''op cit'', 12-13). The remaining front is decorated with a series of carved pediments over nine large windows, three smaller ones and two doorways, depicting various armorials and symbolic sculptures (SoS ''op cit'', 16-18) . Internally, the rooms are quite small, due to the placement of a fireplace/flue block in the centre of the structure. With the kitchens and other service rooms on the ground floor, the rooms on the first and higher floors were most likely used as private apartments.