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Greenknowe Tower
Greenknowe Tower is a 16th-century tower house, located just west of the village of Gordon, in the Scottish Borders. Although a roofless ruin, the stonework of the tower is well preserved, and represents a fine example of a later tower house, built more as a residence rather than as a place of defence. The building is located at , beside the A6105 road. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is in the care of Historic Scotland. History The lands of Greenknowe were obtained by the Setons of Touch in the early 15th century, when Alexander Seton married a Gordon heiress. The tower was built in 1581 by James Seton, and the date, his initials, and the initials of his wife Janet Edmonstone, are inscribed above the door. The castle is situated on a low natural mound, which was originally surrounded and defended by marshy ground. In the 17th century, the tower was sold to the Pringles of Stichill, who made additions to the building, and enlarged the windows to suit the less dangerous t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon, Scottish Borders
Gordon is a village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, within the historic county of Berwickshire. The village sits on the crossroads of the A6105 Earlston to Berwick on Tweed road and the A6089 Edinburgh to Kelso road. It is east of Earlston and west of Greenlaw. Gordon was served by trains on the Berwickshire Railway from 1863 to 1948. Origins The first Gordon on record is Richard of Gordon, previously of Swinton, said to have been the grandson of a famous knight who slew some monstrous animal in the Merse during the time of King Malcolm III of Scotland. This Richard was Lord of the Barony of Gordon in the Merse. The name is said to derive from Brittonic, meaning great fort. The de Gordons held the lairdship of Gordon for over two centuries and were thought to have built a castle at the former hamlet of Huntly just to the north; they still held lands up to the 18th century. The Gordon family are the ancestors of the Dukes of Richmond and Gordon and of the Marquis o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L-plan
An L-plan castle is a castle or tower house in the shape of an L, typically built from the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other locations. The evolution of its design was an expansion of the blockhouse or simple square tower from the Early Middle Ages. As building techniques improved, it became possible to construct a larger building footprint and a more complex shape than the simple blockhouse tower. A more compelling motivation for the L plan was the ability to defend the entrance door by providing covering fire from the adjacent walls. This stratagem was particularly driven by the advent of cannon used by attackers. It was common for the union of the two wings to have very thick wall construction to support a major defensive tower in the union area. For example, the stone walls of Muchalls Castle in Scotland are over 14 feet thick at the ground level. Built in the 13t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scheduled Ancient Monuments In The Scottish Borders
A schedule or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such things are intended to take place. The process of creating a schedule — deciding how to order these tasks and how to commit resources between the variety of possible tasks — is called scheduling,Ofer Zwikael, John Smyrk, ''Project Management for the Creation of Organisational Value'' (2011), p. 196: "The process is called scheduling, the output from which is a timetable of some form". and a person responsible for making a particular schedule may be called a scheduler. Making and following schedules is an ancient human activity. Some scenarios associate this kind of planning with learning life skills. Schedules are necessary, or at least useful, in situations where individuals need to know what time they must be at a specific location to receive a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castles In The Scottish Borders
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a palace, which is not fortified; from a fortress, which was not always a residence for royalty or nobility; from a ''pleasance'' which was a walled-in residence for nobility, but not adequately fortified; and from a fortified settlement, which was a public defence – though there are many similarities among these types of construction. Use of the term has varied over time and has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th-20th century homes built to resemble castles. Over the approximately 900 years when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Monuments Record Of Scotland
The National Monuments Record of Scotland (NMRS) was the term used for the archive of the sites, monuments and buildings of Scotland's past maintained by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The Commission was originally established by Royal Warrant in the reign of George VI "to make an inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilization and conditions of life of the people in Scotland from the earliest times to the year 1707, and to specify those which seem most worthy of preservation." The separate name for the archive is no longer given prominence in RCAHMS corporate publications, and the term National Record of the Historic Environment is preferred. The NMRS was created when the Scottish National Buildings Record (itself founded in 1942) was transferred to the RCAHMS in 1966. There are 240,000 archaeological sites, monuments and buildings recorded in C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machicolation
