Sundial, Duns Castle

Duns Castle is a substantial Scottish tower house, originally built around 1320, which was dramatically transformed between 1818 and 1822 by the architect James Gillespie Graham into a grand Gothic Revival residence. Further alterations were made in 1966. The house stands four storeys high and extends ten bays along its principal south front. It is built of sandstone ashlar with Gothic castellated features throughout, including a battered (sloping) base course, machicolated eaves course, and crenellated parapet. The principal windows have pointed arches.

South (Principal) Elevation

The south front is arranged in grouped bays: 1-1-3-1 (the entrance bay)-3-1. The entrance bay is advanced and flanked by octagonal corner towers rising through four stages, each with blind arrow slits. At ground level, a single-storey porch projects forward, supported by octagonal piers. These piers are topped by entablatures decorated with quatrefoil details and crowned with eagle statues. The entrance itself is a flat pointed arch with a hoodmould and supporting shafts. Above the entrance are ornamental machicolations and raised crenellations featuring the Hay family heraldic motif—a shield flanked by two archers with the motto "Spare Nought" on a ribbon beneath. The first floor has a tall tripartite window spanned by a flat hoodmould. Above this is a canted oriel window with mullioned and traceried glazing and crenellations. The parapet crenellations of this bay are raised at the centre, with a gargoyle on each side.

To the right of the entrance is a three-bay group rising four storeys. These bays are grouped asymmetrically, with the centre bay positioned close to the bay on its left. Each bay has bipartite (two-part) windows on each floor except at ground level. The first-floor windows are traceried and feature balconies set on moulded brackets. The remaining openings have Tudor hoodmoulds, and there is a gargoyle at the centre of the group.

The bay to the outer right is advanced and square in plan with chamfered corners. String courses divide each stage. The window has a trefoil head and hoodmould, and there is a gargoyle at each chamfered corner.

To the left of the entrance is another three-bay group. The second and third storeys have bipartite pointed-arch square-headed windows with hoodmoulds. Moulded brackets support an ashlar Gothic-detailed stone balustrade. The centre and left bays have windows on each floor (except the ground-floor window on the left is off-centre). The right bay at ground level was altered in 1966 and now has a boarded door with flanking windows. A date is carved at the foot of the first-floor window. Gargoyles flank the centre bay.

The penultimate bay to the left is advanced and has a tripartite trefoil-headed window at ground level with a square hoodmould, a quadripartite window with square hoodmould at first-floor level, and a window at second-floor level matching the ground floor. Gargoyles sit on either side. This bay is topped by a crowstepped gable with a blind opening in the gablehead and a fleur-de-lis finial.

The outermost bay on the left is an advanced square-plan tower of four stages, with a string course at wallhead level and a parapet with an additional stage above. There is a window at each stage, including above the string course, and a hoodmould at the third stage. A gargoyle is positioned at the centre.

South Screen Wall (West of Main House)

To the west of the main house stands an eleven-bay single-storey crenellated screen wall with buttresses defining the bays. The fifth bay is raised and features a flat opening serving as an entrance to stabling to the north, with ornamental machicolations above. An octagonal ashlar lantern with openings, a cornice, and an ornamental open crown topped by an ashlar finial surmounts this bay. A later sun canopy has been added immediately to the left. A crenellated and machicolated tower stands at the outer left end of the wall.

East Elevation

The east elevation is two bays wide. The left bay is advanced and has chamfered corners with string courses dividing each stage and gargoyles at the corners. At the principal level is an oriel window with a tripartite mullioned and traceried window and a crenellated head. At wallhead level is a bipartite window with a hoodmould. The crenellations are raised at the centre, with a gargoyle at the eaves course. To the right is a corbelled square-plan crenellated turret with two arrow windows.

Projecting northwards from the east elevation is a lower five-storey wing. Its east elevation is three bays wide, irregularly arranged. The centre bay has a window at ground level and another at first-floor level, slightly off-centre. Small windows are positioned at the outer left. The left bay has bipartite windows on each floor except at ground level. The right bay is an advanced octagonal crenellated tower with string courses dividing the stages and arrow windows at each of the four stages. In the re-entrant angle is a later ashlar doorpiece with a Tudor-arched studded boarded door featuring a three-pane glazed upper section. A later rectangular plaque carved with "built 1320" is set here, with a Gothic niche and statue above.

