Accessing Scotland's Past Project
Event ID 561994
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Accessing Scotland's Past Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/561994
Very little has survived of Whiteside Tower, a ruined example of a Borders pele tower which stands to the south of Whiteside Plantation, near Mellerstain House.
Whiteside was the old name for the estate later known as Mellerstain. In the fifteenth century, the lands of Whiteside were evidently given by King James II to Patrick Haliburton, son of Lord Haliburton, subsequently passing into the hands of the Haitlie family, who may have been responsible for the building of this structure in the sixteenth century.
All that remains is the vaulted basement, and even this is now largely obscured as a result of turf build-up. On plan, the building took the form of a simple rectangle, within walls that measured just over 1m thick.
Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project