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Field Visit
Date 11 December 1992
Event ID 1043591
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1043591
The pele-house known as Slack's Tower lies at the heart of a sequence of buildings spanning a considerable period of time. The buildings can be divided into two groups: the first, and better preserved, lies to the NW and NE of the pele-house and is possibly coeval with it; and the second, on the SE, has been reduced to grass-covered footings, which may predate the occupation of the pele-house. After settlement ceased on the site, a number of drystone folds were built over the footings of the buildings.
The pele-house, which still stands to two storeys in height, measures 8.7m from NE to SW by 4.35m transversely within walls 1.55m in thickness. The proportions of the building (2:1) are longer than those of the other pele-houses or towers in Southdean (e.g. NT60NE 9 and 10), but its walls are of comparable thickness (e.g. Northbank Tower at 1.5m). On the NE there is a ground-level entrance with checks for inner and outer doors and holes for a draw-bar; the first floor entrance probably lay on the SE where the wall has collapsed. There are no window lights at ground floor level, but two (on the SE and NW) can be seen on the first floor, both decorated with quirked roll-mouldings; the NW light was later reduced in width. In the interior there are scarcements along the sides to support a timber floor at first-floor level, and a slightly corbelled scarcement is visible on the NE gable at second-floor level, but there is no matching scarcement on the SW gable. The function of a scarcement lower down the SW gable, but above the level of those on the side-walls is unclear. However there is a corbel in the middle of the SW gable at first-floor level, probably to support a hearth, and on the other gable there is a corbel on either side of and just above the entrance. There are stone aumbries in the SW and NE end walls, and what appears to be joist holes on the exterior of the NE gable at second floor level. (ROX92 26)
The three buildings to the NW and NE of the pele-house are of substantial dimensions, measuring 9.6m by 3.8m, 11.7m by 4.25m and 12.6m by 2.7m within earth-bonded rubble-faced walls ranging between 0.8m and 0.9m in thickness and standing to between 0.6m and 0.8m in height. The two buildings to the NW of the pele-house are both of two compartments, each with a single entrance on the SE side-wall and with an internal entrance to the inner compartment; both have extensions added to one end. The more northerly of the two has a displaced door-rybat at its entrance, and an in-situ, door-rybat wqith a draw-bar recess, similar to that inside the pele-house, can be seen on the E side of the inner partition. An enclosure abuts the NW sides of the two buildings.
(ROX92 27, 28, 33)
The structures to the SE of the pele-house comprise the remains of three buildings, an enclosure and what may be a tower. The tower lies immediately SE of the pele-house and measures some 6.6m from NE to SW by 4.9m transversely within a wall, the outer face of which is visible on the SW, now reduced to a stony bank 2.5m in thickness and 0.6m in height. These dimensions are comparable with other towers in the area, e.g. Longslack Burn and Hindhaughhead (NT61SW 15 and 25). The three buildings range from 6.3m to 11.6m in length by 2.6m to 3.45m in breadth within rubble walls 0.7m to 0.85m thick and up to 0.5m high. The largest, which lies to the S of the tower, is of two compartments and is linked to the tower by a wall. The building to the E of the tower has traces of an extension to the SSW and there is a rectilinear enclosure to the S with a gap in the NW adjacent to the building.
(ROX92 29-32)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 11 December 1992.