A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. A smaller version found on smaller structures is called a box-machicolation. Terminology The structures are thought to have originated as Crusader imitations of mashrabiya. The word derives from the Old French word ''machecol'', mentioned in Medieval Latin as ''machecollum'', probably from Old French ''machier'' 'crush', 'wound' and ''col'' 'neck'. ''Machicolate'' is only recorded in the 18th century in English, but a verb ''machicollāre'' is attested in Anglo-Latin. Both the Spanish and Portuguese words denoting this structure (''matacán'' and ''mata-cães'', respectively), are similarly composed from "matar canes" meaning roughly "killing dogs", the latter word being a slur referring to infidels.Vil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bartizan
A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th century up to the 18th century. Most frequently found at corners, they protected a warder and enabled him to see his surroundings. Bartizans generally are furnished with oillets or arrow slits. The turret was usually supported by stepped masonry corbels and could be round, polygonal or square. Bartizans were incorporated into many notable examples of Scottish Baronial architecture. In the architecture of Aberdeen, the new Town House, built in 1868–74, incorporates bartizans in the West Tower. Gallery At walls File:Round Bartizan, Fortaleza de Santiago, Sesimbra, Portugal.JPG, ''Guarita'' at Fortaleza de Santiago, Sesimbra Municipality, Portugal. File:Sudika Isla watchtower.jpg, ''Gardjola'' at the Spur, Senglea, Malt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yett
A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for "gate") is a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses. Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mechanical means, yetts are hinged in the manner of a traditional gate or door, and secured by bolts attached to the yett, or by long bars drawn out from the wall or gateway. Geographical distribution Yetts are predominantly found in Scotland – where most towers, particularly the later ones, were equipped with them rather than portcullises – but some iron gates are found in the Border counties of England.Toy, p. 198 While few references to yetts exist outside Scotland, an English report of 1416 on Roxburgh Castle (then in English hands) contained recommendations for the insertion of iron gates. Yetts are not restricted to any one region or district within Scotland, but are widespread throughout. Similar grille constructions, frequently ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tower House
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces. At the same time, they were also used as an aristocrat's residence, around which a castle town was often constructed. Europe After their initial appearance in Ireland, Scotland, the Stins, Frisian lands, Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country and England during the High Middle Ages, tower houses were also built in other parts of western Europe, especially in parts of France and Italy. In Italian medieval communes, urban ''palazzi'' with a very tall tower were increasingly built by the local highly competitive Patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician families as power centres during times of internal strife. Most north Italian cities had a number of these by the end of the Middles Ages, but few no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clan Pringle
Clan Pringle is a Lowland clan from the Scottish Borders. Origin of the Name According to the detailed book 'The Records of the Pringles', the surname Hoppringill, or Pringle, dates from the reign of Alexander III of Scotland (1249–86) and is one of the oldest names of the Scottish Border region. Pringle is a placename derived from a locale in the Parish of Stow on the right side of Gala Water, about ten miles North of Galashiels. Hoppringle lies about one half mile up from the bank of the river on the Southern slopes of a ridge separating the valleys of the rivers Armet and Todhole (now named Armet Water and Toddle Burn). This ridge, with its level crest, abuts at its Western extremity on the Gala in a remarkably rounded knob some 300 ft above the level of the river, which winds around its base in a semi-circle. It is this ring-like boss which no doubt gives the place its name of Hoppringhill, as it is occasionally written in older records. The first syllable is the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clan Gordon
Clan Gordon is a Scottish Highlands, Highland Scottish clan, historically one of the most powerful Scottish clans. The Gordon lands once spanned a large territory across the Highlands. Presently, Gordon is seated at Aboyne Castle, Aberdeenshire. The Scottish clan chief, Chief of the clan is the Earl of Huntly, later the Marquess of Huntly. During the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th century, the Gordons supported William Wallace in the cause of independence. In the 15th century, the chiefship of the clan passed to an heiress, who married into the Seton family and her male descendants assumed the surname Gordon and continued as chiefs of the clan. The Gordons assisted in defeating the rebellion of the Earl of Douglas also in the 15th century. In the 16th century, the Gordons as Catholics feuded with their Protestant neighbors the Clan Forbes and also defeated at the Battle of Glenlivet, the Protestant Earl of Argyll. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of the 17th c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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