Cap-house

{{short description|Small room at the top of a spiral staircase}}

{{use British English|date=August 2020}}

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File:Helen's Tower, Clandeboye - geograph.org.uk - 754850.jpg in Northern Ireland, built in the 19th century in the Scots Baronial style, features a prominent cap-house (shown on the right)]]

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 on the roof of a tower house or castle. They provided protection from the elements by enclosing the top of the stairway, and sometimes incorporated windows or gun loops. They were built in various forms, including square turrets, simple boxes, or small houses with gabled roofs, which were sometimes large enough to provide accommodation for a look-out.{{cite book |last1=Lindsay |first1=Maurice |title=The castles of Scotland |date=1994 |publisher=Constable |isbn=9-780094-734302 |page=469 |edition=2}}{{cite book |last1=Maxwell-Irving |first1=Alastair M. T. |title=The Border Towers of Scotland 2: Their evolution and architecture |date=2014 |publisher=Alastair M. T. Maxwell-Irving |location=Stirling |isbn=9-781907-931376 |page=320}}{{cite book |last1=Gifford |first1=John |title=The Buildings of Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway |date=1996 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=9-780140-710670 |page=578}}{{cite book |last1=Toy |first1=Sidney |title=The Castles of Great Britain |date=1966 |publisher=Heinemann Educational Books |location=London |page=201 |edition=4}}{{cite book |title=Pevsner's Architectural Glossary |date=2018 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=9-780300-223682 |page=40}}{{cite book |last1=Stevens Curl |first1=James |last2=Wilson |first2=Susan |title=Oxford Dictionary of Architecture |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-967499-2 |page=146 |edition=3}}

Cap-houses were an authentic feature of the design of medieval and early-modern tower houses in Scotland, and were a frequent element used in the later Scottish Baronial architecture.