Auchenskeoch Tower is a 17th-century

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 strateg ...

situated in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

, south-west

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 ...

. It is near

Dalbeattie Dalbeattie (, sco, Dawbeattie, gd, Dail Bheithe meaning 'haugh of the birch' or ''Dail'' ''bhàite'' 'drowned (''i.e.'' liable to flood) haugh') is a town in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Dalbea ...

in the civil parish of

Colvend and Southwick Colvend and Southwick is a community council area and civil parish within the Stewartry area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is also part of the Church of Scotland parish of Colvend, Southwick and Kirkbean. It is in the historic count ...

, in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire. It is thought to be built on a Z-plan, making it the only such tower in

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or i ...

. Dalswinton Tower in the neighbouring county of Dumfriesshire is the only other example in Dumfries and Galloway. The remains of the tower are within the modern Castle Farm and are a scheduled ancient monument.

References

* * Coventry, Martin (2001) ''The Castles of Scotland'', 3rd Ed. Scotland: Goblinshead *Maxwell-Irving, A. M. T. (2000) ''The Border Towers of Scotland'', Creedon Publications Castles in Dumfries and Galloway Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Dumfries and Galloway {{scotland-castle-stub