Barholm Castle is a tower house

Tower house

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

 located five miles south-west of Gatehouse of Fleet

Gatehouse of Fleet

Gatehouse of Fleet is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, which has existed since the mid-18th century, although the area has been inhabited since much earlier...

, in Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It was one of the nine administrative 'regions' of mainland Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government etc. Act 1973...

, southwest Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The tower dates back to the late 15th century, and has been recently restored from a roofless state into a family home. Located at , Barholm was a stronghold of a branch of the McCulloch family. The tower is sometimes identified with the fictional Ellangowan, in Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

's Guy Mannering

Guy Mannering

Guy Mannering or The Astrologer is a novel by Sir Walter Scott, published anonymously in 1815. According to an introduction that Scott wrote in 1829, he had originally intended to write a story of the supernatural, but changed his mind soon after starting...

.

History

The main block of the castle dates at least in part to the 15th century. A charter of 1541 was signed at Barholm. The stair tower is a late 16th century addition, with a date stone of 1575, at which time the main block was rebuilt with a higher wall-head, and new parapet walk. A walled-up door in the east wall of the main block suggests a redesign of the accommodation.

Barholm was a stronghold of the McCullochs, who had owned the property since 1510. A strongly Protestant family, they feuded with the Catholic Browns of Carsluith Castle

Carsluith Castle

Carsluith Castle is a ruined tower house, dating largely to the 16th century. It is located beside Wigtown Bay on the Galloway coast of south-west Scotland, around south east of Creetown.-History:...

, only two miles to the north-west. Protestant preacher John Knox

John Knox

John Knox was a Scottish clergyman and a leader of the Protestant Reformation who brought reformation to the church in Scotland. He was educated at the University of St Andrews or possibly the University of Glasgow and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1536...

 is said to have stayed here. In 1579 John Brown of Carsluith was charged to appear in court for the murder of McCulloch of Barholm, and was fined for his non-appearance. Major John McCulloch of Barholm was executed for his part in the Pentland Rising and the battle of Rullion Green

Battle of Rullion Green

The Battle of Rullion Green in the Pentland Hills, Scotland on 28 November 1666 was the culmination of the brief Pentland Rising . At least 3000 men of the Scottish Royal Army led by Tam Dalyell of the Binns opposed about 900 Covenanter rebels.The Pentland Rising was in the context of the...

 in 1666.

The tower was replaced as the McCulloch residence in the late 18th century when Robert Adam

Robert Adam

Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...

 built a classical house for the family near Creetown

Creetown

Creetown is a small seaport town in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, which forms part of the Galloway in the Dumfries and Galloway council area in south-west Scotland. Its population is about 750 people. It is situated near the head of Wigtown Bay, 18 mi. west of Castle Douglas...

 to the north. This house was destroyed by fire in the 1950s, by which time the tower had long since fallen into disrepair. Single-storey farm outbuildings had also been added on to the north of the tower. From 2003, following a grant from Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.-Role:As its website states:...

, the tower was re-roofed and restored as a private house. Archaeological excavations were carried out before and during the works, between 2000 and 2005. Architects for the project were Peter Drummond and later Patrick Lorimer of ARP Lorimer and Associates, and the restoration work - completed in 2006 - was carried out by Cumming & Co., a Perth based specialist restoration company.

The castle

The main block of the L-plan

L Plan Castle

An L-plan castle is a castle or towerhouse in the shape of an L, typically built in the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other locations. The evolution of its design was an expansion of the...

 tower is of three storeys and a garret, with a vaulted basement at the lower level. The floor above was the hall, with a broad, hooded fireplace. The second floor was divided into two rooms. The small stair wing is a storey higher, with a caphouse at the top reached by a corbelled stair turret in the re-entrant angle. Narrow parapet walks run on the north and south walls. The main stair is a broad spiral which occupies the whole of the lower stair wing. The doors and windows have moulded surrounds, with a cable moulding, human faces and a grotesque head carved over the arched main door.

External links

• Barholm Castle
• On-line images from RCAHMS, showing the ruined castle and earlier plans for restoration.