Dryhope Tower is a ruined Scottish peel tower in the valley of the

Yarrow Water ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal. The ...

, in the historic county of

Selkirkshire Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk ( gd, Siorrachd Shalcraig) is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south. ...

, now part of the Scottish Borders. It lies approximately equidistant between the burghs of

Moffat Moffat ( gd, Mofad) is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland. It lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town. ...

and Selkirk, and defended the north eastern end of

St Mary's Loch St Mary's Loch is the largest natural loch in the Scottish Borders, and is situated on the south side of the A708 road between Selkirk and Moffat, about south of Edinburgh. Description It is long and wide, and was created by glacial acti ...

. The site itself was protected on two sides, to the east by the Dryhope Burn and to the west by the Kirkstead Burn.

Construction

Built of local stone, Dryhope Tower was originally a four storey building, with the first two storeys of

vaulted 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 ring ...

construction. The tower rests within the remains of a

barmkin Barmkin, also spelled barmekin or barnekin, is a Scots word which refers to a form of medieval and later defensive enclosure, typically found around smaller castles, tower houses, pele towers, and bastle houses in Scotland and the north of Engl ...

which also contained other buildings.

History

The tower was likely to have been raised according to a statute of the

Parliament of Scotland The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...

in 1535, that required large landholders in the Borderlands to build barmkins of stone and lime, sixty square feet in area and with walls of one ell thickness and six ells in height ''for the resett and defense of him, his tennents, and his gudis in troublous tyme''. The castle belonged to the Scotts of Dryhope, and a daughter of the House, Mary Scott was known as the "Flower of Yarrow" and was also an ancestor of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

. Mary was given in marriage to Wat Scott of Kirkhope, a notorious

Border Reiver Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their vi ...

. The property passed to Wat Scott's family, the Scotts of Harden, and Scott took possession of Dryhope following his marriage. However, in 1592, Wat Scott fell out of favour with

King James VI James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

due to his association with

Francis Stewart, 1st Earl of Bothwell Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places *Rural Mu ...

, and involvement in an attack on

Falkland Palace Falkland Palace, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a royal palace of the Scottish Kings. It was one of the favourite places of Mary, Queen of Scots, providing an escape from political and religious turmoil. Today it is under the stewardship of ...

. King James levied an army and proceeded through the forest and slighted many houses of his opponents. Wat Scott did not get off lightly and Dryhope was amongst Scott of Harden's fortalices that were

slighted Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...

. The tower seems to have been rebuilt by 1613. The castle fell into terminal decay in the latter part of the 17th century and was acquired by the senior branch of the Scotts, the

Dukes of Buccleuch Duke of Buccleuch (pronounced ), formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created twice on 20 April 1663, first for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and second suo jure for his wife Anne Scott, 4th Cou ...

. Dryhope Tower today belongs to the

Philiphaugh Philiphaugh is a village by the Yarrow Water, on the outskirts of Selkirk, in the Scottish Borders. Places nearby include Bowhill, Broadmeadows, the Ettrick Water, Ettrickbridge, Lindean, Salenside, Yarrowford and the Yair Forest. Origina ...

Estate, and has recently been undergoing stabilisation work. It has been designated a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ( gd, Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the mer ...

References

{{Castles in the Scottish Borders History of the Scottish Borders Castles in the Scottish Borders Archaeological sites in the Scottish Borders Scheduled Ancient Monuments in the Scottish Borders Moffat Selkirk, Scottish Borders

Construction

History

See also

References