of James VI. A small space marked "the armoury"
in an old plan of the building could in no way be accounted for,
it possessing neither door, window, nor fireplace; a trap-door,
however, was at length found in the floor immediately above its
supposed locality which led to its identification. At Kemnay
(Aberdeenshire) the hiding-place is in the dining-room chimney;
and at Elphinstone (East Lothian), in the bay of a window of
the great hall, is a masked entrance to a narrow stair in the
thickness of the wall leading to a little room situated in the
northeast angle of the tower; it further has an exit through a
trap-door in the floor of a passage in the upper part of the
building.

The now ruinous castle of Towie Barclay, near Banff, has evidences
of secret ways and contrivances. Adjoining the fireplace of the
great hall is a small room constructed for this purpose. In the
wall of the same apartment is also a recess only to be reached by
a narrow stairway in the thickness of the masonry, and approached
from the flooring above the hall. A similar contrivance exists
between the outer and inner walls of the dining hall of Carew
Castle, Pembrokeshire.

Coxton Tower, near Elgin, contains a singular provision for
communication from the top of the building to the basement, perfectly
independent of the staircase. In the centre of each floor is a
square stone which, when removed, reveals an opening from the
summit to the base of the tower, through which a person could
be lowered.

Another curious old Scottish mansion, famous for its secret chambers
and passages, is Gordonstown. Here, in the pavement of a corridor
in the west wing, a stone may be swung aside, beneath which is
a narrow cell scooped out of one of the foundation walls. It
may be followed to the adjoining angle, where it branches off
into the next wall to an extent capable of holding fifty or sixty
persons. Another large hiding-place is situated in one of the
rooms at the back of a tall press or cupboard. The space in the
wall is sufficiently large to contain eight or nine people, and
entrance to it is effected by unloosing a spring bolt under the
lower shelf, when the whole back of the press swings aside.

Whether the mystery of the famous secret room at Glamis Castle,
Forfarshire, has ever been solved or satisfactorily explained
beyond the many legends and stories told in connection with it,
we have not been able to determine. The walls in this remarkable
old