Sauchie Tower, also known as Devon Tower, is a 15th-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 ...

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; sco, Clackmannanshire; gd, Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn) is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The tower is located by the village of Fishcross, north of

Sauchie Sauchie is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies north of the River Forth and south of the Ochil Hills, within the council area of Clackmannanshire. Sauchie has a population of around 6000 and is located northeast of Alloa and ...

and north of

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot wher ...

, close to the River Devon. It is protected as a

Scheduled Ancient 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 ...

History

The lands of Sauchie were granted by King Robert the Bruce to Henri de Annand, Sheriff of Clackmannan, in 1321. In 1431 Sir James Schaw of Greenock, Comptroller to the King, acquired the lands of Sauchie when he married the heiress Mary de Annand. Sauchie Tower was built by Sir James soon after. His son was appointed Governor of Stirling Castle in 1460. The Schaws held the land into the 17th century, with several members of the family serving in the Scottish royal household. On 5 September 1503 the gardener of Sauchie bought a gift of pears to

James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

visited Sauchie and

Alloa Tower Alloa Tower in Alloa, Clackmannanshire in central Scotland is an early 14th century tower house that served as the medieval residence of the Erskine family, later Earls of Mar. Retaining its original timber roof and battlements, the tower is o ...

in May 1565. Around 1631, Alexander Schaw, who was knighted by King Charles I in 1633, built a house in the courtyard to the north-west of the tower. Another house on the estate, Schawpark, was built around 1700, and in 1752 Sauchie passed by marriage to the Cathcart family. Around this time the tower is thought to have been gutted by fire, and was not subsequently lived in. The roof and turrets were destroyed in the second half of the nineteenth century. Old Sauchie House, in the courtyard, was demolished after the estate was bought for coal extraction in the 1930s. The tower was derelict but in good condition in 1950. Schawpark was sold in 1826, to the

Earl of Mansfield Earl of Mansfield, in the County of Nottingham, and Earl of Mansfield, in the County of Middlesex, are two titles in the Peerage of Great Britain that have been united under a single holder since 1843. History The titles Earl of Mansfield (i ...

, who was then

Lord Lieutenant of Clackmannanshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Clackmannanshire. The official title of the office has varied over time as follows: :His or Her Majesty's Lieutenant in the County of Clackmannan 1794–1975 :Lord-Lieutenant in t ...

, but was demolished in 1961. Proposals for restoration of the tower were first put forward in the 1980s, when a series of excavations were carried out. However, restoration work was never completed. The building is now owned by Clackmannanshire Heritage Trust, which has erected a temporary roof. In 2002, the Friends of Sauchie Tower were formed to promote the restoration of the building. With a

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

award of £46,300, the group undertook site clearance, carried out further excavations, and produced a DVD to raise awareness of Sauchie Tower.

The tower

The tower measures and rises four storeys to a corbelled

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

walk, with

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 th ...

s (open round towers) at the corners. At the north-west corner is a hexagonal

cap-house A cap-house (sometimes written cap house or caphouse) is a small watch room, built at the top of a spiral staircase, often giving access to a parapet on the roof of a tower house or castle. They provided protection from the elements by enclosin ...

(a small room covering the top of the stair), with a pyramidal roof. The vaulted basement contains a well, and the main hall is at first-floor level. The tower is 79 feet tall and was surrounded by a moat with a draw-bridge.

References

{{coord, 56, 08, 28, N, 3, 46, 40, W, region:GB, display=title Castles in Clackmannanshire Listed castles in Scotland Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Clackmannanshire