North Elevation

The north elevation is grouped: 1-1-3-2-4. The central three-bay group features a drum tower with a battered base course and a cill course beneath the mullioned and traceried first-floor windows, which have linked hoodmoulds. The upper windows are bipartite with square-headed hoodmoulds, and gargoyles are positioned between the bays.

The bay immediately to the left has a blind bipartite window at ground level, a traceried window with a moulded bracketed balcony at first-floor level, and bipartite windows at the second and third floors. Gargoyles flank the windows on either side. The outer left bay is an octagonal tower matching that on the east elevation.

The two-bay group to the right of the central group is set back considerably. The left bay is canted with a bipartite window at the centre with a square-headed hoodmould and a gargoyle above. The bay to the left has bipartite windows on the upper floors.

The four-bay group at the outer right is advanced and raised. The outer bays are advanced further and have narrow windows on the two upper storeys. The inner left bay has bipartite windows on the upper two storeys, with a square-headed hoodmould on the upper storey. The inner right bay has a bipartite window with a square-headed hoodmould at an intermediate storey.

North Screen Wall

A second screen wall, thirteen bays long (grouped 1-1-3-1-2-1-2-1-1), curves northwards from the central three-bay group of the north elevation, terminating at the stable block. This wall screens the service court and single-storey monopitch outbuildings. It is crenellated with a buttress at the outer left. The features along the wall include: a blank bay; an octagonal engaged tower with an arrow window; a pointed-arch window with hoodmould; a boarded cupboard door (possibly originally a round-arched opening); a bipartite window with square-headed hoodmould; an advanced bay with a broad bipartite window with hoodmould; windows with hoodmoulds in two bays; an advanced and raised broad bay with a tripartite window with square-headed hoodmould; blind windows with hoodmoulds in two bays; an advanced and raised bay with arrow windows at each level; and a blind arrow window with hoodmould.

West Elevation

The west elevation is five bays wide. The centre bay is bowed and has tripartite windows on each storey—trefoil-headed at the second and third floors, with a square-headed hoodmould at the third floor. The bay immediately to the left has a boarded door at ground level and windows on each floor above, with a hoodmould at the third floor. The bay immediately to the right is blank on each floor. The outer left bay is a square-plan tower, slightly advanced, with narrow windows on each floor. The outer right bay is an advanced square-plan tower with pointed-arch windows at each stage (hoodmoulded at wallhead level), a blind opening in the parapet, and a gargoyle at the centre (matching the outer left of the south elevation).

Roofs and Chimneys

The windows are varied, some being timber sash and case. The main roof is lead and asphalt platform, with slate roofs over the service court and outbuildings. The chimneys are ashlar and brick, including an ashlar three-flue wallhead stack with angled shafts at the centre of the three-bay group right of centre on the south elevation, and a two-flue wallhead stack with an angled shaft at the chamfered corner of the outer right on the south elevation. A Tudor-style crenellated cap tops the curved screen wall to the north.

Interior

The interior retains a complete Gothic Revival scheme in good condition. A new staircase was added in 1966 to the west of the main stair. The walls of the 14th-century tower house are approximately eight feet thick. The stair has a Gothic-detailed cast-iron balustrade with timber handrail. A broad Tudor arch leads to the first landing, which has a vaulted ceiling and Gothic niches with a canopy at the centre.

The hall is two storeys high and features arcading and fan vaulting. The walls are painted ashlar and plasterwork, with a pendant boss over the stair, canopies, and sculpted corbels. Hollow metal shafts rise to clustered keel columns supporting the arcade.

The drawing room has timber dado and panelling, a stone Tudor-arched chimneypiece, and a ribbed ceiling with the Hay shield and arms at the centre.

The dining room, located within the 14th-century tower house, underwent later alterations around 1886. These include oak panelling on the ceiling. The original Tudor-arched stone chimneypiece is set within a frame of timber Chinese dragons and carved panels above depicting scenes from the life of George, Lord Seton, carved by John Steele. The ceiling is a later geometric design based on repeated quatrefoil shapes.

The study has an elaborate fanned and ribbed vaulted ceiling.

Sundial

In front of the south elevation stands a stone free-standing sundial. It rises from two steps to an octagonal pedestal with quatrefoil details on the lower section. The shaft features blind arcading, and the top has foliate detailing on the frieze and cornice.