Bite-about

The remains of a fortified house dating from the sixteenth or seventeenth century are situated in a field on Printonan Hill, north of West Printonan farmsteading.

All that remains of this rectangular building are fragments of lime-mortared walls, which stand to a height of approximately 2m. At the west end, traces of the barrel-vaulted ceiling can be seen, and a small projection for a staircase is visible on the north side.

This bastle house would originally have been two or three storeys high, with the ground floor used for storage or for housing animals. The name Bite-About reportedly comes from a time when the house was under siege, and the occupants shared their meagre provisions by taking alternate bites of what food was left.

Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project

NT74NE 2 7838 4673.

(NT 7838 4673) Bite-about (NR) (Remains of)

OS 6"map, (1957).

Only fragments of the basement walls, showing no sign of vaulting, remain of a keep or bastel house, measuring 64' by 23', with 3'6" thick walls, with a projecting wing on the N near the NE end, 11' square. According to the ONB, this is supposed to have been a peel, deriving its name from an occasion when, beseiged by the English, its occupants ran short of provisions, and to divide what little they had equally, they took 'bite-about'.

RCAHMS 1915; Name Book 1857.

The remains of Bite-about, name confirmed locally, probably a late bastel-house (cf. Queen Mary's House, Jedburgh) of 16th century date, measure 17.8m NE-SW x 5.0m transversely within walls 1.1m thick. The wing shows indications of a stairway. The remains consist of roughly coursed lime-mortared masonry standing to a maximum height of 2.0m. At the west end is the springing of a barrel vault.

Revised at 1/2500.

Visited by OS(RD) 26 November 1970.