''The Fortified House in Scotland'' is a five-volume book by the Scottish author

Nigel Tranter Nigel Tranter OBE (23 November 1909 – 9 January 2000) was a writer of a wide range of books on castles, particularly on themes of architecture and history. He also specialised in deeply researched historical novels that cover centuries of Sco ...

. Written between 1962 and 1970, it covers almost seven hundred buildings in Scotland which fall under the general description of "fortalices, lesser

castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...

, peel towers, keeps and defensible lairds' houses".Tranter, N. ''The Fortified House in Scotland'', Vol 1 (1962) As such

are included (although not the largest examples like

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

castles), as well as many smaller, semi-ruinous

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 ...

s. Tranter illustrated each one with pen and ink sketches. The work was an expansion of ''The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland 1400-1650'', which Tranter had written in the 1930s. However, much of the updated work has itself been superseded or has fallen out of date, and the author never claimed the work to be scholarly. However original first editions are very collectable, as are complete sets. The first four original volumes were published by Oliver & Boyd, with the fifth by W. & R. Chambers. The work was reprinted in 1977 and 1986 by

James Thin James Thin was a Scottish bookseller, stationer and publishing company. It was, until 2002, the principal academic bookshop in Edinburgh, with its main premises opposite Old College, University of Edinburgh on South Bridge. It also had branch ...

, under their imprint of '' The Mercat Press''. Tranter made some revisions to the material for the reprints, but they were not described as revised or second editions. The additional entries which had appeared in the original fifth volume were also redistributed across their appropriate volumes for the reprints.

Volumes

* Volume 1: ''South East Scotland'' (1962) ** covering West Lothian, Midlothian, East Lothian, Peeblesshire, Roxburghshire,

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. ...

and

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of t ...

*Volume 2: ''Central Scotland'' (1963) **covering

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling. It borders Perth ...

, Fife,

Kinross-shire The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and registration county in eastern Scotland, administered as part of Perth and Kinross since 1930. Surrounding its largest settlement and county town of Kinross, the county borders Per ...

, Perthshire and

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 ...

*Volume 3: ''South West Scotland'' (1965) **covering

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

, Ayrshire,

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative count ...

and

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...

*Volume 4: '' Aberdeenshire,

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

and

Kincardineshire Kincardineshire, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the Stewartry"), is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area on the coast of northeast Scotland. It is bounded by Aberdeenshire on the north and ...

'' (1966) *Volume 5: ''North and West Scotland and Miscellaneous'' (1970) **covering

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in popula ...

Nairnshire The County of Nairn (also called Nairnshire) ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Narann) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county was used for local administration until the county council, based at the county t ...

, Banffshire, Moray, Caithness, Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty, Argyllshire, Buteshire,

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Pe ...

, Orkney and Shetland and additional structures not included in earlier volumes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortified House in Scotland Works by Nigel Tranter Architecture books Books about Scotland Castles in Scotland Houses in Scotland Architecture in Scotland Scottish non-fiction literature 1962 non-fiction books 1963 non-fiction books 1965 non-fiction books 1966 non-fiction books 1970 non-fiction books Fortified houses Fortifications in Scotland