Abbot's Tower

Abbot's Tower is a late-16th-century tower house situated near New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, that was built by the Abbot of Sweetheart Abbey. The building was restored in the early 1990s and is now used as a private residence and as a bed and breakfast.[1] This structure should not be confused with the Abbot's Tower of Alnwick Castle.

Abbot's Tower
Near New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
UK grid reference NX972666
Abbot's Tower in 2008
Abbot's Tower
Coordinates54.98376°N 3.605837°W / 54.98376; -3.605837
TypeTower house
Site information
OwnerPrivate
Open to
the public		No
ConditionRestored
Site history
BuiltAround 1580
In useuntil c.1627; reoccupied in 1990s
MaterialsStone

History

The tower was built in the late 16th century as a refuge by Gilbert Broun, S.O.Cist., the last Abbot of the Cistercian Sweetheart Abbey. Despite the abbey's suppression during the Scottish Reformation, Broun continued to uphold the Roman Catholic faith until he was arrested in 1605 and ultimately exiled.[2]

Structure

Abbot's Tower is a L-plan tower house, originally measuring 28.75 by 23.6 feet (8.8 by 7.2 m) with a short staircase wing extending north 8.5 feet (2.6 m). Its rubbled walls were about 4 feet (1.2 m) thick with only one room per storey. Each has a fireplace at one end and there was a garderobe in the south corner. By 1892, it was in a ruinous state,[3] with the portions of the walls still surviving to a height of 32 feet (9.8 m). The west and staircase walls were almost complete, but portions of the other walls had fallen and the hewn stones taken.[4]

Archaeological investigations in the early 1990s revealed remnants of outbuildings and portions of what were probably foundations of the barmkin walls.[4] The tower was restored and converted into a private residence in the 1990s. As of 2020, the owners operate the tower as a bed and breakfast.[5]

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References
  1. "Our History". Abbot's Tower. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  2. New Abbey from the Catholic Encyclopedia
  3. MacGibbon, David; Ross, Thomas (1892). The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth century. 5. Edinburgh: David Douglas. pp. 214–216. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  4. "Abbot's Tower | Canmore". canmore.org.uk. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  5. "Abbot's Tower". Abbot's Tower. Retrieved 21 March 2020.

Bibliography
  • Coventry, Martin (2001) The Castles of Scotland, 3rd Ed. Scotland: Goblinshead ISBN 1-899874-26-7
  • Maxwell-Irving, A. M. T. (2000) The Border Towers of Scotland, Creedon Publications ISBN 1-899316-31-0
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