dumfries-1920/04-075

Transcription

ANNAN.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [ANNAN.

the south gable is a fine stone fireplace measur-
ing 9 feet over the moulded jambs and some
7 feet high. An aumbry 3 feet 6 inches wide,
with an ogival-arched head, is set in the east
wall.
The second floor resembles the hall in
general arrangement, with the addition of a
garde-robe in the north-western angle. the
third floor consists of a garret within the roof,
but the roof itself is modern and less steeply
pitched than the original. The parapet,
which appears to have been recently restored,
has a machicolation over each gunloop. The
building is cnnected with the mansion by
a covered passage, and is in excellent
repair.
Bonshaw estate appears to have been ac-
quired by the Irvings from the Corries after
the suppression of the Douglases (see Introd.,
p. xxviii.). the tower became one of the
principal places of the clan in the latter part
of the 16th century. It was burned by
Wharton, the English Warden of the West
March, in the raid of Sept. 1544. ¹ In June
1585, being then in possession of Edward
"Yrwen," and reported "one of the strongest
howses of that border," it was besieged by
Lord Maxwell. ² In July, Maxwell had again
placed his forces round Bonshaw, ³ which
seems to have been successfully defended.
Early in the next year the Johnstones fell
upon Captain Richard Maxwell and his royal
police force and carried him off, wounded,
to confinement in "the Bonshaw," Edward
Irving being their accomplice. ⁴

1 Hamilton Papers, ii. p. 456; 2 Calendar of
Border Papers, i. No. 321; 3 ibid., No. 327;
4 Register Privy Council, iv. pp. 56-7.

lviii. -- S.W. -- 25 July 1912. *

2. St. Bryde's Tower, Brydekirk Mains. - Of
this tower, which lay 1/2 a mile north of Bryde-
kirk village, only a fragment of the north wall
survives, surrounded by the out-buildings
of Brydekirk Mains farm. The wall is 15
feet long, 3 feet broad, and terminates at a
height of 25 feet from the ground in a frag-
mentary corbel course.

* The reference throughout is to the Ordnance
Survey maps, 6-inch scale, for Dumfriesshire. The
date is that on which the structure was visited.

"Habye Carlile of Brydekirk" is among
the landlorda ordered in 1590 to find surety
under the Act of 1587. (Reg. Privy Council,
iv. p. 790).
lvii. -- S. E. -- 28 may 1912.

DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTION.

3. Mote of Annan. - This mote (fig. 9) is in
the garden of a villa known as "Moat House"
on the west side of the town of Annan. A low
meadow, from which it rises with a steep
scar, intervenes for a distance of 100 yards
or thereby between it and the River Annan.

[Diagram inserted]
FIG. 9. - Mote of Annan (No. 3).

The mote proper forms the northern extremity
of the construction, rising to an elevation of
some 50 feet and measuring 22 feet across
its level summit by 50 feet lengthwise. A
broad trench separates it from the base-court,
which extends southward for a distance of
270 feet in an irregular oblong, expanding
from a breadth of 50 feet at its northern end
to 110 feet at the south and rising to an eleva-
tion of 60 feet above the meadow on the west


-- 2