Early firearms and their influence on the military and domestic architecture of the Borders

Bibliographic Data

ID11007872
AuthorsAlastair M T Maxwell-Irving (Society of Toxicology, corresponding author)
Year1974
Volume103
Pages192-224
Publication date1974-11-30
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueProceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0081-1564 • E-ISSN: 2056-743X
PublisherSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.9750/psas.103.192.224
OpenAlexW3013175914
LanguageEN
Citations received10

Firearms came late to Scotland, although first used there by the English in 1327. The earliest use by the Scots was of large cannon in siege warfare "Mons Meg" was used at Threave in 1455, and later the castle's outer curtain was rebuilt with handgun slits in the wall and gunholes in the corner "rounds". The typical oval-mouthed gunhole, with hourglass section, appears c 1540, usually one per wallface, although occasionally overlapping fields of fire were arranged at different levels (Damelzier, Littledean). A re-examination of Amisfield Tower shows that the basement is of early date, gunholes being contrived by widening the lighting slits to give the appearance of a good traverse (studied in other towers). By 1600 the basement gunhole was going out of favour, although the inconspicuous muskethole continued to be used in upper walling. D F R

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Basement · Scots · Section (typography · Siege · Tower · Geology · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Scottish History and National Identity

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