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Littledean Tower is a tower-house located in Roxburghshire, Scotland. Tower-houses of this type were fortified residential structures built primarily between the 14th and 17th centuries, serving as strongholds for Border families during a period of considerable military instability. These compact, defensible dwellings typically combined domestic accommodation with the capability to withstand raids and provide refuge during times of conflict.
The tower stands upon bedrock formed from the Stratheden Group, a geological formation of the Late Devonian period comprising interbedded sandstone and conglomerate. This solid foundation of mixed sedimentary stone provided a stable base for the structure and potentially offered accessible building material quarried locally, a common practice in Scottish frontier architecture.
The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland, designated under reference SM5999 as a scheduled monument. This statutory protection recognises Littledean Tower's significance as a surviving example of Scottish Border military architecture and its importance to the understanding of settlement patterns and defensive strategies in the region during the medieval and early modern periods.
Littledean Tower,tower-house is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5999. View the official record →
Littledean Tower is a tower-house located in Roxburghshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5999.
Littledean Tower,tower-house 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 SM5999.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Muirhouselaw,homestead moat (2.9 km), Ringleyhall,fort (3.4 km), Dryburgh Abbey (4.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Littledean Tower,tower-house's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Littledean Tower,tower-house stands on Stratheden Group, bedrock that formed in the Late Devonian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.