Archaeology Notes

Event ID 710175

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/710175

NT10SW 2 10797 02191

(NT 1079 0218) Breconside (NR)

OS 6" map, (1965)

Breconside, now a farmhouse, consists of an oblong tower originally built in the last decade of the 16th century (when it stood three storeys and a garret high; its roof level has since been lowered and the crowstepping removed). Alterations and additions were made in the 17th century. The N and E sides of the tower are little altered. A large semi-octagonal stair-tower was inserted in the W side in the 18th century, and large windows were opened on that side in the Victorian period, when a lower extension of a kitchen, two living rooms and a porch was also added. (The spelling of the name of this tower has been altered several times over the years - 'Breconside' was the version authorised in 1980.)

W A J Prevost 1980; RCAHMS 1920; N Tranter 1965

The original tower measures 10.8 m E-W by 6.8 m externally with walls 1.0 m to 1.5 m thick; the vaulted ground floor is divided into two rooms. There is a wheel-staircase in the W corner.

Visited by OS (DWR) 20 January 1972.

Breconside and remains of [NAT] Tower [NR]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1988.

Breckonside Tower. A 16th-century 3-storey tower-house with later alterations and remodelled, perhaps twice in the 19th century, with enlarged windows to S in regular 3-bay arrangement; a mid-19th-century low crow-stepped wing adjoins the E gable. The S elevation has been rendered as ashlar with ashlar margins, the remainder being exposed rubble. There is a full height central semi-octagonal stair turret with tall facetted roof, flanking bipartites at first floor level and single windows above, while a low porch links the turret to the E wing. There are brick end stacks and slated roofs. The ground floor is vaulted and the single openings to the N and S are both probably insertions; the gables and rear wall are otherwise blank except for some blocked openings. The wing has a corniced stack on a crow-stepped plinth over the E wall-head. The building is in neglected condition.

SDD List 1988 (listed 1971; visited 1987).

This small and much-altered tower-house in a valley 3 miles SE of Moffat is probably of late 16th century construction with 17th-century alterations and additions. Breckonside is now a farmhouse.

M Lindsay 1994.

Breconside. Rubble-built three-storey house, perhaps of the mid or later 17th century.

J Gifford 1996.