Buckholm Tower

Buckholm Tower is a ruined tower house and barmkin which is sited adjacent to a working farm on the western side of Buckholm Hill, north-west of Galashiels. It is overlooked by the slopes of the hill, but has good views up the Gala Water and towards the Pringle tower of Torwoodlee, a mile to the west across the river.

The lands of Buckholm were held by Richard de Morville, the constable of King William I in the latter parts of the 12th century. In this time, he issued a charter to Melrose Abbey allowing the abbey to erect a steading for the keeping of sixty cattle at Buckholm – including a house for the place to be farmed from. It is traditionally asserted that in 1524, James Hoppringle of Tynnes (Tinnis) heroically saved the life of King James V, and as a result was granted the lands of Buckholm. However, it is also the case that Hoppringle received the lands in feu-farm in 1547, after the death of James V, The grantor was the 18 year old commendator of Melrose Abbey, who was an illegitimate son of James V, and the reason given is for services to the abbey – and cash payments made. In 1574 a charter was issued to John Hoppringle, the younger son of James of Tynnes, in which he was to pay £10 per annum. It was after this that John elected to construct or repair and improve the tower house, which bears the initials IP and NP, and the date 1582.

The tower house is built on an L-plan, with the projecting section at the northern end of the east wall being of small size, and accessed by a doorway in the re-entrant angle, rebated for an outer and inner door. A small lobby room leads to the vaulted basement, with a single shot hole in the north-west corner. A separate doorway leads to a cell at the bottom of the wing. The first floor is accessed from the outside only – from a doorway which was accessed via a bridge from the northern section of the barmkin wall. A couple of stairs led up to the hall, later divided and fireplaces installed in each gable end. A wooden turnpike stair accessed the chambers in the second floor – which has since been lowered in height as post-medieval domesticising. In the 18th century a two-storey house was built onto the south gable of the tower, the southern section of the west barmkin wall being removed in the process. Part of the southern barmkin wall survives, including the arched gateway which is 1.8 metres wide, 2.5 metres tall in the centre, and was provided with a single timber gate and drawbar behind. The footings of two outbuildings also survive in addition.

John Hoppringle was followed by his son James, who was a Justice of the Peace and the baillie for the Regality of Melrose. James was then followed at Buckholm by his younger son, Captain George, who fought as a Royalist at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642. He was followed by his son James, who died in 1714, leaving no children. After a period of five years, Lewis Pringle of Rinkippin in County Galway, Ireland, was pronounced the heir to Buckholm and other Hoppringle estates, but he had little attachment to the lands in Scotland, In 1788, James Pringle (X) of Torwoodlee, purchased Buckholm, and the Pringle family remain its owners to this day. The buildings remained in use well into the 19th century, and the first Ordnance Survey shows the tower and extension as in use, together with the now-ruined building to the east of the barmkin gate. At this time it was a farm known as Old Buckholm, and this remained in use until the early 20th century. The buildings were reroofed in the 1960s, but are now derelict and considered dangerous.

HES Canmore database entry

Buckholm Tower page on Torwoodlee website