Auchenrivock Tower is a ruined late 16th century

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 ...

situated near

Langholm Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits n ...

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 ...

. The remains of the tower, which rise 8 feet at their highest, are currently built into a garden wall. An earlier stronghold of the Irvings of Eskdale, called Stakehugh, lay near the current site. The place name Auchenrivock is derived from the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

, ''Achadh Riabhach'', meaning "

brindled Brindle is a coat coloring pattern in animals, particularly dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, cats, and, rarely, horses. It is sometimes described as "tiger-striped", although the brindle pattern is more subtle than that of a tiger's coat. Brindle ...

field".

References

* Coventry, Martin (2001) ''The Castles of Scotland'', 3rd Ed. Scotland: Goblinshead *Maxwell-Irving, A. M. T. (2000) ''The Border Towers of Scotland'', Creedon Publications

External links

Picture of the tower at scran.ac.uk
Castles in Dumfries and Galloway {{Scotland-struct-stub