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Smithwood is a bastle house situated approximately 900 metres south-west of Daerside in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Bastle houses were fortified farmsteads built in the border regions during the 16th and 17th centuries to provide protection for families, livestock and stored grain against raids and theft. These distinctive structures typically featured thick stone walls, a vaulted ground floor for animals and valuables, and living quarters above, arranged to offer both domestic comfort and defensive capability. The building's location in the rolling hills of Lanarkshire positioned it within the vulnerable landscape that characterised much of lowland Scotland during this period of endemic border conflict.
The monument stands upon bedrock of the Gala Group, a wacke formation dating to the Telychian period of the Ordovician, which underlies much of south-central Scotland. This hard sedimentary stone would have provided suitable material for the substantial masonry construction typical of bastle houses. Smithwood is protected by Historic Environment Scotland and is recorded under reference SM5647, recognising its importance as a surviving example of the defensive domestic architecture that characterised rural settlement in the Scottish Borders and adjacent regions.
Smithwood, bastle house 900m SW of Daerside is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5647. View the official record →
Smithwood is a bastle house situated approximately 900 metres south-west of Daerside in Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5647.
Smithwood, bastle house 900m SW of Daerside 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 SM5647.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Wintercleugh,bastle house 1000m S of Tomont Hill (3.1 km), Watermeetings,platform settlement 450m W of (3.9 km), Glenochar Burn,bastle house,post-medieval settlement & field system (4.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Smithwood, bastle house 900m SW of Daerside'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.
Smithwood, bastle house 900m SW of Daerside stands on Gala Group, bedrock that formed in the Telychian. The rock here is wacke.