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A cap-house (sometimes written cap house or caphouse) is a small watch room, built at the top of a spiral staircase, often giving access to a
File:Knock_Castle_4.jpg, Knock Castle, Aberdeenshire, showing the cap-house above the entrance
File:Plunton_Castle_(geograph_4888980).jpg, Plunton Castle, with a gabled cap-house at the top of the stair wing (shown on the right)
File:Rusco_Castle_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1240081.jpg,
File:Balmoral_Castle.jpg,
A cap-house (sometimes written cap house or caphouse) is a small watch room, built at the top of a spiral staircase, often giving access to a parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
on the roof of a tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...
or castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
. They provided protection from the elements by enclosing the top of the stairway, and sometimes incorporated windows or gun loops
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions ( merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed ou ...
. They were built in various forms, including square turrets, simple boxes, or small houses with gabled
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
roofs, which were sometimes large enough to provide accommodation for a look-out.
Cap-houses were an authentic feature of the design of medieval and early-modern tower houses
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...
in Scotland, and were a frequent element used in the later Scottish Baronial architecture
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Sco ...
.
Gallery
Medieval and early-modern cap-houses
Rusco Tower
Rusco Tower, sometimes called Rusco Castle, is a tower house near Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Built around 1500 for Mariota Carson and her husband Robert Gordon, on lands given to them by her father, it was used to ...
, with a gabled cap-house on the right, giving access to a parapet around the main roof
File:Barholm_Castle.jpg, Barholm Castle
Barholm Castle is a tower house located south-west of Gatehouse of Fleet, in Kirkcudbrightshire, Galloway, Scotland.
The tower dates back to the late 15th century, and it was a stronghold of a branch of the MacCulloch family. The present form of ...
's large cap-house, on the left
File:Sauchie_Tower_-_geograph.org.uk_-_85404.jpg, Sauchie Tower
Sauchie Tower, also known as Devon Tower, is a 15th-century tower house in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. The tower is located by the village of Fishcross, north of Sauchie and north of Alloa, close to the River Devon. It is protected as a Sched ...
's cap-house, on the left, is hexagonal
File:Balvaird_Castle.jpg, Balvaird Castle
Balvaird Castle in Perthshire is a traditional late medieval Scottish tower house. It is located in the Ochil Hills, around south of Abernethy. The name Balvaird is from ''Baile a' Bhàird'', 'Township of the Bard' in Gaelic. Balvaird Castle i ...
's cap-house, in the middle
File:Fatlips_Castle_2013.JPG, Fatlips Castle
Fatlips Castle is a peel tower in Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. Situated at the top of Minto Crags, above the River Teviot, it was built in the 16th century by the Turnbulls of Barnhills, notorious Border reivers, and owners of near ...
's cap-house, on the left, was renovated in 2013
File:Carsluith_Castle.jpg, Carsluith Castle
Carsluith Castle is a ruined tower house, dating largely to the 16th century. It is located beside Wigtown Bay in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Galloway, Scotland, around south east of Creetown.
History
The lands of Carsluith ...
's gabled cap-house, on the right
Nineteenth-century Scottish Baronial cap-houses
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen.
The estate and its original castle were bought ...
, with the Royal Standard of Scotland
The Royal Banner of the Royal Arms of Scotland, also known as the Royal Banner of Scotland, or more commonly the Lion Rampant of Scotland, and historically as the Royal Standard of Scotland, ( gd, Bratach rìoghail na h-Alba, sco, Ryal banner ...
flying from a flagpole mounted on the roof of its cap-house
File:CIMG1495_ScraboHorizView.JPG, Scrabo Tower
Scrabo Tower is a high 19th-century lookout tower or folly that stands on Scrabo Hill near Newtownards in County Down, Northern Ireland. It provides wide views and is a landmark that can be seen from afar. It was built as a memorial to Charles ...
has a conical cap-house above its spiral staircase, with conical turrets on the other three corners
File:Friar's_Carse_-_side_tower.jpg, Friars Carse
Friars' Carse is a mansion house and estate situated (NX 926 850) southeast of Auldgirth on the main road (A76) to Dumfries, Parish of Dunscore, Scotland. The property is located on the west bank of the River Nith and is known for its strong as ...
has a circular cap-house giving access to the roof of its tower
See also
*Turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
—a tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building
* Bartizan
A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from the ...
—an overhanging projection from the wall of a building
* Garret
A garret is a habitable attic, a living space at the top of a house or larger residential building, traditionally, small, dismal, and cramped, with sloping ceilings. In the days before elevators this was the least prestigious position in a bu ...
—an attic or top floor room in the military sense; a watchtower from the French word ''garite''
References
Castle architecture Fortification (architectural elements) Fortified towers by type {{Scotland-struct-stub