Balmangan Tower
Tower House (16th Century)
Site Name Balmangan Tower
Classification Tower House (16th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Balmangan Farm; Tower Of Balmangan
Canmore ID 63890
Site Number NX64NE 12
NGR NX 65021 45710
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/63890
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Borgue
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Stewartry
- Former County Kirkcudbrightshire
NX64NE 12 65021 45710
(NX 6501 4571) Tower of Balmangan (NR) (Remains of)
OS 6" map (1957)
Balmangan Tower, now ruinous, probably dates to the 15th or 16th centuries. On plan it has been a simple oblong measuring 20' by 16' within 4' thick walls. A doorway at the N end of the E wall gives access to the vaulted basement and to a passage leading to a wheel- stair in the NE angle. The walls are much ruined above first floor level. The modern farm-house of Balmangan abuts on the N wall of the tower, which is neglected and ivy-covered.
Traditionally, this was the residence of a branch of the McLellans of Bombie (Name Book 1849).
RCAHMS 1914, visited 1911; NSA 1845 (S Smith)
Balmangan Tower (name confirmed) is generally as described. The orientation is NE-SW and the doorway at the N end of the NE wall is now blocked. An original doorway in the SE wall leads to the barrel-valuted basement. The remains stand to an average height of c.5.0m and in the middle of the SW wall there is a small horizontal dumb-bell gunloop. Visited by OS (JP) 21 February 1971.
Casual Observation (9 February 2017)
NX 65025 45731 (Canmore ID: 63890) Internal alterations to the 19th-century dining room at the NE end of Balmangan Farmhouse exposed a fireplace with a simple roll-moulded stone fire surround of earlier date. It may have been taken for reuse from the 15th- or 16th-century Balmangan Tower, which adjoins the farmhouse at its SW end, but is now ruinous.
Archive: DGC HER (intended)
David Devereux
(Source: DES, Volume 18)
