Publication Account

Date 2006

Event ID 1019803

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019803

Abbot Hunter built a tower to serve as a civil residence for ecclesiastics managing the estate at Mauchline. It was described as having a handsome hall, vaulted in two bays. Today, the medieval period in Mauchline is evident architecturally by Abbot Hunter's Tower (NS 4977 2726), otherwise known as the Castle (figs 4 & 5). It is a rectangular structure with a basement of two vaulted cellars, a large ground floor room and a hall on the first floor. The building has been dated to the mid-fifteenth century on the basis of a roof boss in the hall which bears the arms of Andrew Hunter, abbot of Melrose (c 1444-71) (fig 7). The tower did not stand alone but was part of a complex of buildings. Raggles on its west and south elevations indicate various phases of adjoining structures.

Information from ‘The Scottish Burgh Survey, Historic Mauchline: Archaeology and Development’ (2006).