Evelaw Tower facts for kids
Evelaw Tower is an old, ruined tower house from the 1500s. It's located in Scotland, in an area called the Scottish Borders. You can find it about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Westruther. It's also about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Wedderlie, near a place called Eve Law.
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A Look Back: Who Owned Evelaw Tower?
This old tower first belonged to a religious group from Drylaw Abbey. But in 1576, a powerful family called the Douglases bought it. Later, the Sinclair family, from Longformacus, took ownership. They got the tower through a marriage. Finally, in 1731, Evelaw Tower was sold to the Smith family.
Exploring Evelaw Tower's Design
Evelaw Tower is built in an "L-plan" shape. This means it has a main rectangular part and a smaller tower sticking out, forming an 'L'. This smaller tower holds the stairs.
Inside the Tower
The tower has three main floors and an attic space at the very top. You can still see wide openings called gunloops. These were small holes where people could fire guns to defend the tower. The windows are small and have strong iron gates, called yetts, for protection. The basement of the main building held the kitchens. Both the basement and the top floor of the stair-wing have vaulted ceilings. This means they are built with strong, arched stone roofs.
Getting Around Inside
To reach the main hall, you would use a wide spiral staircase from the basement. For the private rooms on the upper floors, you would use the stairs in the smaller turret.
Outside Features
The corners of the tower are rounded at the bottom. However, they become square at the roof level, supported by stone brackets called corbels. The tower is still mostly standing, but there is a large break in the corner where the two parts of the 'L' meet. The main part of the tower runs from east to west. The north wing sticks out about 3 meters (10 feet) from the northwest corner. You can see a decorative row of corbels around the roof edges of both the main building and the north wing. The tower is built from red and purple stones held together with lime mortar. It also has red sandstone details. The tower measures about 10.7 meters (35 feet) by 9.7 meters (32 feet). A new entrance was cut into the west wall at a later time.
