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Field Visit
Date 17 April 1912
Event ID 1088421
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1088421
110. Cranshaws Tower.
This tower (fig. 56 [SC 1313373]) is situated on the eastern slope of Cranshaws Hill about 2/3 mile to the west of the parish church. The keep is five storeys in height and oblong, on plan, with rounded angles, measuring about 40 feet by 26 feet over walls averaging 6 feet in thickness. Originally the main entrance has been in the west wall giving access from the stair-foot to the basement and to the wheel-staircase, which encroaches on the interior, and communicates directly with the upper floors and parapet walk. The ground floor, which is not vaulted, was no doubt used as a cellar for storage purposes. Above it there has been an intermediate floor, about10 feet in height, which may have served as the kitchen. The great hall was evidently at the second-floor level, while the two upper floors provided the usual bedroom accommodation. The inward projection of the staircase at the north-west angle, being square on plan, has formed a northern recess, which has been utilised as a separate apartment on each floor. The wall-heads finish in a well-preserved parapet resting on a series of moulded corbels of slight projection, and has several projecting gargoyles; the total height from the ground to the level of the parapet-walk measuring some 50 feet. The castle is inhabited and in an excellent state of preservation. The interior space has been divided by modern partitions on the upper floors in order to provide additional bedrooms. and the outer surfaces of the walls have been recently coated with roughcast.
The tower and lands of Cranshaws were acquired by the Swintons of that ilk in 1400 and remained in the possession of that family till 1702.
See Cast. and Dom. Arch., iii. p. 428 (plan and illus.).
RCAHMS 1915, visited 17th April 1912.
OS Map: Ber., ix. NE.
