© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland
Plora Tower is a tower house with associated garden terraces and structures situated in Selkirkshire, three hundred and thirty-five metres south-west of West Bold Farm Cottages. The monument stands on bedrock of the Gala Group, wacke deposits formed during the Telychian period, which provided the stone for its construction. Tower houses of this type were fortified residences built by the Scottish gentry and minor nobility, particularly from the fifteenth century onwards, serving as both domestic and defensive strongholds across the Borders region.
The tower house itself represents the characteristic Scottish vertical building tradition, designed to maximise defensible space within a compact footprint on this challenging upland terrain. The associated garden terraces indicate efforts to create cultivated ground around the residence, a practical response to the steep landscape of the Selkirk hills and evidence of the domestic life that extended beyond the tower's thick walls.
The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3157, acknowledging its significance as a surviving example of Border tower house architecture and the landscape modifications that accompanied such settlements. The survival of both structure and terraces allows understanding of how such fortified residences functioned within their hillside setting.
Plora Tower, tower house, garden terraces and associated structures, 335m SW of West Bold Farm Cottages is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3157. View the official record →
Plora Tower is a tower house with associated garden terraces and structures situated in Selkirkshire, three hundred and thirty-five metres south-west of West Bold Farm Cottages. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM3157.
Plora Tower, tower house, garden terraces and associated structures, 335m SW of West Bold Farm Cottages 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 SM3157.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Prehistoric settlement, 170m SW of West Bold Cottages (0.2 km), Elibank Castle (3.6 km), Wallace's Trench,linear earthwork (4.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Plora Tower, tower house, garden terraces and associated structures, 335m SW of West Bold Farm Cottages'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.
Plora Tower, tower house, garden terraces and associated structures, 335m SW of West Bold Farm Cottages stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.