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Field Visit
Date 30 September 1920
Event ID 1115408
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1115408
Carberry Tower.
On the same ridge as Elphinstone and Falside Towers in East Lothian, but at a lower elevation, Carberry Tower (Fig. 108), stands 1 ½ miles distant from and south-south-east of Inveresk railway station. It is a smaller and more simple tower than the others mentioned and is later in date, having been founded, in all probability, within the first half of the 16th century. It forms the north-west angle of the mansion which has grown round it in course of time, and which includes a late 16th-century addition, oblong on plan, with modern extensions, leaving only the north and west faces of the tower unobscured. Within the tower, as well as in the earlier addition, considerable alterations have been made to suit the structure to modern requirements; while modern work appears externally in the enlarged windows and projecting porch, oriel, and balcony.
The tower is oblong on plan and measures 30 ½ feet from east to west by 34 feet from north to south, over walls about 7 feet thick. In height there are two main storeys, both vaulted, but beneath each vault there has been an entresol with timber floor. The wall-head is surmounted by a massive parapet, which has large merlons, finishing in a massive weathered cope. The parapet slightly overhangs and is borne on a continuous corbelling, a cavetto in section, enriched with winged heads. A rather similar enrichment is found on the corbelling at the Palace, Stirling Castle. The roof within the parapet is flat and may have been intended as a gun-platform; the merlons, or solids, are unusually massive and have heavy sloping copes, while the central merlon on each side except the southern is pierced by a gunloop.
The masonry of the parapet is inferior to that of the lower part of the walls and may be secondary. The turret at the south-west angle is modern. The lower part of the walls is constructed in rubble, brought to courses, with axe dressed quoins; these latter are massive, and range up to 4 ½ feet by 1 ½ feet, built in courses 13 to 15 inches high. The original voids have a chamfer wrought on jambs and lintel.
Where the original entrance was placed is now problematical. Internally the tower is completely modernised, and contains no features worthy of mention; there was one apartment on each floor.
On the roof should be noted the fire-basket surmounting the parapet at the north-east angle and reached by rough steps. The basket is constructed of wrought iron and is circular; it has a diameter of 19 inches and a height of 14 inches. The vertical bars are ½ inch square, while the horizontal bars are ¾ of an inch by ¼ inch. The present basket may be are production. In the west wall the southern merlon contains a seated recess, which has been furnished with a door; a similar recess is noted at Cakemuir Castle (No. 58). The roof water has been conveyed clear of the walls by gargoyles fashioned to resemble grotesque animals.
The late 16th-century addition runs about 52 feet southward from the tower in alignment with its west wall and returns rectangularly to this for a distance of 45 ¾ feet. A quadrangular tower projects from the south-west angle and furnishes two re-entrant angles, one of which, facing south-east, contains a circled stair turret, which projects at first-floor level and is borne on a continuous corbelling of eight moulded members. Beneath the turret in the east wall of the tower a loop for a hand-gun commands the entrance, which is in the south wall of the main wing. The masonry of this addition is of rubble, which has been harled; the dressings at the original voids are rounded at jamb and lintel. There are three storeys, and the basement is vaulted. The tower is carried one storey higher. The addition has been completely modernised internally .
The fabric of the mansion is structurally in excellent condition.
SUNDIALS.
(a) In the garden north-east of the house is a fine 17th-century free-standing dial. It is 5 feet 5 inches in height. On two square plinths, the upper placed diagonally on the lower, rests a circular shaft with moulded base and necking; the capital is in the form of two female busts, one facing north, the other south, each bearing on the head a debased Ionic capital with volutes and abacus. At either shoulder is a circular dial, and the abacus is surmounted by the main dial-stone so wrought as to furnish upright, horizontal, and inclined dials, making a total of thirteen dials.
(b) There is a free-standing dial on the lawn east of the house, but only the octagonal dial-stone is original; it dates from the 17th century. Erected on a modern shaft and surmounted by a modern finial, both in keeping with the original fragment, the dial stone has a diameter of 1 foot 5 ¼ inches and contains a dial on each facet, 16 in all. The stone is pierced or hollowed in a remarkable manner.
HISTORICAL NOTE. In 1543 the lands of Carberry were granted by charter to Mr Hugh Rig, burgess of Edinburgh, who for the previous four years had held them in lease. The tower is not specifically mentioned in the deeds till 1618, but in 1598 there is a reference to the "new house built . . . on the south side of the enclosure adjoining the garden" by James the son of Hugh Rig, who was infefted in 1555. This "new house" is the addition to the already existing tower, probably built by Hugh Rig. The Rigs were in Carberry till 1668, when the lands passed to Sir Adam Blair of Lochwood.
Laing Charters, Nos. 431, 476 etc., 633 etc., 1363, 1806, 2639.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 30 September 1920.
