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Wallace's Tower
Wallace's Tower is a ruined 16th-century L-plan tower house, about south west Kelso, Scottish Borders, Scotland, in Roxburgh, west of the River Teviot.Coventry, Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.323 History The property belonged to the Kerrs of Cessford. A charter of 1543, which confirmed Walter Ker of Cessford as owner of the lands of the East Mains of Roxburgh, mentions the tower. It has been suggested that it formed part of a chain of signal towers created to warn of English incursions. Structure The tower comprised a main block, with a vaulted basement, and a stair wing, with a tower added at a corner. The main tower was rectangular, with the wings on its north. One vaulted cellar, which measured by , had two aumbries in the north west wall. There was a service-stair to the north tower, and a door into a vaulted chamber (measuring almost by over with an aumbry in the south west gable) the lowest storey of the south wing. The tower is const ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clan Kerr
Clan Kerr () is a Scottish clan whose origins lie in the Scottish Borders. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the prominent border reiver clans along the present-day Anglo-Scottish border and played an important role in the history of the Border country of Scotland. History Origins of the clan The name Kerr is rendered in various forms such as Kerr, Ker, Kear, Carr, Carre, and Cares.Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain. p. 52. The name stems from the Old Norse ' which means ''marsh dweller'', and came to Scotland from Normandy, the French settlement of the Norsemen. Another variant is found on the west coast of Scotland, particularly on the Isle of Arran, taken from the Gaelic ', meaning ''dusky''. The early Roxburghshire Kerrs had their origins in the 12th century Ayrshire bailiery of Cunninghame. During the reign of David I (1082–1153), Hugh de Morville, Lord High Constabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L-plan Castle
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] |
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] |
Kelso, Scottish Borders
Kelso ( sco, Kelsae gd, Cealsaidh) is a market town in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Roxburghshire, it lies where the rivers Tweed and Teviot have their confluence. The town has a population of 5,639 according to the 2011 census and based on the 2010 definition of the locality. Kelso's main tourist draws are the ruined Kelso Abbey and Floors Castle. The latter is a house designed by William Adam which was completed in 1726. The Kelso Bridge was designed by John Rennie who later built London Bridge. Kelso held the UK record for the lowest January temperature at , from 1881 until 1982. History The town of Kelso came into being as a direct result of the creation of Kelso Abbey in 1128. The town's name stems from the earliest settlement having stood on a chalky outcrop, and the town was known as Calkou (or perhaps Calchfynydd) in those early days, something that is remembered in the modern street name, "Chalkheugh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian and, to the south-west, south and east, the English counties of Cumbria and Northumberland. The administrative centre of the area is Newtown St Boswells. The term Scottish Borders, or normally just "the Borders", is also used to designate the areas of southern Scotland and northern England that bound the Anglo-Scottish border. Geography The Scottish Borders are in the eastern part of the Southern Uplands. The region is hilly and largely rural, with the River Tweed flowing west to east through it. The highest hill in the region is Broad Law in the Manor Hills. In the east of the region, the area that borders the River Tweed is flat and is known as 'The Merse'. The Tweed and its tributaries drain the entire region with the river flowi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. It also contains more than 790 islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Most of the population, including the capital Edinburgh, is concentrated in the Central Belt—the plain between the Scottish Highlands and the Southern Uplands—in the Scottish Lowlands. Scotland is divided into 32 administrative subdivisions or local authorities, known as council areas. Glasgow City is the largest council area in terms of population, with Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limited self-governing power, covering matters such as education, social services and roads and transportation, is devolved from the Scott ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roxburgh
Roxburgh () is a civil parish and formerly a royal burgh, in the historic county of Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at least as much importance as Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, or Berwick-upon-Tweed, for a time acting as ''de facto'' capital (as royal residence of David I). History Its significance lay in its position in the centre of some of Lowland Scotland's most agriculturally fertile areas, and its position upon the River Tweed, which allowed river transport of goods via the main seaport of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Its position also acted as a barrier to English invasion. Standing on a defensible peninsula between the rivers Tweed and Teviot, with Roxburgh Castle guarding the narrow neck of the peninsula, it was a settlement of some importance during the reign of David I who conferred Royal Burgh status upon the town. At its zenith, between the reigns of Willi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Teviot
