Orchardton Tower
| Orchardton Tower | ||
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 Orchardton Tower from the southwest |
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| Creation time : | Late 15th century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg (Tower House) | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Scottish nobility | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Palnackie | |
| Geographical location | 54 ° 52 '35.7 " N , 3 ° 50' 40.6" W | |
| Height: | 18 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Orchardton Tower is the ruin of a residential tower in the Scottish county of Kirkcudbrightshire (now part of the Dumfries and Galloway administrative unit ). The building is about 6.1 kilometers south of Dalbeattie and 1.7 kilometers south of the village of Palnackie . Orchardton Tower is the only cylindrical tower house in Scotland and is a Scheduled Monument .
history
The Cairns family who built Orchardton Tower had been associated with the area since the early 15th century. Alexander Cairns was Provost von Lincluden , which today belongs to Dumfries , until his death in 1422 . His brother, John Cairns , was a customs officer in Linlithgow . He was also a military engineer and was responsible for designing the impressive King David's Tower at Edinburgh Castle , which was destroyed in 1573. His heir, another John Cairns , the son of his nephew, received the lands of Irisbuitle or Orchardton in 1456. The enfeoffment of lands that had previously belonged to the Douglas clan was possibly the reward for supporting King James II in his successful fight against the power of the "Black" Earls of Douglas . Soon after, John Cairns had the Orchardton Tower built. The fact that round towers were common in Ireland led to speculation of Irish influence in Orchardton. But no particular connection was found.
John Cairns 'grandson was present in front of St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1527 in support of his relatives Agnew and Lochinvar in the murder of Thomas McLellan of Bombie . After William's death in 1558, the property was divided between his three daughters. The part with the castle on it was sold to Sir Robert Maxwell of Spottis around 1582, who had already bought other parts of the property. Maxwell was a cousin of the 7th Lord Maxwell , his only son Robert Maxwell was raised to Baronet, of Orchardtoun in 1663.
Maxwell's descendants were divided with the rest of the country in the Scottish Reformation . Mungo Maxwell (* 1700) was disinherited from his half-brothers for religious reasons. His son, another Robert Maxwell , was raised in France and received a call to the French army. After completing his service in France, he took part in the second Jacobite revolt in 1745 . He was wounded in the Battle of Culloden and was taken prisoner, where his reputation was recognized and he avoided execution. As a foreign soldier, he was treated like a prisoner of war rather than a rebel.
Robert Maxwell returned to France for a period before converting to Protestantism to take his rightful legacy. In 1753 he was drafted into the French army and returned to Scotland, where he began a lengthy trial that ended in 1771 with his confirmation as Sir Robert Maxwell, 7th Baronet. These events served Sir Walter Scott as a template for his novella Guy Mannering .
Robert Maxwell had Orchardton Castle , a new, more comfortable residence built. However, his financial operations led him to bankruptcy and in 1785 the property was sold to the Douglas family. Presumably no one lived in the Tower House after that.
description
The round tower stood in the northeast corner of a fortified courtyard or enclosure, which offered shelter for cattle and was equipped with storage cellars, a baking house and probably a knight's hall on the upper floor. The tower itself contained only living rooms and could be entered via a - presumably movable - staircase; it led from the courtyard to the entrance door on the first floor. The current entrance on the north side of the tower was only built in the 17th or 18th century. A door was made from an existing window, which is accessible via a fixed stone staircase.
The tower is 11 meters high and has a diameter of about 9 meters, which decreases slightly towards the top. A protruding parapet forms the upper end of the walls . A spiral staircase in the 1.8 meter thick wall ends at the top in a “Caphouse” with gables . The ground floor is made up of a series of storage cellars with vaulted ceilings . Above is the main room with an open fireplace, windows with seats set deep into the walls and a carved washbasin or piscina . There were probably two other rooms above, but their wooden ceilings have collapsed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Scheduled Monument - entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ^ William Fraser: The Book of Carlaverock. Memoirs of the Maxwells, Earls of Nithsdale, Lords Maxwell & Herries. Volume 1, Edinburgh 1873, p. 590.
swell
- Martin Coventry: The Castles of Scotland . 3. Edition. Goblinshead, Musselburgh 2001
- John Gifford: The Buildings of Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway . Penguin, 1996.
- WR Gourlay: Orchardton Tower, Parish of Buittle, Kirkcudbright in Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society . 3rd series, booklet XV (1928/29).
- Maurice Lindsay: The Castles of Scotland . Constable & Co, 1986.
- Mike Salter: The Castles of South West Scotland . Folly Publications, 1993.
