Desk Based Assessment
Date 1955
Event ID 718721
Category Recording
Type Desk Based Assessment
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/718721
NT54NE 11 56493 47382
For Thirlestane Castle at NT 5338 4790 see NT54NW 7
(NT 5649 4738) Thirlstane Castle (NR) (remains of)
OS 6" map (1968)
Old Thirlestane Castle was an ordinary border keep, rectangular on plan, measuring 33ft by 24ft, with a wing projecting westwards containing the staircase, 11ft 6ins long by 14ft 5ins broad. The 3ft 6ins thick walls are of rough, undressed stones. It is now much ruined, only the S wall of the keep and part of the wing remaining. The lower part of the tower was vaulted. The enclosures visible around the castle appear to have been for keeping cattle rather than for defence. However, the heavy mound to the NW of the tower appears to be part of the original outer court wall.
The original tower was the property and residence of Sir Richard Maitland in the mid-13th century, and was occupied by his successors till about 1595, when the present Thirlestane Castle (NT54NW 7) was built.
T Martin 1904; F Lynn 1904; RCAHMS 1915, visited 1908; D MacGibbon and
T Ross 1892; A Thomson 1902
Information from Ordnance Survey Index Card.