The River Teviot (; gd, Abhainn Tìbhiot), or Teviot Water, is a river of the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and is the largest tributary of the River Tweed by catchment area. The Teviot is an important river for wildlife, especially the Atlantic salmon, but in recent years has witnessed at least four extreme flooding events. Course It rises in the western foothills of Comb Hill on the border of Dumfries and Galloway. It flows north-eastwards through Teviotdale and past Teviothead, the Colterscleuch Monument, Broadhaugh, Branxholme and Branxholme Castle. The Teviot passes through Hawick and Lanton, past the Timpendean Tower and the village of Ancrum, Harestanes and Monteviot, Nisbet and Roxburgh, before joining the River Tweed to the southwest of Kelso. The Borders Abbeys Way keeps close company with the Teviot on its journey to the Tweed. Catchment and hydrometry The river flows across a lowland catchment with shale underlying the surface. The headwaters are mostly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cessford, Scottish Borders
Cessford is a hamlet and former barony about a mile south of the B6401 road, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. The placename is from Gaelic 'ceis' and means 'the wattled causeway over the ford'; spellings vary between Cesfuird, Cesford, Cessfoord, Cessfuird, and Cessfurde. Places nearby include Crailing, Eckford, Kelso, Morebattle, Nisbet, and Oxnam Cessford Castle is a ruined castle nearby. Cessford Burn is a tributary of the Kale Water. See also *List of places in the Scottish Borders ''Map of places in the Scottish Borders compiled from this list'':See the list of places in Scotland for places in other counties. This list of places in the Scottish Borders includes towns, villages, hamlets, castles, golf courses, historic hous ... References * Scott, T (1897) 'Collection of flint arrow-heads, spearheads, knives, scrapers, borers, flakes - about 600 in all - from Craigsfordmains mostly', ''Hist Berwickshire Natur Club, vol.15,1'', pages 166–7. External links ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Ker Of Cessford
Sir Walter Ker of Cessford (died c. 1585) was Scottish warden of the Middle March on the Anglo-Scottish border. Life The eldest son of Sir Andrew Ker of Cessford, by his wife Agnes, daughter of Robert, second lord Crichton of Sanquhar, he was served heir to his father 12 May 1528. He had charters of various lands on 23 April and 21 September 1542, and in 1543 he received the lands and barony of Cessford, with its castle. In October 1552 Sir Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch was killed in the High Street of Edinburgh in a nocturnal encounter with the Kers, headed by Walter Ker of Cessfurd. On 8 December they petitioned the privy council, offering to submit to anything to save their lives and heritages. It was decided that they should be banished to France; but on 16 May 1553 they received a full pardon. On 9 August of this year Cessfurd, with John Ker of Ferniehirst and Andrew Ker of Hirsell, signed a bond to John Hamilton, the archbishop of St. Andrews, and James Hamil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vault (architecture)
In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while rings of voussoirs are constructed and the rings placed in position. Until the topmost voussoir, the keystone, is positioned, the vault is not self-supporting. Where timber is easily obtained, this temporary support is provided by centering consisting of a framed truss with a semicircular or segmental head, which supports the voussoirs until the ring of the whole arch is completed. Vault types Corbelled vaults, also called false vaults, with horizontally joined layers of stone have been documented since prehistoric times; in the 14th century BC from Mycenae. They were built regionally until modern times. The real vault construction with radially joined stones was already known to the Egyptians and Assyrians and was introduced into the buil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basement
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system are located; so also are amenities such as the electrical system and cable television distribution point. In cities with high property prices, such as London, basements are often fitted out to a high standard and used as living space. In British English, the word ''basement'' is usually used for underground floors of, for example, department stores. The word is usually used with houses when the space below the ground floor is habitable, with windows and (usually) its own access. The word ''cellar'' applies to the whole underground level or to any large underground room. A ''subcellar'' is a cellar that lies further underneath. Purpose, geography, and history A basement can be used in almost exactly th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
