Scheduled MonumentsScotlandGillesbie Tower

Gillesbie Tower

Scotland
HES SM10433
Nation
Scotland
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland

Overview

History & significance

Gillesbie Tower is a sixteenth-century fortified tower house located in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The structure represents a typical defensive residence of the period, when such towers served as strongholds for local landholding families in the Borders region. Built during an era of considerable military and social instability in the Scottish Marches, the tower exemplifies the architectural response of regional gentry to the need for secure domestic accommodation. The monument survives as a significant example of late medieval Scottish military domestic architecture.

Gillesbie Tower is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM10433. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Gillesbie Tower?

Gillesbie Tower is a sixteenth-century fortified tower house located in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM10433.

Who is responsible for protecting Gillesbie Tower?

Gillesbie Tower is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM10433.

What other scheduled monuments are near Gillesbie Tower?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Firtree Hill,fort (4.4 km), Cowburn, burnt mounds 1027m SE of (5.6 km), Little Hartfell, stone circle 1010m NNW of Whitcastles Cottage (6.5 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about Gillesbie Tower

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Gillesbie Tower's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Stat Accounts
The parish Statistical Accounts of the 1790s and 1830s, describing life, work and population here.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Gillesbie Tower

Gillesbie Tower stands on Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.