Description

The monument is the remains of Greenknowe Tower, an L-plan tower house surviving as a masonry structure that stands to full height. An inscription above the entrance gives the date 1581, but this probably refers to a major rebuilding of an earlier tower. Excavations have indicated the position of a walled courtyard to the E of the tower, containing at least one ancillary building. The site of a garden lies to the W. The tower stands 500m SW of Gordon on a knoll surrounded by low-lying ground, about 140m above sea level.

The tower has four storeys and an attic, crow-stepped gables and corbelled angle turrets. It comprises a main block measuring 10m N-S by 7.6m transversely, with an adjoining wing at the NE angle housing the door and main stair from the ground floor to the hall on the first floor of the main block. Both the vaulted ground floor, housing the kitchen, and the first floor hall contain large, fine fireplaces. From the first floor, a stair turret in the re-entrant angle leads to the upper floors, giving access to chambers both in the main block and in the wing. The tower retains notable features of interest such as the fine iron yett at the entrance doorway, the Laird's lug (spy hole) to the left of the hall fireplace and the sundial at the SW corner. Excavations have shown the base of a partition wall dividing the ground floor of the tower, as well as providing evidence for the barmkin or courtyard, locating a building with cobbled floor and drains interpreted as a stable and part of the outer wall.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. On the N and NE sides, the scheduling extends up to but excludes a post-and-wire deer fence. The above-ground elements of other fences that lie within the scheduled area are specifically excluded from the scheduling. The scheduling also specifically excludes all modern structures such as metal safety barriers, the above-ground elements of signs, and the top 30cm of the access path. The monument was previously scheduled under section 1 (2) of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, but the present amendment provides documents to modern standards.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument has the potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of post-medieval domestic fortified dwellings, their architecture, construction, maintenance, development and abandonment. It can also enhance understanding of the immediate surroundings of fortified domestic dwellings through the evidence of garden archaeology. The tower itself retains its structural characteristics to a marked degree, surviving to full height (four storeys plus attic) with crow-stepped gables and corners with corbelled angle turrets. The retention of features of interest such as the fine iron yett at the entrance doorway, the Laird's lug and the sundial at the SW corner is notable and there is considerable potential to study and record the upstanding fabric of the castle. There is also good potential for the survival of important buried archaeological remains, including traces of additional structures within and around the tower, and artefacts and palaeoenvironmental evidence that can enhance understanding of how such buildings functioned, as well as adding to our understanding of the daily domestic life of the inhabitants and their society and economy. This monument would have been a prominent part of the post-medieval landscape and remains a significant feature in the contemporary landscape. Documentary records provide information about the families who owned the tower, enhancing our understanding of its context. Our understanding of the form, character and development of post-medieval towers in Scotland would be diminished if this monument was to be lost or damaged.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

Further Information

RCAHMS records the monument as NT64SW 5.

Greenknowe Tower is a property in care.

References

MacGibbon, D and Ross, T, 1887-92 The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, vol 3, 542-6.

RCAHMS, 1915 The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Sixth Report and Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the County of Berwick, Edinburgh. 90-92, fig 85.
Historic Environment Scotland Properties
Greenknowe Tower
https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/greenknowe-tower
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Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/57386/

Source: Historic Environment Scotland