Oliver Castle
Encyclopedia
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 in the upper Tweed Valley
River Tweed
The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is long and flows primarily through the Borders region of Great Britain. It rises on Tweedsmuir at Tweed's Well near where the Clyde, draining northwest, and the Annan draining south also rise. "Annan, Tweed and Clyde rise oot the ae hillside" as the Border saying...
in the Scottish Borders
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...
, within the bounds of the village of Tweedsmuir
Tweedsmuir
The village of Tweedsmuir is a village and civil parish situated from the source of the River Tweed, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland....
. The castle was originally part of the line of peel tower
Peel tower
Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...
s along the Tweed Valley. It was replaced in the seventeenth century by a house on the same site, and in the 18th century by a house on lower ground. For most of its existence the property has been owned by members of the Tweedie family.
The castle was originally associated with Clan Fraser
Clan Fraser
Clan Fraser is a Scottish clan of French origin. The Clan has been strongly associated with Inverness and the surrounding area since the Clan's founder gained lands there in the 13th century. Since its founding, the Clan has dominated local politics and been active in every major military conflict...
, and was perhaps named for Oliver Fraser, who gave lands to Newbattle Abbey
Newbattle Abbey
Newbattle Abbey was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which has subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution.-Monastery:...
as recorded in its register. The lines of descent from Oliver and his nephew Adam are uncertain, but the Frasers continued to exert power from Oliver Castle with Sir Bernard Fraser and Sir Gilbert Fraser, who held in turn the hereditary office of Sheriff of Tweeddale. A descendant, Sir Simon Fraser of Oliver and Neidpath
Neidpath Castle
Neidpath Castle is an L-plan rubble-built tower house, overlooking the River Tweed about 1 mile west of Peebles in the Borders of Scotland. The castle is closed to the public.-History:...
, Knight Banneret, fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the independent Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries....
. Clan Tweedie was a sept of Clan Fraser and by this time the Tweedies had already taken over the Fraser title to Drumelzier
Drumelzier
Drumelzier , is a village on the B712 in the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders.The area of the village is extensive and includes the settlements of Wrae, Stanhope, Mossfennan and Kingledoors. To the north is Broughton and to the south the road passes Crook Inn to Tweedsmuir.The Drumelzier or...
. In the 14th century, William Tweedie, a younger son of James and Katherine Tweedie of Drumelzier, obtained the lands of Oliver from the preceptor of Torphichen
Torphichen Preceptory
Torphichen Preceptory, is a church in the village of Torphichen, West Lothian, Scotland. It comprises the remains of the Preceptory of the Knights Hospitaller of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in Scotland...
.
The legendary lawlessness of the Scottish Marches
Scottish Marches
Scottish Marches was the term used for the Anglo-Scottish border during the late medieval and early modern eras—from the late 13th century, with the creation by Edward I of England of the first Lord Warden of the Marches to the early 17th century and the creation of the Middle Shires, promulgated...
revolved around bitter inter-family feuds and conflict over livestock. In an incident characteristic of the times, Thomas Porteus of the adjacent Hawkshaw was arraigned on the 16th February 1489 for having lifted seventy-four lambs from the lands of Oliver Castle, belonging to William Tweedie and Lawrence Tweedie
The Castle of Oliver was on very high ground, 1000 feet (304.8 m) above sea level, and by the late 1640s was in a ruinous state and past all repair. Patrick Tweedie decided to replace it, building a new house at Oliver in 1649, when the family moved from Oliver Castle itself. Later on, about 1731 or 1734, another house appears to have been built at or near the site of the present house of Oliver, and in 1786, Thomas Tweedie of Oliver built the current house there.
External links
- Fraser of that Ilk
- Michael Forbes Tweedie The History of the Tweedie or Tweedy Family (1902)
- Tweedie & Tweedy Genealogy