Amisfield Tower is a well-preserved

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

near Tinwald, about north of

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, south-west

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The castle has also been known as Hempisfield Tower. It is a

Category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) *Category (V ...

History

There has probably been a stronghold on this site since the twelfth century. The Charteris family held the land from the 13th century onwards. The present tower was built by the

Charteris Charteris is a Scottish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Archibald Charteris (1835–1908), Scottish theologian, founder of ''Life and Work'' magazine * Ann Fleming, (1913–1981), British socialite, wife of author Ian Fleming ...

family in the 16th century. That family feuded with the Kilpatricks of Kirkmichael leading to the murder of Roger Kilpatrick in 1526. Sir Robert Charteris of Amisfield fought a duel with Sir James Douglas of

Drumlanrig Drumlanrig (Scottish Gaelic: ''Druim Lannraig'') is a settlement in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, which is best known for nearby Drumlanrig Castle. The earliest record for Drumlanrig is from 1384, spelled ''Drumlangryg''. There are a number ...

in 1530.The Castles of Scotland, by Martin Coventry The property passed to John

Dalziel Dalziel, Dalzell, Dezell, or Dalyell ( ) is a Scottish surname. Pronunciation The unintuitive spelling of the name is due to it being an anglicisation of Scottish Gaelic , meaning 'bright dale'. The sound now spelled with a or is historically ...

of Newton in 1636. The Dalziels supported the

Stuarts The House of Stuart, originally spelled Stewart, also known as the Stuart dynasty, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been hel ...

in the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union un ...

, and captain Alexander Dalziel was executed as a royalist in 1650.

Description

Although the basic plan of Amisfield is a simple square with four stories and an attic, its richness in

corbelling In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...

and

turrets Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * ...

gives it a more romantic guise. Three corners have double-storeyed turrets while the fourth is decked. It has a steeply-pitched roof. These upper features are built in warm, red

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

in contrast to the rubble walls below. As the tower was not built primarily for defence, all of its shotholes are in the upper levels. From the first floor to the base of the tower, there is a projecting stair-tower, round for two stories, corbelling out to the square turret above. The entrance is defended by a

machicolation In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key ...

. Within the castle the rooms have fireplaces, and a painted border with lion faces in one room. The first floor hall has a

garderobe Garderobe is a historic term for a room in a medieval castle. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives as its first meaning a store-room for valuables, but also acknowledges "by extension, a private room, a bed-chamber; also a privy". The word der ...

and three windows. There is a vaulted basement, lit only by three gun-loops. An oak door from the tower, fashioned by a local craftsman, is on display in Edinburgh at the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a museum of Scottish history and culture. It was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, ...

. It depicts Samson tearing open the jaws of a lion, and with a shield bearing the Arms of Charteris and Herries and dated 1600. Hubert Fenwick described Amisfield as “simply marvellous”, saying that it “displays almost every Jacobean

baronial Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight ...

conceit”. There is a 17th-century mansion that was doubled in size ca. 1803 immediately adjacent to the tower. The property is owned by the Johnstone family. Archaeological excavations in 2010 and 2011 have discovered the original tower house likely dates earlier than 1600.

Features

The corbelling is so-called

billet In European militaries, a billet is a living-quarters to which a soldier is assigned to sleep. In American usage, it refers to a specific personnel position, assignment, or duty station to which a soldier can be assigned. Historically, a billet w ...

-and-cable design, the stonework imitating logs and rope. The dormer windows adapted the old French form of bretèche. Dog-toothed motifs surround the armorial panels and some of the windows.

Bibliography

* The Castles of Scotland, Martin Coventry, Goblinshead, 2001 * Scotland's Castles, Hubert Fenwick, Robert Hale Ltd, 1976.

References

{{Castles in Dumfries and Galloway Castles in Dumfries and Galloway Listed castles in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway Tower houses in Scotland