![Buckholm Tower - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Buckholm_Tower_-_geograph.org.uk_-_793315.jpg)
Buckholm is a farm near to the A7, in the
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 Lothi ...
,
Galashiels
Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...
area of
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 ...
.
Places nearby include
Abbotsford, the
Bow Castle Broch
Bow Castle is the remains of an iron-age broch near the Gala Water, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the parish of Stow. It is a scheduled monument.
Description
Bow Castle () stands on level ground on the edge of a steep slope southw ...
,
Clovenfords
Clovenfords is a village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, north of the hamlet (place), hamlet of Caddonfoot and west of the town Galashiels. The village sits on undulating grasslands and surrounding rolling hills. The 2011 census gave i ...
,
Darnick
Darnick is a village near Melrose in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the former Roxburghshire. The name was first recorded in 1124, and has changed from Dernewic, Dernwick and Darnwick to the present Darnick. was built in c. 1425, a ...
,
Eildon
Eildon is the largest committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, with a population of 34,892 at the census in 2001. It also contains the three Eildon Hills, tallest in the Scottish Borders.
Places in Eildon
References
See also
*Subdivi ...
, the
Gala Water
The Gala Water ( Lowland Scots: Gala Watter; Scottish Gaelic An Geal Ath) is a river in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland and a tributary of the River Tweed. It is sometimes known as the "Gala", which nickname is also shared with Galashiels, ...
, the
Lugate Water, and
Stow
Stow may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Stow, Lincolnshire or Stow-in-Lindsey, a village
* Stow of Wedale or Stow, Scottish Borders, a village
* Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, a small town
* Stow, Shropshire or Stowe, a village
* Stow ...
.
Buckholm Tower was built in 1582 by the
Pringle family and is at the foot of Buckholm Hill.
Folklore
The ruin of Buckholm tower is home to a legend dating back to the 18th century:
Haunting Buckholm Tower
/ref>
According to the tale, the local laird
Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...
, James Pringle was an evil man, who hunted covenanter
Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...
s with hounds. He mistreated his wife and son so badly that they eventually left him, and he became infamous amongst the locals for his cruelty towards women in particular.
Because he was known to be a government supporter he was called upon one day by the local Dragoon
Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat w ...
s to help derail an illegal assembly of Covenanters. Knowing the area, Pringle was able to deduce the group's location, but they had received some prior warning, and had dispersed, all except two men, a father and son. The father had been thrown from his horse and his son had stayed to tend to him.
Pringle was ready to kill the men on sight, but the Captain of the Dragoons suggested that the men may have some valuable information and so James Pringle was asked to house them in the dungeon of Buckholm Tower for the night while the Dragoons went back to town to update their commanders, promising that someone would come to escort the prisoners the next day.
After the Dragoons left, Pringle dined alone, drinking heavily, and becoming more and more wrathful as a result. Eventually he got up and headed for the dungeon, as he got there, he was met with several of his servants, many of whom had been disturbed by cries of distress from within. The father had taken a turn for the worse, and needed help badly, so his son repeatedly cried out for help. Pringle entered the dungeon and beat them both, the servants heard screams and then a dragging noise, which then quieted. The laird reappeared, intent on returning to his drink but was interrupted by a knocking on the front door. When the servants answered they saw the man's wife had come to find her husband and son.
With a furious cry Pringle grabbed the woman and dragged her to the dungeon. She screamed at what she saw there, her husband and on bloodied from the beating, their carcasses hanging from hooks in the ceiling. Pringle screamed at her, calling her an old witch, and she drew herself up, cursing the laird for what he had done.
Ever after that Pringle was convinced he was cursed, having many instances of believing he was being chased by hounds, after riding his horse or while sleeping in the tower. He dies a painful death shortly afterwards and on the anniversary of his death every year, spectral figures of the laird and dogs appeared outside the tower, him running for his life.
"The Rev Henry Davidson (1714-1749) is reported to have performed an exorcism and ‘cast out the Deil of Buckholm’ and put an end to his ‘nightly wanderings’."
See also
* Aikwood Tower
*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 ...
*List of places in Scotland
This list of places in Scotland is a complete collection of lists of places in Scotland.
*List of burghs in Scotland
*List of census localities in Scotland
*List of islands of Scotland
**List of Shetland islands
**List of Orkney islands
**List o ...
*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 ...
References
External links
RCAHMS record of Old Buckholm
CANMORE/RCAHMS record of Buckholm Mill
SCRAN image: Buckholm Tower, Barnmkin Gateway
* ttps://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/206859 Geograph image of Buckholm Towerbr>Geograph image of Buckholm Hill
The Clan Pringle Association
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Villages in the Scottish Borders