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Rockhall

Hotel (17th Century), Tower House (Medieval)

Site Name Rockhall

Classification Hotel (17th Century), Tower House (Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) Rockhall Hotel; Rockhall House Policies

Canmore ID 66111

Site Number NY07NE 16

NGR NY 05688 75557

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/66111

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Dumfries And Galloway
  • Parish Mouswald
  • Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
  • Former District Nithsdale
  • Former County Dumfries-shire

Archaeology Notes

NY07NE 16.00 05688 75557

Rockhall [NAT]

OS (GIS) MasterMap, July 2009.

NY07NE 16.01 NY 05725 75543 Monument

(NY 0569 7555) Rockhall is a plain laird's house dating substantially from the late 16th century with 17th century additions. It appears homogeneous, L-planned with a stair- tower in the re-entrant, but investigation shows the S portion of the main block to be a late 17th century extension to the wing of the original. Windows have been enlarged, the roof level altered and crow-stepping removed. There are arrow-slit windows in the wing basement. Internally the house has been much altered, but the vaulted 16th century basement remains.

It has always been owned by the Griersons of Lag.

N Tranter 1965.

Activities

Publication Account (1986)

Although omitted from published lists of monuments and altered on at least four occasions, Rockhall Hotel is a perfectly genuine tower-house of early 17th century origin. This is the building described in 1610 as 'the place of Rockhall lately built' by Sir William Grierson of Lag, one of whose descendants was a hated enemy of the Covenanters.

Its ancestry can be sensed immediately from its L-plan form and its three storeys. Closer examination reveals details that have been modifIed or dislocated in the course of its history. Originally, the main entrance was at the foot of the rounded turret in the angle, the present entrance dating from about 1915. The windows have been altered throughout, but the positions of original openings can still be detected by the relieving-arches which protected their lintels. The easternmost bay in the east wing is a well-disguised 18th century addition, and a large window in the front wall occupies the position of an entrance-porch which stood here from about 1880 to 1915. The original upperworks have been ironed out with plain copes and later roofmg. Inside, successive remodellings have left little obvious trace of the original layout, although part of the vaulted kitchen and service basement has survived intact.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).

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