Description

The monument consists of the remains of a towerhouse of the late 16th or early 17th centuries. The only upstanding remains consist of part of the SE wall, 8.3m long and 5m high, and about 1.6m thick. Originally the tower was rectangular, 8.3m NE-SW by 9m NW-SE.

The masonry is of random rubble, with sandstone facings surviving in one of the first floor windows. The tower had at least 3 floors. The ground level was barrel-vaulted. The first storey had two small windows in the SE wall, as did the level above, although here the windows are represented merely by ragged gaps in the masonry.

The area to be scheduled is circular, 60m in diameter centred on a point 4m NW of the centre of the surviving wall, to include the fragment and foundations of the tower and an area around in which traces of ancillary structures and boundaries may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as the remains of a small towerhouse of late 16th or early 17th century date which, although ruinous, has the potential through excavation and analysis to provide important information relating to the architectural development of small defensive dwellings and the accompanying lifestyle of the minor rural gentry in the later medieval period.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NT 45 NW 3.

Reference:

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, Inventory No. 87, 70.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland