Description

The monument consists of the fragmentary remains of Newbyres Castle, an L-plan castle of 16th century date, and its surrounding barmkin wall.

The ruin of the castle is situated on a triangular piece of ground sharply defined on the E and W sides by the steep valleys of two streams. Only the foundations remain of a tower which originally had three storeys beneath the wallhead and an attic storey within the parapet. The remains are heavily overgrown and obscured by dumping.

The masonry is of coursed rubble with freestone dressings set in shell pinnings. Most of the building's lower storey is buried under amorphous heaps of turf-covered tumbled masonry. Vague foundations of outbuildings exist to the N and S of the castle.

The area to be scheduled is approximately triangular and measures a maximum of 64m E-W by 75m N-S, as indicated in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it provides evidence and has the potential to provide further evidence, through a combination of historical research and archaeological excavation, for the study of the defensive architecture and domestic life of the minor gentry in mid-sixteenth-century Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NT 36 SW 7.

References:

MacGibbon D and Ross T 1897, The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century, Vol. 3, 538-40, Edinburgh.

RCAHMS 1929, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Tenth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the counties of Midlothian and West Lothian, Edinburgh, No. 185, 146.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland