Mersington Tower

Mersington Tower was the seat of the Kerr family until 1545, when it was destroyed by the Earl of Hertford. No traces now survive of the building, which probably lay around 200m to the west of Mersington House.

Few details are known about the building itself, but it would almost certainly have been built with defence in mind, as it was located on the highest piece of ground on what is now pasture-land. Its associated chapel was first recorded in the mid-thirteenth century.

Between 1544-50, Scotland was subjected to the Rough Wooing, an attempt by Henry VIII of England to force Queen Mary to marry his son Edward. The Borders bore the brunt of repeated English incursions, and the Earl of Hertford, who was in charge of troops in the North of England, carried out an especially destructive raid in September 1545. Much was destroyed during these raids, including the town and priory of Eccles.

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

NT74SE 1 7750 4425.

(NT 7750 4425) Mersington Tower (NR) (site of)

OS 1:10,000, (1972).

No traces remain of this tower which stood about 1/2 mile SW of the present farm of Mersington. It was destroyed by the Earl of Hertford in 1545. It belonged originally to the Kerrs.

Name Book 1858; New Statistical Account (NSA) (J Thomson), 1845.

The site of this tower is on the highest point of an undulating pasture field. No remains are visible.

Visited by OS(JD) 29 January 1955

No further information.

RCAHMS 1980, visited 1979.