Stapleton Tower

NY 2347 6687 NY26NW 5

This 16th-century tower-house stands on a terrace with an open prospect across undulating ground to the Solway. In the 19th century, the tower was incorporated into a mansion which enveloped it on the NW and NE. This house was demolished about forty years ago, and, although the scars still remain and the openings have been built up, the tower still stands to the height of its parapet.

Rectangular on plan, it has three principal storeys and, formerly, a garret, and measures 11.6m from NE to SW by 8.6m transversely over walls up to 1.8m thick. A chamfered plinth extends around the base of the tower and breaks back either side of the doorway at the NE end of the Se wall. The doorway, which has a segmental head, has a moulded surround consisting of a quirked edge-roll and hollow, the latter enriched with a foliaceous stem. Above the doorway, at first-floor level, there is a niche for an armorial with nailhead ornament on the surround. A wide-mouthed horizontal gunloop is set directly above the plinth and others are visible at the same level in the NW and SW walls. The mouldings of the main windows take form of a double roll enriched with a medial band of nailhead ornament. The slit-windows lighting the stair, together with a pair beneath the parapet in the SE wall, are roll-moulded. At the height of the wall-head, there is a continuous parapet carried on a three-strand corbel table with corbelled interspaces. At the corners there are corbelled rounds. The crenellated parapet was probably reconstructed in the 19th century.

Internally, the doorway opens into a vestibule with a combed ceiling (probably vaulted), and the entrance to a newel-stair lies on the right; the stair, which has been accommodated in the E angle, rises to the full height of the tower. On each floor the stair-chamber intrudes upon the living-space. A slab wrought with a stopped roll-moulding has been incorporated in re-use in the SW wall of the vestibule behind the door. The basement is vaulted in ashlar, has a mosaic tile floor, and, on the NE, a 19th-century fireplace. At first-floor level, the tower was provided with opposed window embrasures, aumbries, and, in the SW wall, a fireplace flanked by a pair of windows. Corbels (fillet and half round) supported the joisted floors above. The second floor also has a fireplace in the SW wall and an additional window embrasure in the NW wall. On the third floor, the garret, there are a press and two openings in the SE wall. One of the openings accommodates a turnpike stair giving direst access to the wall-head, while the other may have been a closet; both are lit by slit-windows. A small fireplace contrived in the NE wall was vented through a slab of the wall-walk.

To the W of the tower, in open ground and turf-covered, there are traces of a formal garden.

Visited by RCAHMS (IMS), 14 October 1993.

Listed as tower.

RCAHMS 1997.

Stapleton Tower is believed to have been constructed by Edward Irving who was designated as 'Of Stapleton' in the late 16th century. After Edward's death the tower was acquired by Fergus Graham of Blawatwood. This was contested by Edward's sons who in January 1626 'suprisit and tane the house of Stabiltoun ... and fortified the said house with men, vittaill, and armour'. This led to a notable siege, with the Privy Council directing the Commissioners of the Middle Shires on more than one occasion to take the castle with force.

By the early 19th century Stapleton had been abandoned as a residence and was drawn by William Graham of Mossknowe in a ruinous condition, lacking its parapet and much of its caphouse. The tower was then restored and incorporated into a large baronial mansion by the Critchley family. In the 1950s the mansion was demolished leaving the tower standing alone in the remnants of the policies.

The tower, which dates from the 16th century, is a simple oblong tower with three main storeys and a garret. It stands on a former garden terrace with an open prospect across undulating ground to the Solway Firth. In the 19th century, the tower, by then becoming ruinous, was incorporated into a large mansion which enveloped it on the north west and north east which was later demolished. It shares number of features, such as its base course and stair arrangements, with other nearby towers such as Bonshaw, Hollows and Robergill, although Stapleton may be slightly later.

The tower is constructed of roughly coursed sandstone rubble with fine mouldings of late 16th century date. The doorway, which has a segmental head, has a moulded surround with foliate decoration. The larger windows and an amorial panel have nail head mouldings. At the wall head, there is a continuous parapet carried on a corbel table with corner rounds. The crenellated parapet dates from the 19th century restoration. The base of the tower has a splayed base course above which are wide-mouthed gun loops (those on the north-east and south-west elevations were converted to windows in the 19th century).

Internally, the doorway opens into a vestibule and the entrance to a newel stair lies on the right rising the full height of the tower. The basement is vaulted in ashlar, has a mosaic tile floor, and a large 19th-century fireplace. At first-floor level, the tower was provided with opposed window embrasures, aumbries, and, in the south west wall, a fireplace flanked by a pair of windows, which appear to have been created/enlarged in the 19th-century. There was probably also a window in the north east wall but this has been destroyed to create access to the now demolished mansion. The second floor is similarly arranged. On the third floor, the garret, there is a turnpike stair giving direct access to the wall-head and a small fireplace in the north east wall vented through a slab in the wall-walk.

J Gifford 1996; A M T Maxwell-Irving 2000; RCAHMS 1997

Information from the HES Castle Conservation Register, 5 July 2022