Description

The monument consists of the remains of a group of late 16th or early 17th-century farm buildings. The site is locally known by the name of Thorril Castle.

It is situated S of the intersection of the Byrecleuch and the Parkhall Burns approximately 100m E of the newly constructed M74 extension. The remains consist of a complex of turf-covered footings and walls which survive to a height of between 0.5 and 2m. The site can be separated into three buildings, their walls being traceable by earthfast stones protruding from the turf banks. There is a single rectangular structure on the S side of the site. Its E wall is missing probably as a result of slippage into the burn. To the NW is an L-shaped building which is divided into three compartments. It is connected by an intervening wall projecting E to another two-roomed building in the NE. An indication of the date of the site may be obtained from the material in the circular sheep fold immediately to

the S which incorporates several roll-moulded stones and shaped blocks of sandstone with tool markings. This suggests that at least one of the buildings is of 16th to 17th-century date. Fieldwork and documentary research indicate that this may have been the site of a small peel tower or bastle house (a defensive farmhouse of elongated plan) with associated outbuildings and byres. The N range of buildings are probably byres as is suggested by the name of the adjacent burn.

The area to be scheduled is irregular measuring a maximum of 60m E-W by 100m N-S but excluding the sheepfold, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is a good example of a post-medieval fortified farmstead possibly of the bastle house type, which has the potential, through excavation, to contribute to our understanding of defensive and domestic architecture, settlement evolution, rural economy and land use in the area of Upper Clydesdale during the early post-medieval period.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NS83SE 16.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland